The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-03-11
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in
Europe Follow the Great
World War?
PRIMARY CAUSE OF UNREST
With the Passing Of "Smaii Business"
Went the Feeling Of Community
interest, Which Meant
So Much.
Article VII.
BY FRANK

Not many years ago something nap
pened which changed the relations be
tween employer and employee. That
happening has had a marked effect
upon industrial discomfort Something
was lost out of the relation between
the owner and the men who worked
for him. The human element, the per-
sonal touch, between the boss and the
workers stopped. With It's passing un-
rest grew with great vigor. 1t was a
new kind of unrest. too. 1t was a last
Ing, determined, resolute discomfort.
This came TO pass In the day that
small business entered the twilight.
In the day of the small plant, bust
ness was owned and run by a man, or
q number of men, doing business as a
partnership. These men lived In the
community in which their men lived.
They worked with their men. La the
front of the plant was the office of the
Boss. He was on the job. lie wasn't
q hired boss, either-he was the real
boss-the owner. The sign under
winch the business vas run bore his
mime. Ii identified him with the bust
ness. The Boss had his home In the
ciiy in which the plant was located.
Hts children went to the public school,
frequently to the same school to which
the children of his workmen went. IL
he was a church-going man-and gen
orally he was-he and his family vent
10 religious services OF Sunday 10 the
same church that many of his men and
their families attended. The men who
worked for him knew him, at least TO
the extent Of recognizing him when
they saw him. He knew many of them.
and recognized them with a nod or
Good morning" when he saw them
on the street. Few people realized
how much this meant to harmonious
relations In the industrial world.
When working men had a grievance,
or thought they han. they took 1t di-
rectly TO the Boss, He talked 1t over
with them. He was reasonable and
fair. If the complaint was well found
ed II was given consideration. a rem
edy was found. The working man was
satisfied. He had had his say. He
was treated as a human being by q
human being. He felt he was part of
the b~usiness-so did the Boss.
Regulated by Public Opinion.
In the day of small business. the
owner of a factory or plant who paid
his men an unliving wage was a
marked man In the community. Pub
lie opinion chastised him for his self.
ishness and inhumanity. The people
said he was a sweater, a slave driver,
and held him In contempt. They con-
trasted his good clothes, the style of
his family and his fine mansion, with
the rags his working men wore, the
novels in which they lived. He was
pointed out, hated, despised. The
thought of the community was that II
would be better for him and his 10
give up some Of their excess luxury
and give the men living wages. The
disgrace fell not only upon his head
but it followed his wife and children
When they went to church they were
looked upon as hypocrItes. for all the
people knew that every day In the
week he was insulting the Christ he
pretended to worship on the Sabbath
Few men are so thick-skinned as not
TO feel the lash Of pubic opinion. II
isn't easy 10 bear the hate of ones
neighbors. 1t IL natural for men to
want the good opinion of their fellows
In the day Of small business. public
opinion held a lash over the inhumar
and greedy, kept hirers OF men human
but in the progress of the world the
small employer was doomed to go.
The partnership passed off the stage
and with II the personal touch between
employer and employees. The corpO
ration. a soulless body. was born Of
the law. II absorbed small plants ant
small businesses. 1t collected under
a single roof thousands of men, The
corporation, the combination. the trust
had come. This new order of doinl
business on a large scale was eficien'
economical. II eliminated waste ant
duplication. II was a great, smooth
running machine. II represented prog
ress In doing the worlds work.
The corporation name did not dis
close the wner of Big Business. I
was an impersonal. inhuman thing
Frequently the stockholders did no
live In the cities where the plants wer,
located. The real wner were un
known to employees and public. Man,
Of the large shareholders had neyeI
seen the plant. The men who warke,
In the plants had eve seer the mel
for whom they worked. The man actu
ally running the business was only Oh
employee. lie was paid q large salar,
and II was made plain to him when h,
was hired that his salary and his j0l
depended OF his ability 10 make profits
The corporation was organized for mil
lions or dollars. Tile manager WAS ex
pccted to make dividends. The large