Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-28

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time, suspending payments under the
stock ownership or home requirement
plans, or arranging for extension OF
credit for fuel, rent and food purchased
through company stores. The help is
extended on a business basis; it Is not
one OF charity.
Men Not Replaced.
In Cleveland an automobile company
has more than $500 employed, as COM
pared with $500 a year ago. When
men quit voluntarily, died or were in
capacitated they were not replaced. But
there was no wholesale discharge Of
workers. The factory is operating on
five and one-half day basis weekly
and the work Is prorated among the
men.
! In Philadelphia is q firm which seven
years ago put into execution definite
plans to curb unemployment when the
seemingly inevitable slack in business
should come. The company manufac-
lures electrical measuring instruments
and promoters. The owners declared
as a principle to be followed that "the
maintenance Of steady employment is
responsibility of industrial manage
ment" They gave those words definite
meaning by setting up in times of pros
perity substantial financial reserves
against unemployment. They decided,
in effect, that such reserves were just
as necessary and just as much q part
Of the cost of doing business, to be cal
culated in fixing prices, as the cost Of
insurance, either fire or liability.
They not only accumulated an unem-
ployment reserve fund, solely out of the
earnings of the company, by putting in
an irrevocable trust 2 per cent OF the
firms maximum pay roll, but they
adopted methods to avoid the necessity
of using the fund. Instead of holding
fast in good times to work day Of
certain length, they varied the hours
Of work, making them longer (and pay
ing more) when business was brisk. In
that way they avoided the necessity Of
adding workers TO the pay roll when
business was booming-and subtracting
them from the pay roll when business
declined.
When business did fall on the COM
pany manufactured articles for stock,
even when there were no orders for
such goods. If too much stock accumu-
lateS, working hours are reduced or
employees may be furloughed. But when
that happens the man laid of Is still
an employee. If he Is married and has
family, he receives rs per cent Of his
regular pay for q normal 44-hour week,
for as many as 20 weeks, II he has been
with the company five years or longer.
If he Is q single man, the unemploy-
ment benefit" amounts to so per cent
of his ordinary wage; If he has been
in the service Of the company only
three months, he may receive the ben
eft only three weeks.
Protection Purpose Served.
And as recently as December 2 the
company reported that the plan Is
serving very well the important pro-
60. ,rySas -
Not charity, but Just good business, is
the feeling Of the management about
this plan.
Not far away from this plant are the |
headquarters Of q railroad, the manage |
ment of which several years ago de-
cided that hiring and firing men in !
wholesale lots was poor policy, morally,
socially and economically. 1t rear
ranged methods Of work, Of maintain
ing the tracks, Of doing repair and
shop work, Of doing the other jobs con-
nected with transportation outside the
actual operation Of freight and pas
senger trains. The result is that up to
early IN December no employees, except
In train service, have been laid on be-
cause of lack Of work. Furthermore.
working hours have not been reduced
elastic working day Of from eight to
ten hours, the company has reduced by
80 per cent the amount Of dischargtng
of men formerly customary.
Up in New York State a paper man
ufacturing company is guaranteeing its
employees a minimum weekly payment
If lack Of business neceSsftateS lay
of. The managers Of the company
make no claim that they are philan-
thropists. They say:
I'VE believe that men work more EN-
ciently when relieved Of the fear Of
working themselves out Of q job. We
believe an unemployment plan elimi-
mates the waste of breaking In new
men. We believe it protects the pur-
chasing power of the community and
Of the Nation"
of lack of work, the company gives them
dismissal bonus of two weeks wages.
Men are kept on as long as any work
can be found for them; the speed OF
machines is decreased to lower the rate
Of production and lengthen the period
Of employment; experiments on new
products are carried on in times when
orders are short; the factory and ma
chinery are overhauled, painted and
renovated.
Increased Cost Denied.
And the owners report that they be-
lieve such steps have not increased the
cost Of manufacture, because they have
resulted in highly cooperative work.
amount Of cooperation furnished by
ones employees can be very much more
costly than the application Of stabiliza-
ton measures"
| From Ohio come reports Of a big
| tire factory, which, after dischargtng
| thousands of men in what might be
called the old-faShioned way" decided
that that method was neither good bust
ness nor good morals, and restored the
men TO the payroll on part-time ro-
tated service basis. Now the factory
announces that on January 5 all en-
ployes now in its shops will go back to
an eight-hour shift, five-day-a-week
/ basis, with the likelihood of employ
ment for 500 or 900 more men soon.
/ And this company, like many others, is
giving first consideration, both in fur
loughs and reinstatements, to the needs
Of the married men with families.
| A big automobile company in Indiana
Is carrying out large program Of plant
rehabilitation instead Of laying OF hun
dreds Of its men. They are being used
to raze old buildings no longer needed,
10 lay new roads within the grounds OF
the plant, to paint walls and to over
haul machinery. Coal ana groceries
are being supplied on loan basis TO
men who will not be expected to repay
until employment Is again given.
In New York the head Of one Of the
Nations greatest industrial organiza-
tons, manufacturing electric apparatus
Of every kind, has put into immediate
effect an employment sterilization plan
originally announced for inauguration q
year or two hence. Every one, from
the president down. who Is working as
much as so per cent Of full time, is
contributing per cent Of his wage or
salary TO the fund. -
| Contribution Is Matched.