Evening star., 1920-02-18
SHOP COUNCIL SYSTEM,
ADOPTED BY CLOTHING
MEN. LSPUBLICBE.NEF7T
Important Element in Keeping Dow,1
Prices---Promotes Steady Produc-
fon--Enployes Find NewAids.

Jus oI uisClpilne. ADliltS to secure
discipline is the test of any govern
mcnt. ! went with an employer in
New York into one of his shops where
! there We're only a few men at work.
! He explained why:
We had a bad labor chairman here
and the men got SO obSt reperous that
We could no longer stand it, Under
their agreement they could not strike.
but they could commit a kind of
| sabotage by refusing to produce.
| Well We entered into negotiations
with the higher union officials. who
| investigated and found that we were
light. and with their sanction we dis
charged every man in the shop. and
ar" now building up new force.
/ Under the old system if we had dis
char sed the entire force of shop it
would have caused Il general Strille e
and TO end OF trouble, but We had
tie disciplinary power of the union
! behind us.
This power of joint discipline is an
important element in the new agree
ments. Both SIDES can Sbe and are
compelled to obey the law Much
W Sdom is already growing up out of
these agreements. Consider this par
acraph upon discipline by Prof. Earl
! neln Howard. labor manager for
Hart. SCha1ner * Marx:
Bringing Greater Production.
so long as the offending employe
is to be retained in the factory. any
disciplinary penalty must be correc-
tive and no mere severe than is neces-
Sary to accomplish the best results :
for all concerned. Most offenders are
victims of wrong ideals or mental de-
ficiencies. the remedy for which is not
punishment. but help and instruction.
Delinuuencics in management can fire.
Quently be discovered and the man
ager or other executive may need the
services of the expert discipline officer
quite as much Is the original offender"
Another most important test of the
new system is this: Does it get re-
suits in added production? This is
the question that not only the en-
p!oyers. but the public. will anXiousiy
ask.
Well. industry is now learning. af-
ter hard experience, that production
is due far more to the spirit of the
shop. to good will. than to any other
single factor. 1t cannot be secured for
long by coercion. nor do high wages
necessarily assure it. Whatever makes
for more of the cooperative and
democratic spirit in tie shop invari-
ratio is exact. The old spirit of civil
war. antagonism and hostility is deep
seated and hard to eradicate; there
fore the change from inefficiency and
low production to higher production is
SOW The turn has actually come in
r -
is well intrenched: it cannot be said.
yet. to have come in New York. where
the system is still new
Helps to Keep Down Prices.
Under the old "sweat-shop" condi
ditions high production was forced by
actual coercion, and the rebound has
bcer to the other extreme. And yet
even in New York. both employers
and workers are beginning to turn
their attention seriously to the mat
ter Of more and better production.
Last June the Cutters Union in an
joint responsibility for production
and steady employment. In August
the knee-pants workers made a SINH
lar agreement. In one shop. where
there had been Il sharp drop in pro.
duction following the Introduction of
week work instead of piece work,
joint conferences were held between
employers and workers. Ii was eX-
planned to the workers that low pro-
duction in New York meant that
trade would be seized by the more
efficient markets of Chicago and
Rochester. and that for the good of
all production must be kept high.
The whole matter was discussed by
the workers, with the result that
there was immediate and decided i'm
provement.
AS to the public interest in pro-
duction, the new agreemen in the
ment in keeping down the price of
clothes Continuous production. as
contrasted with the old wastefulness
of strikes and shutdowns, is real
service to the public, for whatever
the issue of strike, it is the public
that in the long run pays the bills for
idleness.
Is One Danger. TO Public.
In recent award as arbitrator at
Chicago. Prof James II. Tufts said:
The social and public value of an
orderly. peaceful metho1l of negotia-
tion and arbitration for wage adjust
ments tand all other disputes between
employers and enlployed) cannot be
gainsaid This industry. as now or
ganiZed under agreements which aim
to substitute reason for force. is per-
forming an important public service"
Yet there is a real danger to the
public inherent in this new movement
which the critic must recognize. When
the whole industry becomes thorough