Detroit evening times., 1945-01-30
Planning
Together

Together
BY BENJAMIN DE CASSERES
0CO-OPERATION: Concurrent effort or labor 4 I
~ collective action i'm the pursuit of common
well-being. ng."-Webster'S dictionary.
That is the most important word to be learned
by labor and management if we are to build an
impregnabe postwar industrial America.
VOLUNTARY COOPERATION is life on
the American plan.
- COMPULSORY COOPERATION is life on
the Hitler Stain, Mussoni plan.
AMERICAN SOLIDARITY in confronting
the world after the war does not depend on our
international agreements.
1t depends on the PLANNING TOGETHER
of American employer and employe.
A LONG step in this direction has been taken
"A by Frederick C. Crawford president Of the
Thompson Products Co. and former president Of
the National Manufacturers Association.
Mr. Crawford, genuine American liberal as
distinct from the sOcialistic vodka and borsch
breed Of liberal submitted a QUESTIONABLE to the
more than 15 900 employees of the Thompson plant
with the invitation "to be frank in answering the
questions"
In word, he looks on his men as associates"
as partners in give-and-t take opinions around the
board.
1--WE led with our chin" says Mr. Crawford,
"and the results were highly gratifying
All the replies were unsigned-a secret ballot,
SO 10 speak, Wnlcn lS again, an Afnerlcan-Of at
least Anglo-Saxon-dea -
To the series of questions these sampleV
answers give us look into the working of the
mind of the average American worker today
LET each man stand on MERIT REGARD
LESS OF SENIORITY"
Hold every worker responsible for full
days work"
Give three days notice of schedule changes
CIXTY per cent of those answering the question
~ naire said they liked their job "a per cent
thought it "okayo II per cent "okay for the var"
Only per cent preferred to work elsewhere.
To what degree do the Thompson workers
"co=nperate2n
Asked to "rate" their immediate bosses, 81
per cent said their foreman was fair at all times,
10 per cent figured they were smarter than he
was, and 76 per cent agreed he set geed example
That's high rating to give the "bosses."
We wonder what rating" the workers in the
state owned plants of Russia and Germany twn
totalitaran states) would give their bosses on a
free secret ballot?
About the same rating" as Simon Legree got
from his enslaved victims, think
THE American worker-of which the Thompson
Products represents good crOSS-SectiOn-are
also culturaly and eventS-minded as an over
whelming majority voted for soft music" in the
cafeteria during unchtme, with two or three
minutes of headline news over the plants publicA
address system.
This again proves the worth of the American
system of VOLUNTARY COOPERATION.
The American worker does not need "over-
seers" and commissars
And let us remember that it is our So-called
and much-defamed "capitalistic system" that has
raised the American worker to the highest level of
self-reliant independence and cooperative value
in the history of mankind
AS Mr.. Crawford says:
1T just proves that the American worker
when you tell him what YOU doing and ask
his help, is in your corner all the way"
Let us ALL stay put in that cooperative Cor
ner" when we reconvert to postwar activity.
: BRAIN GAME =