Evening star., 1920-02-18
ARTICLE XVI
BY RAY STANNARD BAKER.

BY RAY STANNARD BAKER.
Read this :; .uie description of the
! present condition OF American in
. dustry.
| "A chronic state Of civil warfare
! with the classes perpetualiy strus
Cling for ;,dNanla ge-with small con-
/ sideration for the public welfare.
! Signs OF enerSence from this IN
! tof.rable condition are no" peSih-
: ming to appeIr--h.re and there litc-
i tory flies the nag of the neW repub
: lie: here and there sn"p or mn
! but only one great national indus-
! try thus far. has risen into the ne"
! reign of law or established anything
! like a Stanl" or orderly government:
! / described in my last article the
: representative system of government
! in the mems clothing trades of Amer
! lea. where we have both employers
and workers organized and the rudi :
Iurnts OF Legislative. judicial ana ad-
: iainistrative machinery well eStap-
, liSh ed.
some 1000 employers in these trades.
mostly in New York. Chicago. Roches.
ter. Baltimore. Boston. Montreal ana
Toronto. with an etornouS invest :
ment of cap.tai emplo!ins -oV'oot
workers. are nov living under aho
within this new government--not All
happily vet. but with better order
and better conditions that ever eN-
listed before. II is the purpose oil thls
, article to consider the new system
critically. How does it really work .
What is its effect upon the employer.
the workers. the public?
Many Unexpected Advantages.
The best evidence of the success or
failure of a government is to be iouiu
in the testimony of the people who
live under it.
In the factory where the new gov
ernment has had its longest and Sc
verest trial-over nine years without
a strike-the employers. Hart Shaft
ner & Marx. have this to say:
In our own business. employing
thousands of persons. some of them
newly arrived in this country. some
of them in opposition TO the Whole
wage system, hostile to employers as
a class, we have observed aStonlsh-
ing changes in their attitude under
the influence of our labor arrange
ments. Many seem to understand that
they can rely upon the promises made
to them by the company, and that all
disputes will be finally adjusted ac-
cording to just principles interpreted
by wise arbitratorS
These employers find that the un-
expected and indirect advantages of
the new system are as remarkable as
the direct advantages.
Not the least of the advantages We
have derived from our system is the
reaction OF the ideas and ideals. first
apl lied in the labor department. upon
the other departments. and particu-
larly upon the executive staff of the
manufacturing department.. Inefficient
meth DDS of foremen, lack of watchful
supervision and inaccurate informa-
tion as to prevailing conditions on the
part of higher executiNes-ih could
not long survive when every COM
thoroughly investigated and the root
cause of the trouble brought to light"
Still Is Doubt in New York.
| had mach ,hc same conclusions
from Samuel Well of the Stein Bloch
Company of Rochester. another large
manufacturer of clothing. He is thor
oughly convinced of the value of
orderly government in industry. with
the workers assuming their proper
share in the management.
by letting the worker have what he
is entitled to. we protect and guar
antee what we are entitled to- he
says: We cannot get security unless
we give it"
1t is significant. also. that in mar
kets like Chicago. where the system
has been in operation longest the tes-
timony is most unequivocal In the
New York market, where its accept
ance is recent. there IS still much
doubt and skepticism.
New York is a market here COM
petition among some 1000 snail man
ufacturers and contractors is still
fierce They have. indeed. got to-
gether in strong organization with
a labor manager. Mai. Il. II. Gitchell,
representing them. but when confront
ed by the shortage OF labor, which
now exists. and a strong labor union.
il is difficult indeed to keep them in
line. The less responsible among them
secretly break over the agreements
and bid up on wages. At the same
time some of the lesser officials OF the
labor union, who have not become
fully imbued with the new spirit and
who feel their power. make ureaSon-
able and autocratic demands.
l found employers in New York who
told me that conditions had never
been worse-and yet they are main
tanning their organization and the
machinery of adjustment and concilia-
ton.
Requires Immense Patience.
We employers are mostly to blame
We aren't as willing to sacrifice for
the common good as the workers" one
employer said to me, but we'd be
far worse off than we are if we hadn'
the new system of control"
Indeed, one who gets down into the
new movement is astonished some
times that ii can exist at all. Selfish
competitive interests are still so
strong on both sides. the social spirit
still so weak, that it requires i'm
mense patience, steadiness, persever-
ance, to keep the new spirit alive and
the new machinery in operation.
On the employers side there is al
ways a reactionary group that will not
play the game" or sacrifice any pres
ent profit for future security and
prosperity. And if the employers find
their reactiOnarieS problem the
workers find their radicals an equally
difficult one. The chief struggle of
the ar-sighted leadership among the
amalgamated clothing workers is to
keep in line the impatient extremists S
who are not satisfied with steady
growth. but want the millennium by
tomorrow afternoon.
To see the labor managers on one
side and the labor leaders on the
other dealing day after day with
these infiammable human elements in
industry, trying to give to short
sighted selfshness a little wider Wis
ion. trying to mitigate competitive
ferocity with touch of the spirit of
co-operative understanding. trying to
get into the dull brain of prejudice
some little glimpses of the problem
of the other man, is not only to ap-
preciate the immense difficulty OF the
problems involved, but to be hlled
with admiration for the determined
idealism the patience, the faith or
these leaders and to wonder that they
have got as far toward ne" reign
of law as they have.
The establishment of a new reign
of law means, of course, new meth