Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1920-04-03
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction IN
Europe Follow the Great
World War?
PRIMARY CAUSE OF UNREST
With the Passing of Small Business
Went the Feeling of Community
interest, Which Meant
So Much.
Article VIII.
Nv FRANK comERFoRD.

Not many years ago something hap
nened which changed the relations De
tween employer and employee. mat
bappcning has had marked ellecl
unou Industrial discomfort. Something
was LOST out of the relation between
the owner and the men VINO worked
far him The human element the per
-ou9l touch. between The boss ana 'h'
,,nrl,rrs stopped. With its passing I'M
rest rrrv with great vigur. II WAS a
new kind Of unrest. Too. II was Id>'-
in, determined re,olute 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 man. or
a number of men, doing business aN a
partnership. These men lived IN the
community in which their men lived
They worked with their men. In the
front of the plant was the Office OF the
Ross. He was on the job. He WASH /
81 hired boss. either-he was the real
boss-the owner. The sign under
which the business was run bore MS
name II identified him with the buSl-
ness. The Boss had his home in the
city in which the plant was located
His children went To the public school,
frequently to the same school to when
the children of his w0rkmen went II
he was a church-going man-and gen
orally he was-he and his family went
TO religious services on Sunday to the
same church that many of his men ana
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 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 had, they took II d.
rectly to the Boss. He talked 1t over
with them. He was reasonable and
fair. If the complaint was well found
ed It 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 a
human being. He felt he was part Of
the business-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 q sweater, 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, desplsed. The
thought Of the community was that 1t
would be better for him and his to
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 public opinion. 1t
isn't easy to bear the hate of ones
neighbOrs. 1t is natural for men to
want the good opinion of their fellows.
In the day of small business. public
opinion held lash over the inhuman
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 it the personal touch between
employer and employees. The corpo-
ration, sOulless body, was horn of
the law. 1t absorbed small plants and
small businesses. 1t collected under
a single roof thousands of men. The
corporation, the combination. the trust
had come. This new order of doing
business on large scale was efficient
economical. 1t eliminated waste and
duplication. 1t was a great, smooth
running machine. 1t represented prog.
ress in doing the worlds work.
The corporation name did not dis
close the owner of Big Business II
was an imperSOnal, inhuman tb;no
Frequently the stockholders did mot
live in the cities where the plants were
located. The real owners wera nm
known to employees and public. Many
OF the large shareholders had nevor
seen the plant. The men who wo-,,o5
in the plants had never seen tho r1o,
for whom they worked. The man actr
ally running the business was onIv or
employee. He was paid large sa,orr
and 1t was made plain to him vben bo
was hired that his salary and his ,on
depended on his ability to make nrofts
The corporation was organized for nj,
lions of dollars. The manager wos -
pected to make dividends. The laroor
the dividend checks, the higher no NO.
rated His tenure of Job and so,om.