Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-15
THE p. r. T. As A SCHOOL
OF INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT
II Becomes Palmer Every Day That
Mitten Has Found a Real Aiterna.
tive for the Strike

Mitten Has Found Real Alterna-
tive for the Strike
THE more we learn about the trend Of
L affairs in the p. Il. T. under the direc-
ton of Mr.. Mitten and his men the more
significant and promising the experiment
in cooperative management appears.
Prophets are still without honor in their
own countries. and so it does not seem 10
have occurred TO any one TO appraisc the
Mittcn theory in the light of news that con.
tinues TO come drearly from New York. New
Jersey and other stronSholds Of backward
street ear management
In New Jersey the old alliances between
politics and badly managed utilities have
continued without check or challenge. The
allied street car companies have arrived al
most at the limit Of futility and confusion.
They are staggering under enormous over.
head charges. They are inefficient and down
at the heel. And wherever they turn they
are met by a bitterly antaeonistic public
determined to encourage any sort Of com.
petition which will further depress the value
of street car investments.
The moving geniuses Of the Jersey street
railway mergers were mt least q century
behind Mitten in point Of view. They seem
to have believed that financial advantage and
political influence were enough to insure the
continuing safety Of public service corpora.
tions which serve no one but the owners
of their securities. They have had to learn
in recent years that the good will Of the
public-something that has to be earned-is
fundamentally necessary asset without
which no modern utilities corporation can
be secure or even safe.
Mitten on the other hand. seeking to pro.
vide square deal for the public and the
working personnel of the L. Il. r.. has as
sured square deal for his corporation. For
even trolley company gets out Of life about
what it gives.
The practical value of cooperative man-
agement has yet to be properly estimated.
There is pathetic deficiency in the philoso-
ply of Il corporation which daily puts mil
lions Of dollars worth of physical property
into the hands of men who are ut heart its
enemies. In encouraging a plan of joint
responsibility which now tends toward
actual full ownership of the i. II. 7. by
the operating force. Mtten has gone far in
the way Of enlightened industrial evolution.
For he has made it both possible and neces.
sary for the employees to share the RESPONSE
bility and the risks that fall as n matter of
course on industrial capital.
1t is impossible now to measure the good
effects that such policy Of education must
have. or to even guess at the miracles that
might follow if that policy were TO be more
broadly applied in other essential utilities.
such as railways and mines. We should
enjoy the benefits of real industrial efficiency.
The terrific waste of business would be
largely eliminated. \ working system of
education by experience is. however. the
least of Mitten's achievements. lie has, in
fact. recognized and utilized a new mine of
creative energy. for he is seeking success
fully to apply the limitless energies OF en-.
thusasm. sympathy and personal interest
to the practical problems of large business.
That sort of creative force cannot be
bought for money alone. II is priceless
thing to the man who can liberate or con-
troll it. 1t changes the whole nature of
labor by making of labor an attractive in
teresting and promising business in which
a mans heart and mind can have part.
While other leaders OF big businesses
were appealing to courts1nd to the militia
and to strike. breaking organizations, Mitten
made his appeal to the faith the sympathy
and the intelligent and generous spirit of
men. He won. He couldn't lose And he
won merely because he was able 10 see that
all men. rich and poor, are alike at heart:
that a poor man or n man who works for
wages will be as kecny and as iuteligently
concerned about his children future as
man who lives on dividends alone, and
quite as determined to maintain his own
dignity as a human being.
The Mitten policy. so called. is not
founded on scientific distractions. 1t is
founded on simple human philosophy,
through which one must admit that the rich
and the poor are not made of different sorts
Of clay.
1t is strange to perceive that this obvious
truth IS yet TO be recognized in many other
important industries. When it finally is
recognized. as it il sure to be. the capitalist
will be no worse off at the bank and he will
be good deal happier. There will be no
criminally wasteful strikes and conflicts,
no labor wars. no need for cmblttered agita =
tors And there will be fewer broken down
utilities corporations shivering on the edge
OF ruin.
The utilities corporations, by giving q
square deal, will get square deal in re.