Evening star., 1925-04-08
No. l9-Labor Seen by Warren S. Stone.
By John F. Sinclair,
Europe Hold Together" and Can Your Taxes Be Gut

tenn will be headed up in an Ohio
corporation which will control the
regional holding companies. Our or
ganization, of course, controls the
central company and our officers are
officers in it as well as the subsidi-
aries
Warren S. Stone, as he spoke, look
ed more like a prosperous big busf-
ness man than the most dynamic of
labor leaders
Under his leadership as grand chief
the Brotherhood of Locomotive En-
gineers has built up an accident and
insurance department which has paid
out more than s51 ,0000 900 and has in
force today $4,000 900 in insurance.
About S4,000,0o0 is distributed each
year in this way. This is in addition
to the sick benefits and refunds. The
annual membership dues of $66 a
year, paid by more than $4,000 mem
bers, now brings in about $6,000,000.
But this is insufficient for the pres
ent work.
Buys once Buildings.
To obtain a larger revenue the
brotherhood acquired two Office build
ings in the heart of Cleveland. now
valued at $4,000 900. Now it is build
ing another 81 stories high, the
lower floors of which will be occu-
pied by the Brotherhood Cooperative
Bank, the first link in it's chain of
eight such institutions.
This is not all. The brotherhood
already controls large banks in New
York, Boston, Spokane, Portland.
Tacoma, Minneapolis, Birmingham,
Ala, and Cleveland. Add the EN-
pire Trust Co. of New York and the
New York Empire Co, in both of
which the brotherhood has large hold
ings.
To understand the significance of
this movement inaugurated by Mr..
Stone and his associates we must re-
member that each year $25. 900. 900 900
is paid the workers of America and
from six to seven billions is saved in
various ways. 1t is this latter huge
sum which the labor banks hope
eventually to control.
Mr.. Stone, just what is the Ameri-
can labor movement, and particularly
your own brotherhood, trying to ac-
complish in organizing labor banks
from the Atlantic to the Pacific?" I
asked.
Headed Toward Cooperation.
I'm my opinion organized labor in
the United States has gone through
three cycles he said. I'm the first
cycle, class consciousness was the
key word. A sense of solidarity, of
unity, was necessary in order to make
collective effort for better wages
and better working conditions Our
own brotherhood passed through this
cycle quickly and successfully.
In the second cycle, there develop
ed a struggle to maintain the prin-
ciple OF collective bargaining. This
was a disturbing, unsettled and very
unsatisfactory period. 1t involved, l
am sorry to say, the use of force,
sometimes economic, sometime s
physical, on both sides. To me this
principle of collective bargaining has
now won its legitimate place IN
American life.
Then comes the third cycle. 1t lies
in constructive development toward
a system of cooperation, rather than
the warpath. And the most striking
evidence of the stage is the labor
banks"
1 asked him to explain in detail.
Resources Great.
To-day the % labor banks in
America have combined resources of
more than $3.50, ,000," he declared.
These huge resources have been
built up in less than four years. How d?
If labor banks are the workers
banks, then the workers Guild share
in their earnings. To US this is a
basic principle. We believe stock
holders in a bank should be satisfied
with a maximum return of 10 per
cent on their money. All over that
after carrying charges and reserves,
Is pro-rated among the savings de-
positors in proportion to their de-
posits. And so in the past three years
we have paid 4 per cent compounded
quarterly and in addition a special
dividend to savings depositors of l
per cent each year
A dividend paid on the stock of a
bank is common enough in Wall
street and throughout the country.
But a dividend on the deposits is
something new. But let Mr.. Stone
proceed:
Sell Bonds to Employees.
But that's not all. AS soon as a
man has saved $500 we urge him to
put his money into a good conserva-
tive bond We believe in helping a
customer to acquire the habit OF
thrift We demand good investments
We get the working people away
from bad stocks and wildcat schemes
We are doing our best to educate
the working people i4to safe markets
That means cobperation-unf
safety for all. 1t means that when
our banks in Cleveland joined hands
with the National City Co. of New
York and bought $3,500,000 bonds OF
International Great Northern Rail-
road Co. a new epoch in the rela-
tionship of capital and organized la
Dor was ushered in.
GO a step further. What did we
do with those bonds? First, we Of
fered them to the men-our union
men employed on the International
Great Northern. Every engineer
every fireman, conductor, brakeman
mechanic was given chance to buy
a. bond. These workers became even
more interested than before in The
railroad, and so as this railroad pros
pers the bondholders become safer in
their investment"
Depositors of All Glasses.
Mr.. Stone was asked if the deposits
coming to the labor banks are from
other banks or from new, untappeC
sources.
when we opened our Cleveland
bank" he continued, 1--WE received de-
posits from not merely unioniZet
working men and women, but also
from professional men and seam
stresses and stenographers ant
clerks. Deposits came from ever.
State and many foreign countries.
really believe that a good deal o,
| this deposit money was concealed il
| old stockings and tin cans until W.
came along"
Warren Stone is frank, fluent ant
| friendly. He knows what he wants
But his strongest appeal seems to b.
| the magnetic hold he has, after 2.
years as grand chief, on the $500
conductors of North America.
"Then you do not see any seriou