The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-01-26
H. 6. DENN|s0N
sPEAKERLAsT
NIGHT At FORUM
Prominent Manufacturer Talked
On Justice in Industry"
"ENGINEERINGv PROBLEM
Believes Permitting Employees Share
in Plant Control Much Better y
Than Profit-sharina

The Sunday evening Forum at the
Second Congregational church drew
another large audience iii spite *
the mercury being lost in the bottom
of the tube. The speaker ef the eve
ming was Henry g. Dennison OF Frnm-
ingham, Mass, manufacturer who
gave his services to the government
during the war and served aB meni-
ber of the shipping board.
Mr. Dennison is the head OF the
Dennison Manufacturing company.
The company is the biggest CT the
kind in the world and manufactures,
shipping tags, paper boxes and thous-
ands of specialties. One of their big
contracts has been the making of
millions of Red Cross seals. The
company has been in business 76
years and employs ever 5000 people
His subject was. Justice in Indus
try He spoke of the problems of
employer and employe from the en-
p oyers point of view. He believes
in union labor but with the open shop
and collective bargaining. tG
His chief po.nt was that the world
has reached new stage in Industrial
development and that the problem of
labor and capital on large scale is
CT past methods but must be met as
new issue to be settled or basis
Of justice to employer and emp.oye
and to the public also. .,nf
The old basis of settlement was
purely financial on both sides. The
employer was trying merely TO sell
his products at a good margin of
profit and the employe sought only
to sell his labor at the highest figure.
Neither took any interest In any
prc blem save his own and fierce
str T. has resulted. -, ...ss.f
The time has now come TO recog-
nize that the issue is an engineering
problem and not financ;ale question
only. The waste and extravaganza
of strikes and other strife fall both
on employer and emplcye and also
on the public. The par ties interest
ed should approach the issue just as
an engineer would approach a big
mining or construction job looking at
all sides and seeking to provide a
just basis of completing the contract
without the wastage of industrial
strife which Is waste that cannot
be repaired
The speaker said there are two
kinds of closed shop. One is the
shop closed by the employer against
union labor and one closed by the
unions against independent labcr.
Both kinds are unwise for both par
ties. The employees need the unions
TO look after their interests in a
larger way than can the individual
employees of enc p ant and the EN-
ployer must have The right to employ
Independent labor in order to protect
him from unreasonable tyranny and
exactions from groups which fail into
the control of corrupt or ignorant
misleaders of labor. ,rgp
Mr.. Dennison favored the formation
of shop committees in all plants of
considerable size who shou d partiei-
pate in the management particularly
In the remedy of shop abuses and to
provide working conditions which.
will tend to maintain the interest of
workers and the prosperity OF the
plant without (which both the employ
er and employe are sure to suffer.
He did not believe in profit sharing
and declared that it has not proved
a valuable help in most cases where
1T has been tried. He much prefer
red management sharing TO arrange
and maintain conditions tending to
permanence. He cal cd attention TO
the fact that there are seldom labor
troubles in small plants fer the rea-
son that in small shop every en-
ploye comes in contact with the en-
ployer and actually cooperates for
practical purposes in pant manage
ment. Such a condition is impos-
sible in big plant but through shop
committees 1t is often possible to pre-
vent friction and maintain conditions
of lasting advantage to beth capital
and labor.
Increasing wages may delay but
will not prevent labcr trouble The
employe wants to be more than a
mere cog in a big machine The prob
lem is new one and is not yet
soved Bending our energies to a
solution is better than the past
method of raving by employers about
the insolence and exactions of labor
and the "beefing" of workers about
the cruelty and oppression of capital
Both are wrong and both are delaying
the course of justice by not earnestly
seeking remedy instead of ranting
about personal wrongs and encourag-
ing class hatreds.
FAMOUS DRIVER DEAD