The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-20
How SO?

$$S:*S How SO?
 Because sooner
 Az I or later when the
 cost of things have
 TODPEC il been reduced, the
 selling prices be- come lower. The price to the consumer may not be reduced right away. In some cases the producer may not want to pass along to the consumer the bene- fit of the lower cost. But nearly all business is done today on a competitive basis and competition leads in the long run to the lowest possible price.
 Another thing. Are high wages and low selling costs both possible? In broad sense the answer again is "Yes." Which would the majority of em- ployers rather have, a higher rate of production per worker and high wages, or low production per worker and low wages?
 A high production worker and high wages, of course.
 Are wages fixed by employers?
 Are wages fixed by trade unions?
 Or, are wages fixed by wage earn CTS themselves?
 
 more accurate to say that wage earners themselves have more to do in the long run with the fixing of their wages than either employer or trade unions have. . High wages and low production are not feasible, are not in the cards. Oh, yes, certain trades or groups can force such a lopsided deal upon the public for a time, but not as a permanent diet.
 It simply isn't economically practica- ble. High wages and low production mean excessively high prices and exces- sively high prices kill buying and con- sumption.
 These are, or ought to be, A. B. C.. truths, understood by the least edu- cated workmen. But, unhappily, the truths are not understood by all work men.
 How many heads of large business organizations ever take the time or trouble or get their workers together and explain such matters to them face to face in language they can grasp? You and I know that mighty few large employers ever take any. such pains.
 In course of a conversation about Gerard Swope, president of the Gen. eral Electric company, I learned that, since he stepped into this position two years ago he has spent quite a large part of his time in travelling all over the country to meet and talk with the employees at the big factories and branches, and that he had made point of explaining very clearly to them the principles and policies of the company toward the workers. One point which he was particularly careful to empha- size to the men was this:
 High wages do not necessarily mean high costs.
 Mir. Swope is the modern type of executive. He recognizes the over shadowing importance of the human element in conducting a vast enter prise. In his talk with workers he ex- plains to them that times have changed and that the running of a great indus trial enterprise like the General Elec- tric company is no longer a matter be- tween Capital" and labor" but be- tween management and labor.
 Capital" does not fix prices or fix wages or fix anything else. "Capi- tal'' leaves all such problems to the management and so long as manage ment can run the business in such way that a fair return can be earned on the money invested, "capital' keeps its hands off entirely. But unless management and the men can together produce reasonably satisfactory results, then "capitaP' can and often does step in and raise ructions, going to the length, sometimes, of closing up con- cern completely rathter than go on running it at a loss.
 "We want our men to get the right picture of the General Electric com pany," said Mir. Swope. "We want them to know that our company is not owned or controlled by capital but by some 10000 investors in our stock. We want them to know that 12, 1000 of the 10000 are the companys own em- ployes. We want them to know that more than 40 per cent of all our peO- pie who have been with the company over a year are holders of it's securi- ties and that they own or have sub scribed to close to $15,000,000 worth of the bonds arranged specially for purchase on easy terms by employees and on which they get a return of 8 per cent.
 "We want the men to know that those of us who are connected with the management always are more anxious to raise wages than to cut wages. But , we want them to know that this can be done only if, through the combined efforts of management and wage earn CTS, production can be increased and costs reduced"
 He has explained to the men in diff c. AL 4I can be reduced the larger will be the number of people in a position to buy what is produced and the larger, there fore, will be the earnings of the work CTS.
 Are General Electric workers inter ested in reducing costs?
 Why, last year more than 5000 sug- gestions for improvement of methods of doing work were submitted by them. Fully 1,750 were adopted and a total of $23,000 in cash awarded, the amount in each case being fixed in consulta- tion with the workers representatives As an illustration of how improved methods cut costs and lead to lower prices and wider consumption, incan- descent lamps may be cited. They are now cheaper than before the war, with the consequence that far more people can and do now use them.
 Yes treat workmen so that they will become genuinely interested in their jobs, and they can do more than either capital or management to reduce costs and make it possible for you and me and everyone else to enjoy a more gen. erous share of tn ecomforts, conven. fences and luxuries of life.
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