The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-04-29
Industrial Problems.

some time in the theories of indus
trial reform, which have found ex-
preston from the pen of an old
time friend, Lowe Shearon. Mr..
Shearon has been reporter for the
metropolitan press in Chicago, and
New York City for twenty-five years
or more. His father was a lawyer
and graduate of Yale University
The young man grew up in Troy,
Tenn, and entered the Fourth Es-
tate as a country journalist. Then
he drifted to Texas. from there to
Chicago and some years afterwards
to the mecca of all struggling and
ambitious candidates for popular rec
ognition-Manhatta There he be-
gan to study Industrial problems and
employed much of his own time in
working out a plan that would slim
ulate the spirit of cooperation be-
tween capital and labor. A few
years ago he mailed us some copies
of his work, concise statement of
which appeared in this paper two or
three times. 1t was also published
in the Fort Worth Record and as an
advertisement in the Yale Alumni.
We quote again the statement as fol-
lows:
managers of industrial enterprises
should state in advance rate OF
compensation with which they would
content themselves, just as do the
bondholders, who name an interest
rate, the preferred stockholders, who
name a dividend rate, and the en-
ployes, who name wage rate.
risks should be compensated by
extra dividends to stockholders linn
tied to whatever amount may be
necessary to induce sufficient in
vestment of capital in any given en-
terprise.
"All surplus earnings should be
prorated among the consumers in ac-
cordance with the amounts of their
puTCHdocS, 5iAiOS thCy h"hc GA "a
terprise possible by supplying the
market for the thing produced.
.'This would be cooperative COM
petition for both producers and con-
sumers and would inspire confidence
in industry because it would be alb
solutely fair to all factors of produc-
ton as we'll as to the entire buying
publics'
Now, Mr.. Shearon has more recent
lly had some correspondence with
President Hadley, of Yale University,
who has taken kindly interest in
Mr.. Shearon's proposition, advising
him, however, that the results de-
sired are not to reached just now by
legislation, but require more en-
lightened and effective public opin-
ion than exists at present.
Usually theorists are more or less
vague and impractical and in most
instances fail to attract an audience
with their views. Mr.. Shearon has
been trying to reach the people thru
the press with very little success. So
now he expects to issue zone Big
Family" q paper setting forth his
plans.
Neither the theory nor the paper
would be particularly interesting at
this time to our readers but for the
fact that we are approaching crisis
with capital arrayed on one side and
labor on the other. Neither is in
clined to make any liberal conces-
sions.
In the. industrial game Mr.. Shea
ron does not propose socialism, which
is calculated to discourage the spirit
of competition and emulation and
breed sloth and stagnation, but he
proposes a compensation for organi-
cation and hazards; after that he be-
lieves that managers of industrial en-
terprises should be willing to state
in adance rate of compensation
with which they will content them
selves, as do bondholders, who name
an interest rate. preferred stock
holders, who name dividend rate,
and employees, who name wage rate.
The surplus earnings, Mr.. Shearon
says, should be prorated among the
consumers. He does not tell us how
this is to be done, but one commenta-
tor suggests that the surplus of the
previous year could be used as basis
of price regulation and the fixing of
equities to the consumer.
I am not quoting these things
merely for the reason that Mr.. Shea
ron is native of this county, but
for the reason that they strike us