Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-01-16

and sympathetically with the other,
at the same time making use Of such
agencies or methods as seem most
likely to secure the results mutually
desired. When l speak of sympa-
thetie understanding or relationship,
I do not use the word sympathetic in
any maudlin sense, but rather as in
dicating a mutual desire to maintain
relationship based upon q friendly
understanding.
Now, what is the effect of such an
understanding and Of such relation
shipf It seems to me that there can
be only one answer to that question.
It gives to every employee an enlight-
ened and enlarged view of his own
worth and Importance as a part of the
great organization known as the Bal
timore & Ohio Railroad. It empha-
sizes to each man the Importance of
the work which he himself is doing,
and the responsibility which goes with
his job or position, and which rests
upon him personally to do good work,
to do honest and dependable work, not
just because it is really his duty as
an honest man to give good work in
return for good wages paid in good
money, but because, realizing the re-
sponsibility which he shares with the
management for the safe and proper
operation of the railroad, he wants to
do good work; he wants to do thorough
and dependable work in order that he
may fulfill the enlarged conception
which he has of the responsibility
which properly rests upon him as a
part of the railroad organization. In
fact, | think it has come about that
the workmen themselves in greater de-
gree than ever before are doing and
doing happily the best that is in them,
not just because they feel they are
obliged to do it, but rather because
they want to do it, understanding and
knowing that it is the right and cred
liable thing to do.
Plan No Longer Experiment
What an unreasonable difference
there must be in the mental attitude,
in the point of view of man working
under such circumstances, and one
who without knowledge of the plans
and ideals of his employer, without
understanding and appreciation of the
joint responsibilities which really rest
upon both of them in their joint rela-
ton to the public, simply goes about
his daily task feeling that he is oblig-
ed to do a certain amount of work in
return for a certain amount of wages.
How can a man working under such
conditions be expected to take the
keen, lively and personal interest in
his work which makes all the diff
ference between an employment that
is irksome and firing, and another
that is stimulating and full of in
terest?
believe that it has now been fully
demonstrated that the cooperative
plan which the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road has put into effect, in coopera-
ton with it's shop employees, and with
the support of their respective unions,
ID HO AOuSCI oil cAPSA1tAcHSs ~ Hos
more than justified itself from many
different angles. 1t is now a part of
the definitely adopted policy of the
Baltimore & Ohio Company, and I
have a feeling that we have not yet
begun to realize the potential posi-
bilities of the plan. AS time goes on
and as we develop and cement still
further the understanding and re-
lationship which has already grown
up between the management and the
men, feel certain that the friendly
and sympathetic efforts of both par
ties will discover and suggest new
methods and new practices that will
not only make fo- economy, and
thereby enable the railroad to pay
good wages and at the same time
maintain satisfactory working con-
ditions, but viii also contribute to-
ward giving to the public the lower
rates for transportation service which
they desire, but for which IN my opin-
ion they sometimes press with undue
and unwise urgency.