Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1920-03-26
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.
BY FRANK coMERFoRD.

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 I'M
rest grew with great vigor. 1t was
new kind of unrest, too. 1t was 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 man, or
a number of men, doing business as a
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
boSs-the owner, The sign under
which the business was run bore his
name 1t identified him with the bust
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 mainland gen
orally 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,
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 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
lie opinion chastised him for his self
ishness and inhumanty. The people
said he was 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 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. 1t
isn't easy to bear the hate of ones
neghbOrs. 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 inhpman
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. 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 d 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. 1t
was an impersOnal, inhuman thing.
Frequently the stockholders did not
live in the cities where the plants We're
| located. The real owners were uii-
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 a large salary
and it was made plain to him when he
was hired that his salary and his Job
depended on his ability to make profits
The corporation was organized for mil.
lions of dollars. The manager was ex-
pected to make dividends. The larger
the dividend checks, the higher he was
rated. His tenure of job and salary