Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-11-02

conforming TO TIE routine laid out By
their managers. and are certainly
more efficient. mere cenlented. ano
happier than IN the ole days Of he
individual worker. Engineers nave
brought these things about eten
though they we're not always caeal-
their deSirahiity.
In eeal mining. on the other hand.
the tradition Of the individual worker
has been maintained, ever extended.
INSTRUMENTATION has been very slow
~ and reluctantly brought about,
operations az the face ale left 70 the
Judgment Of the miner himself, Thf
influence Of the engineer has scarcely
been felt in the coal mining industry.
THIS has caused to exist group 81
skilled workers intensely Jealous q
their special knowledge and easily
maintained in compact organizations
for the purpose Of preventing other
men from acquiring or utilizing this
special knowledge, and incidentally If
exploiting their employers.
The parallel between the metal
workers and the railroad employees Is
exactly the same as between the two
groups of miners. The metal work.
erS have been made to m into VAST
routine organizations, but the tradi-
ton of individual skill still holds the
railroad workers in its grasp; that
element has not been removed from
train operation.
But the routine maker of machine
parts Is apt to be more pleased With
his job. more eontented and IN every
way better off personally than the
skilled railroad man, with his eNag-
gerated ideas of his own conse.
quenee and his exercise Of individual
Judgment. initiative ana skill; things
made 50 much of By ignorant social
workers and union leaders, but which
perhaps not more than one-fourth of
even this relatively intelligent group
possess the natural brain equipment
continuously to perform with safety
to their mental equilibrium,
This condition is closely related TO
the breakdown Of certain intelleets
under the strain of modern civiliza-
ton. and the fact that the routine
worker relieved of the stress Of max
ing independent decisions keeps his
mental poise much better than the re-
sponsible worker. Not the least of
the crimes Of our educational system
has been 10 teach the mental equality
of men,"
Having shown to his own satisfae-
ton that decentralization brings
happiness TO the workers and, pre-
sumedly. dividends TO the employers,
MIR. Stroup proceeds to give an ex-
PLANTATION of his own for the failure
of schemes of employe representa-
ton. profit sharing. etc. Entirely ig-
noring the fact that the worker, in
common with the rest of the popua-
ton, bitterly hates being patronized
and being the object of charity, Mr.,
Stroup says the reason the worker
doesn't take to welfare" schemes Is
because he is subnormall
Ii has been shown Mr.. Stroup says,
that 80 per cent of the nations popu-
, lation is underdeveloped mentally, and
that ii is incapable of self-direction
or of exercising independent judy
ment. Ii is probable, he says. that
from so to 30 per cent are incapa-
BILE of clear thinking or self-difee-
ton. In view of this. he finds the
great success of the modern factory
system not surprising, and the cause
of the failure of all the well inten-
toned schemes of employe participa-
ton in management, profit-sharlng
etc, is made clear.
This simple fact of the prepon-
derance of the subnormal In our work
ing population" he continues, must
be the point of departure for all sue.
cessful schemes of employer-employe
relationship. and its full import and
significance must be grasped by every
industrial manager Ii must also be
the basis of an education system 10
supersede the present nightmare of
experiments in public schools and of
many things. social and political;
but this knowledge also brings great
er opportunity for service to man
kind, a responsibility and opportunity
which past experience tells US will not
be shirked."
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