Evening star., 1921-01-06
Editorial Digest
Fair.Weather Partnerships.

E3lI. w C8CUeT 16ILUcISu1pS.
The theory OF profit sharing as a
| solution for labor troubles received
black eye in the opinion Of the press
| when the widely commented upon
| experiment" in Newbern Iron Works
of North Carolina fell through and
ended in strike. Much comment
upon the practical working out OF
| communism" was made when tfe
workers were permitted to share the
profit of the mills, and when they
| finally faced a depleted pay envelope
! at the end of the period a number OF
newspapers accepted the situation as
proof against the practicability or
communism. The majority of writer's,
however, are left with the belief that
while the experiment was too short
! to show much. it at least was good
experience for the workers and taught
valuable lesson.
! The Nashville Tennessean dnde-
pendent democrsft) looks upon the
whole affair as a simple and effective
demonstration of the necessity of re-
ducing wages. This view is shared
| by the Buffalo Commercial Gndepend-
enD. which sees in the experiment an
object lesson to some people VINO DO
not yet realize that business today
will not stand for wartime wage
scales and that men must take less
than they have been getting If they
are to have employment at all" Ihat
the experience will be beneficial to
. the workmen who went through 1t the
, Trenton Times independently is sure
for 1T will serve as an education 10
the men in some features OF industry
from the side of capital, of which
many of them are entirely oblivious."
The Philadelphia Bulletin Gndepend-
! ent republican, also thinks that the
Newbern strikers now possess bet
ter understanding concernlng the
: back to work under the old wage
system with a clearer appreciation
| of the difficulties of industrial part
Inership.'
| The Indianapolis News Gndepend-
! ent) points out that the employer
must go on paying his men, whether
! he is making money or not: and II the
J profit sharing plan is really adopted
| the workers must expect 10 suHer
with the employer wren business is
! slack" Bread, it adds, lis rarely but
! tered on both sides"
| Following this line of reasoning the
/ Birmingham News (democrao thinks
that "the Newbern ironworkers are
not true sportsmen." and their finaI
i.strike. the Charlotte IN. C) Observer
! Independent democraD declares.
| against the share of profits that they
| lad made was nothing short or
strike for more money than they kne"
| that the shops could make"
the trial was not a fair one. The
Rochester Herald independently. Tor
example, considers that it was IAN
unfortunate time to put plan of this
character in operation, for the rea-
| son that prices are too unstable. Be-
sides, the raw materials which have
been used during this period un-
doubtedly cost more than they Will
some months later" From another
viewpoint the New York Globe On
dependenD feels that this case was
not fair or typical" since, "if the re-
ports are accurate, employees of the
company were offered share in the
profits only after profits had sunk
so low that to cut the melon was
cheaper than to pay ordinary wages.
That the workmen were Illogical
is the opinion of the Baltimore Amer
ican trepublican). which scouts the
idea that radicalism had anything to
do with the affair, which was merely
a reshuffiing of arrangements in an
/, effort to carry burdens more easily.
and which, since it was unsuccessful.
proves nothing except that the par
tianlar conditions of the business did
not make a sliding scale advisa bie.
The Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune
(republican) puts what it calls the
lesson" of the Newbern Iron Works
adventure" tersely:
ANY system of profits, honest in
it's application, has it's appeal. But
the appeal is limited to the area of
advantage. If it offers advantages to
us we are for it. otherwise not.
Profit sharing appeals to the partner
ship relations of the employer in pro-
portion to the excess of profits over
wages 1t loses it's appeal just in
proportion as a deficit develops"