Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-13
MlTTEN AS MANAGER
Story Of Street-Car Heads Work in
This City Graphically
Told
BY RICHARD spILLANE

and employe The city is gridironed with
the rails of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit
Go. The company was bankrupt physically
and financially when Thomas Il. Nitten took
hold of it. All the ills that attended urban
transportation companies in large cities beset
it. The corporation was consolidation of
many lines, and there had been all the juggling
! with the properties that had been common
to the street railroads of Chicago, st. Louis
San Francisco, New York and other cities
The carmen were uuderpaid, dsgruntled and
discouraged. The equipment had been al
lowed to dsteriorate sadly. The city got
wrctched service. The public was disgusted
Mr. NIittcn had Il rocky introduction
Within comparatively short time he had
two strikes. Since then he has had none
Today, with between 10000 and II 900 en-
ployes, there is no union such as is known
generally as labor union. His men are not
! affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor or any other body. But they have an
organization of their own that is wonder
1t pensions the men who through ailment or
age have to retire. 1t insures the lives of
members. 1t provides for those who through
! the viciSsitudcs of life need aid And the
majority of the employees are saving on an
| average of $40 Il month.
There are few cities in America in which
traction men are receiving higher pay
fifty eight cents an hour.
There are few street railroads with better
physical equipment.
IT is one of.the few traction lines paying
Il dividend
And this has been accomplished not only
on a five cent fare, but the company is con
tent with five cent fare.
Mr.. Mitten says the men did it. The men
! say AIitten did it. There you have the whole
| story in a nutshell.
Recently at the Bellevue Stratford there
was the annual milwinter meeting of the
| Cooperative Beneficial Association of the
| company. Governor Sproul was there. SO
| was the superintendent of schools. So was
| Mayor elect Moore SO were the public
| service commissioners of the state and many
| prominent men and women. SO were hun
! dreds and hundreds of the employees includ-
| ing Miss Safety First the remarkable
| young woman who has introduced in all the
| public and parocha schools an organization
| by which the children with their own boy
! traffic cops, never cross the streets near
| the schools except under protection. This
| girl, Miss Laura NJ. Roadfer, is wonder.
| In the four years before she entered upon
| her work 105 children of school age were
! killed by street cars in the city. In the last
! eleven months only four children of school
| age were killed and none of them had come
| within the influence of her work.
| As it was a meeting of the co operative
| association, the heads of the various bodies
| making up this organization told of their
! work in 1919 and what they expected in
| 1920.
Mr.. George W. Jacket. the president,
! reported 60 per cent of the employees had
| joined the savings fund. He hoped for and
! expected 100 per cent in 1920 with deposits
| totaling 81 900 900
OF the II 900 employees 9951 per cent
are members Of the co operative body
The head of each working body-con-
| ductors, motormen, electricians, rOadmen
| Ctc.-pledged 100 per cent co operation to
the company in~1020
The men pay 81 n month in dues to the
association toward its benefit fund Here
toforc the company has matched every dol
| lar the men paid in each month. Mr.. Nit
| ten announced, as he had promised last
autumn he would do when the membership
got to % per cent the company would give
| 81 for every 81 of benefit dues paid by the
| mcn-that means $50 900 or more month
! for the company to contribute.
| BY no means the least interesting fea-
| ture of the meeting was the report of the
| pensions granted by the men to retiring
| employees, the insurance money ($1000 per
! employee to the families of members who
| died, the sick benefits, etc.
1t was a remarkably well dressed earn
| est gathering The men sang songs and
| those who made speeches spoke well. They
| made it clear there was no room for Boil
shevists in the. =. r. T. After the Cover
nor, the Mayor elect and the other officials
| spoke the whole big party adjourned to q
reception in the home of r. II. Stotesbury.
| This has come to be an annual function,
| the employees meeting the financial head of
the corporation and his wife each Christ
| mastide.
No one who attended that meeting but
| would be impressed by the fact that great
| as Mr.. Mittens work had been in making
the p. X. 7. prosper he had done greater
| work in citizenship. The men had a pride
| in the railroad They had deeper pride
in their association. They evidenced the
highest regard for Mr.. Mitten and Mr..
| Stotcsbury.
How is it that this man Mitten has won
| the complete confidence and loyalty of his
| men? He says it has been by being just
to them. He says he made it plain to them
if they gave production to the company the
company would prosper and pay them well
| and not otherwise. They have given the
most faithful and conscientious service and
| the company has been able to raise wages
time and time again, and to keep every
| pledge to the men is one of his notices
| The men have prospered and the company
! has prospered.
He started or suggested the savings fund
and asked them as a personal favor to him
to put the amount of their last increase in
pay in their operative bank regularly
They were bit slow to begin, but the way
they are coming through now it looks as if
every one of the IL, 900 will have an ac-
count.
This man Mitten is unique
He came here a child when his parents
emigrated from England to America. They
made their home in the Middle West. When
he was twenty five years old he had little
or nothing but the clothes he wore and a
determination to make his way in the
world.
When he was forty he had 50, 900, 900.
He determined he would not work to add
to his fortune, but to benefit mankind. He