Bisbee daily review., 1922-08-06
Beckett Outlines Plans, Policies
 OF Company; Tells Employees Their
 Welfare Is Welfare ofthe Company

fair to criticize the management for attempting to carry out this policy and attempting to make reductions when it is done in an effort to in- crease efficiency and make the posi- tion of the company more secure 'sa
 We want strict discipline on the job but we also want the employees of the company treated fairly. A man is fortunate if he can work for a good company. but it is equally true that company is fortunate in having good men working for it.
 q might here state that there can only be one who can eXpOund the com pany's policies. There is not room for two. That is the reason why if you are in doubt as to any policy, you should go to the Labor Department or come to me. I am glad and willing to talk with any employe of the com pany at any time. Please bear in mind that we are trying to work in certain fixed direction. and while we may appear to waver at times, we are not going to go backward
 Urges Safety First"
 ''Our safety Policy is simply this if we cannot mine safely and provide safe working conditions and still get cheap operating costs, then we had better quit mining. There is no doubt about this policy. We must conduct our operations in a safe manner. h. turing or killing men and leaving wid- owS and orphans is not our policy. If you men will cooperate and use your efforts to have the other eE ployes understand and carry out this policy, we will have a good safety record. We welcome recommendation and request our employees to point out unsafe conditions. On the other hand, 1 wish it to be understood that any employee who makes a safety recom- mendation or who points out unsafe conditions or equipment will not be Giscriminated against if I can help it.. I desire to touch briefly on the subject of our promotion policy. Many of you wonder if the Company has a promotion policy. It has one, but one which it is exceedingly hard to de- velop during times of deflation. One cannot very well talk of a promotion policy when for nearly eighteen months we have been demoting in- stead of promoting men The only ba- sis I know of for a sound promotion policy is one of merit and ability. Length of service must also be con sidered, but I do not recognize the policy of strict seniority Strict sen- iority prevents the advancement of good men. Quite recently I saw a little story in a magazine which ran something like this: small boy asked his father what seniority meant. The father replied, "Son, seniority is what keeps your dad a brakeman" !" Our policy is to develope all-round men. There always have been and still are openings all the way up the line
 Regarding wages, you all know they have been reduced from the scale paid during the war period. While there is still remnant of the old sliding scale left, nevertheless, the wages now paid are based on about 17-cent cop per market. The sliding scale devel- oped number of weaknesses during the war period, and believe it would be very desirable to get our wage schedule on better basis.
 FaVors Standard Wage Scale
 Any wage scale adopted in this dis trict should follow very closely the wage scale of other mining distress in the state. You cannot have very many different wage scales without causing dissatisfaction. When we hear that one district is paying 25c per day more than another dissatis- faction immediately crops out and the men want to know why Therefore, as I see it, the employees of the var ious companies desire to see a uni Trcr11n I,n fof When the proper time comes I am going to ask your Wage Committees to work with us in the endeavor to perfect plan which we hope will be more or less permanent and one which will adjust all small differences.
 The copper industry, I feel confi- dent in saying, is in better position now than it was at the beginning of the year. A small surplus is still on hand. A great many properties are resuming operations and we may eX- pect quite lot of copper to be thrown on the market. If the demand is not sufficient to absorb this copper, then naturally the price will break. If the price should drop appreciably, then it appears to me that the situation will develop into case of the survival of lHe llIleSI. IHe HlSn cost producers will have to discontinue operations or go out of business and only the low cost producers will be able to operate It is my impression that some of our employees believe that the crisis in the copper industry is over. can not agree with them. As I see it, it is going to be necessary for us to be able to produce copper at very cheap figure if we are to put ourselves in a secure position.
 Our policy will be to continue pro- duction from the limestone mine at about the present rate. l also desire to state that we will not start opera tions on Sacramento Hill or at the Mill until conditions in the copper industry are more settled. It will not be our policy to recruit a large number of men in order to start operations and then be compelled to lay them off in six months or year. WO do not pro pose to commence operations until we can offer continuous endowment.