Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1923-10-26
UTAH MAN WOULD
MAKE LABOR COGS
Continued from Page y

have no thought for anything except
their employers profits. Granting
that the miners are subnormal, as Mr..
Stroup alleges, they say his plan
would make them even more subnor-
NAL, by taking away every incentive
for the least use of their brains and
reducing them to the status of non
thinking, soulless machinery.
Just how he thinks "mechanicaliza-
ton" has benefited the workers and
how more thorough "mechanicaliza-
ton" would prove OF even greater
benefit is explained as follows by Mr..
Stroup:
Result In Metal Mines.
"In the metal mines the tradition
Of the individual miner. capable and
responsible, has been abolished, the
mines have been thoroughly mechani-
Called, all operations have been
standardized, nothing has been left
to the initiative or judgment of the
miner himself.
THE trade of metal miner has
ceased to exist; they are now all mine
workers fitting into the inches and
conforming to the routine laid out by
their managers, and are certainly
efficient, more contented, and
happier than in the old days Of the
individual worker. Engineers have
brought these things about even
though they were not always cogni-
zant Of the fundamental reasons for
their d~esirability.
"In coal mining, on the other hand,
the tradition of the individual worker
has been maintained, even extended;
decentralization has been very slow
ly and reluctantly brought about;
operations at the face are left to the
Judgment of the miner himself. The
influence of the engineer has scarce
ly been felt in the coal mining in
dustry. This has caused to exist a
group of skilled workers intensely
Jealous of their special knowledge and
easily maintained in compact organ-
izations for the purpose Of preventing
other men from acquiring or utilizing
this special knowledge, and incident
ally of 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 workers
have been made to fit into the vast
routine organizations, but the tradi-
ton of individual skill still holds the
railroad workers in its grasp; that
element hasa not been removed from
train operation.
No Brain Power.
But the routine maker of machine
parts is apt to be more pleased with
his job, more contented and in every
way better off personally than the
skilled railroad man, with his exag-
gerated ideas of his own consequence
and his exercise of individual judg-
ment, initiative and skill; things made
so much of by ignorant social workers
and union leaders, but which perhaps
not more than o~ne-fourth or 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 intellects
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
menal poise much better than the re-
sponsible worker. Not the least of
the crimes Of our educational system
has been to teach the mental equality
Of men"
Having shown to his W satisfac-
ton that decentralization brings
happiness to the workers and, pre-
sumedly. dividends to the employers,
Mr.. 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 popula-
ton, bitter hates heing p~atronized and
being the object of charity. Mr.. Stroup
says the reason the worker doesn't
take to welfare" schemes is because
he is subnormali
1t has been shown, Mr.. Stroup says,
that so per cent of the nations popu-
lation is underdeveloped mentally,
and that 1t is incapable of self-direc-
ton or Of exercising independent
Judgment. It is probable, he says.
that from 80 to 80 per cent are in
capable of clear thinking or self
direction. 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 employee participa-
ton in management, profit-sharing,
ETC., is made clear.
This simple fact of the
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 it's full import and
significance must be grasped by every
industrial manager. 1t must also be