Evening star., 1920-02-11
BY RAY STANNARD BAKER.
ARTICLE XIV.

ARTICLE XIV.
Here is significant observation
quoted, not from labor leader. nor
yet from a radical reformer, but
from an American steel master, who
is also a great employer of labor:
1.-The real leader in industry today
is not the man who substitutes his
own will and his own brain for the
will and intelligence of the crowd,
but the one who releases the energies
within the crowd so that the Will
of the crowd can be expressed
Charles NJ. Schwab has also said :;
Il know something about making
steel, but l don't know anywhere near
as much as the thousands of steel
workers"
His view corresponds closely with
that of the foremost thinkers upon
industrial reconstruction both mere
and in Europe, and that is that there
are vast undeveloped resources OF
knowledge. energy and creative gem
ius in the human factor in industry
and that the next great step forward
in civilization will consist in releas-
ing this knowledge. energy. genius
Of the great masses OF the WORKERS
Old Plan AutOcrattc.
Under the old autocratic regime IN
industry there have been specialists
in financing, in selling. IN aavertis, rs
ing, in technical processes: but the
last thing of all to be considered was
the most important of all-the hu-
man beings, the labor. Any fore.
man or boss could hire and hre.
1t is only very recently that iaoor
experts. labor managers, iapoa en-
gineers have begun to appear as an
essential factor in industrial organl-
cation, and in only few OF the
more enlightened industries mas tne
labor expert risen to anything IN
an equality of status with the otner
a few cases in which labor manage
ment is dignified by a vice presidency
or other high Official recognition IN
Under the old autocratic regime
everything is directed from above, ac-
or manager, and the tendency is to-
ward the suppression Of every form
Of creative energy on the part OF Ia
Dor. The United States Steel Corpo-
ration is today the greatest American
example of this system.
Applying Democracy.
Fortunately. not only in the steel
industry, but in many others as wen,
the new secret for releasing more
fmIlv the energies Of human beings is
now being discovered and developed.
The idea is spreading with extraor--
binary rapidity both in America and
in Europe. It is not confined to
thoughtful labor leaders nor to stu
dents or experts in industrial man.
agement. but many employers and
employers associations are, as one
observer said to me. "riddled with it."
And this secret" consists in apply
ing to industry, little by little. the
simple machinery Of democracy.
I'VE do not need a revolution" said
II. L. Can't, one Of the true pioneers
Of the movement, I'VE do not need a
class war. Most people will work for
the common good II you give them a
chance The trouble is that we have
been clinging to an autocratic system
under the mistaken idea that it was
good, at least for the autocrat. The
fact is that it isn't. Democracy Is
far better for all Of US. Industrial de-
mocracy will release our energies and
mako us the strongest people on
earth"
I described in my last article how
this new system had been introduced
and showed how it worked in q typd-
cal small industry. Today there are
more than ESQ mills, factories and
other business organisations, all the
way from huge steel plants like the
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, the
Midvale Steel Company and important