The Wrangell sentinel., 1920-04-15
Shall Chaos or Reconstruction in Europe Follow the Great
 World War?
PRIMARY CAUSE OF UNREST
With the Passing of "SmalI Business" Went the Feeling of Community Interest, Which Meant
 So Much.
Article VIII.
By FRANK COMERFORD.


 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. It was new kind of unrest, too. It was last ing, determined, resolute discOntent. This came to pass in the day that small business entered the twilight.
 In the day of the small plant, busi- ness was owned and run by man, or a number of men, doing business as 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 Boss. He was on the job. He wasn't a hired boss, either-he was the real boss-the owner. The sign under which the business was run bore his
 
 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 which the children of his wOrkmen went. If he was a church-going man-and gen. erally he was-he and his family went to religious services on Sunday to. 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, 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 it di- rectly to the Boss. He talked it over with them. He was reasonable and fair. If the complaint was well found- ed it was given consideration, 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 factory or plant who paid his men an unliving wage was a marked man in the community. Pub Ifc opinion chastised him for his self ishness and inhumanity. The people said he was a 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, despfsed. The thought of the community was that it 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. It isn't easy to bear the hate of ones neighbors. It is natural for men to want the good opinion of their fellows. In the day of small business, public opinion held a 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 born of the law. It absorbed small plants and small businesses. It 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. It eliminated waste and duplication. It was great, smooth running machine. It represented prog ress in doing the worlds work q e'
 The corporation name did not dis close the owner of Big Business. It was an impersonal. inhuman thing. Frequently the stockholders did not live in the cities where the plants were located. The real owners were un- known to employees and public. Many of the large shareholders had never seen the plant. The men who worked in the plants had never seen the men for whom they worked. The man actu- ally running the business was only an employee. He was paid large salary and 1t was made plain to him when he was hired that his salary and hls job r3aDop6od D,, hic ohilftr to olyo ,,voA%c