The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-07
REPUBLIC IS
 INSTALLED IN
 LARGE STORE

New York, Sept 7-The republi- can form of government for employees, introduced in certain industrial plants throughout the country, has been adopted by a large New York depart ment store.
 Employees of this store, numbering 1,700, have voice in virtually all matters affecting their relations with the management, through elective bodies modelled after the bicamoral
 system of representation prevailing in the government of the United States.
 The employees elect members of | their house of represen tatives and senate directly, while the executive l department, consisting of a cabinet | of five, is named by the corporation i officials. The judiciary functions are | carried out by a joint committee from l the legislative bodies. All branches l of the store government derive their powers from a constitution somewhat l similar to the constitution of the na- l ton.
 The fixing of wage scales and work | ing conditions are included in the l broad powers of the house and sen 1 ate, while the justice committee may | bring about the expulsion of an em- | ploye from the concern, or if they | find a worker has been unjustly dis l charged they can have him reinstat- l ed. The acts of the legislature may l be vetoed by the cabinet, but this | has not been necessary as yet, it was 1 said by officials of the concern. | Improvement of the service ren-
 dered by the store to it's customers l is the aim of much of the legislation | enacted by the workers, but the bet l tering of the morale of the force of | employees also brings many bills to the ] floor of the house and senate, which
 convene one day each week.
 U Recently a bill providing for the in- stallation of a motion picture ma
 chine to provide 'movies' in the | building was passed and the manage
 ment is to spend $5,0oO a year in car rying out it's provisions. Another act II provided for the location and install
 1ation of new individual lockers in
 the basement where employees might
 hang their coats and hats. Passing much of the responsibility l for the conduct of the institution on-
 to the shoulders of the employees has
 brought about many improvements,
 most of them originating in sugges- tionS which are made to the suggestion
 committee of the house and senate at the rate of more than 50 a week.
 Employees are paid cash prizes for all suggestions put into use and no sug- geStion is rejected until an tnvest1-
 
 tee.
 An increase in the earning power of each employe is one of the pur- poses of the new store governmnt and i conomy dividends are paid on the Sav-
 ing in the percentage of operating ex- pense. A merit system has been in- augurated by the workers, grades for each employe being made out month ly on a basis of their ability, exper- fence and cooperative work. An av- craze grade is reached by balancing those turned in for all workers by their direct superiors-floor manag- CTS, buyers, assistant buyers and de- partment heads Salaries go up along with the ratings and promotions al- so are based on them.
 The house of representatives mem- bership is elected directly by all of the workers except department heads and their assistants. These two groups elect the senators of whom there are IA compared with 16 rep resentatives. Half the membership of each body changes semi annually, the electors holding office one year. The five standing committees from each ] body include those on justice, coop eration, economy and service. As soon as this industrial democ- racy plan has gone beyond it's infan- cy, it's originators hope to take the \ public into the organization in some way. Already observance of the wishes of Customers by employees has result ed in bills directed toward making Il shopping more pleasant and sugges- ! tions for other changes are expected II to come from outside the store after \ the government grows beyond the \ embryonic stage.