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Show Read GEORGE W. PERKINS' . great argument for "Co-Operation" inn in i INDIVIDUALISM IS US DEAD US 11 SILT ! George W. Perkins, Chairman of the New York City Committee on Food Supply, Finds That Science and Invention In-vention Are Forcing Revolutionary Changes in the World's Industrial Relations, Re-lations, Whether We Like It or Not. ATA RECENT public hearing on certain proposed food legislation which Mr. Perkins favored fav-ored and which recognized the; necessity of co operation some one remarked that the legislation was a violation of the principle of individualism. Mr. Perkins "retorted, "Individualism "Individ-ualism is as dead as a smelt." Mr. Perkins' reasons for his be-i lief are outlined in the following article: By GEORGE W. PERKINS, Chairman nf Mayor Mitchel's Food Supply Committee. One of the greatest stumbling blocks! to progress is the human inclination to follow precedent aDd old methods tooi I f k ' "s y ; .q r a ' x y - 4 GEORGE W. PERKINS. closely. We find it difficult to strike out along entirely new lines. ' Thomas Jefferson, in his old age, wrote a letter in which he said: Some men ascribe to the men of the preceding age u wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond uniendmrnt. I knew that age of the Uevolutioi 1 well. I belonged be-longed to it and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the, present; nud forty years c' experience is worth a century cen-tury of book reading ; and this they would say themselves were they to arise from the dead Great Changes Taking Place Rapidly. The changes that occurred from the close of the Revolutionary War to Jefferson's Jef-ferson's old age made a deep impression impres-sion on his mind; yet as wo look back at them from this dlMunce they seem Infinitesimal when compared with the changes that have taken place in the world the last quarter ot a century and the tremendous changes taking place now. George Washington was a representative representa-tive of the host type of American a century and a half ago. He was a Icliular, a soldier and a statesman, yet j '- he did not know as much about science as a young schoolboy of to-day. Thomas A. Edison typifies the scien-; scien-; tlst of our time, but the gap between the man of the Edison type and Washington Wash-ington Is probably greater than the gap between Washington and the mar: whose bones were recently discovered jnear Trenton, N. J., said to have lived i 125,000 years ago. The advances in science, intercom-ilmunicatlon intercom-ilmunicatlon and in universal educa- li tion these three great factors account :for the stupendous progress this country coun-try has made in the last twenty-five, years. J They have swept away old prece- -idents, old customs, and they will "eventually "even-tually sweep away many of the laws, now on our statute books. I i The man of to-day who does not fully comprehend all this is doomed to !be somewhat of a . failure, while the 'man who does comprehend it will have taken a long stride toward success. It is not many years since I was a lad, and yet at that time there was no such thing as a telephone. The telegraph tele-graph was in very meagre use; fast ex--press trains did not exist. It took .several weeks to cross the ocean, and the only flying machine we knew about was the much -derided one possessed by Darius Green. Entering a New World. When Abraham Lincoln was President Presi-dent it took four days or more for a iletter to travel from his home in Illinois Illi-nois to New York. It took him several jdays to go from his home to Washing-jton Washing-jton to be inaugurated. And yet only a jfew weeks ago a young woman, tm- i aided and alone, travelled in a flying j 'machine from Chicago to Xew York in ;eight hours and fifty ruinutes. - We are just entering a new electrical ,world. where everything is done, as it were, on the instant. ; Our fathers had none of the modern machinery with which social and business busi-ness intercourse is now carried on. Their sons are wrestling with the prob-:lem prob-:lem of how to use these new methods 'of intercommunication and still adhere to the laws, the precedents and the book learning of their fathers. This is OUR great problem. It is a difficult, complicated problem and is causing a struggle of titanic proportions propor-tions a straggle to throw off in a ' night, as it were, the precedents of an old world for the realities of a new. Precedent makes cowards of ns all. But the educator, the scientist and the inventor have left us no choice. We must adjust ourthought and action to new conditions. The Day of Individualism Gone. The changes of the last twenty-five years socially, industrially and economically econom-ically have been great, yet I believe they are Infinitesimal compared to the "changes that are coining. 1 believe these changes are going to deal most largely with the relationship relation-ship of man to man. In this country we have been living in an age of the utmost freedom to the 'individual. It haa been the individualistic individual-istic period, wheahe order of the day has seemed to be Ipvery fellow for himself him-self and the devil take the hindmost." j: We have gloried, in tic in,,, of he individual ao'have practised tliU freedom to a point whore, in mun,, phases of our life, it has amounted to license to do almost anything that we pleased or that brought profit or fancied renown, regardless of its effect on one's fellowmen. In the early days, when instantaneous 'intercommunication did not exist, when education was meagre and science undeveloped, un-developed, what the individual did wa- jof comparatively small consequence, for his deeds did not reach very far and did not affect many people. 1 ' ' : - f vwr - ; ui DO AS' I !: LIKE." i Individualism. : With intercommunication drawing the world together in one centralized jeommunity. the act of the individual! jean affect a large number of people;: Itherefore, that form of freedom which i is simply another expression for Ii-: Icense to do as one pleasese can no llonger exist When Manhattan was sparsely settled set-tled and most of the people lived on 'its southern end it would not have mattered much had there been a case ;of smallpox at the north end. The patient pa-tient could have done pretty much as 'he pleased without endangering any ione ejse. But a case of smallpox In the north-lern north-lern end of Manhattan to-day must be quarantined immediately to protect other people. When I was a boy there was no Society So-ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and had any one suggested that a man could not whip his horse as much as he pleased he would have been iridiculed. Indeed, in those days the idea that a man had not the right to -beat his own child as he pleased was jgiven little attention. When we were all driving horses and Ibuggies there was no speed limit and 'a man did not have to procure a license to drive a horse. With the ad-Ivent ad-Ivent of the automobile a license has (become a necessity. The public must 'know that the man who operates an ;automobile knows first how to operate jit and, second, to coutrol it. Society is finding it necessary to take jaway much of what has hitherto been called "freedom of the individual." In my judgment this process is only in its infancy. Relation of Capital and Labor. The freedom of the business man to do as he pleases is now being seriously lehnllenged, and I most heartily agree 'with what Mr. John D. Rockefeller. Jr., said recently at Cornell University to the effect that one of the chief qualifications quali-fications for a manager of a large business busi-ness concern is rapidly coming to be the human quality and ability to adjust ad-just differences between capitalist and laborer and to understand their relationship. rela-tionship. Uutil recent years little broad thinking think-ing was given to this problem and differences dif-ferences were settled on the basis of "might makes right". All this is rapidly rap-idly changing and wc are entering a -period of new industrial relationships. In the long ago the relationship be-tweeen be-tweeen capital and labor was that of owner and slave, then came the period of master and man, theu the period of employer and employe, each period being a decided step forward. In my judgment we are Just now entering en-tering a period of copartnership, where the tool user will be part tool owuer and where capital and labor will aluKe uiui'U equituuiy iu tue proiiLs of L - .' ' " -I .' '...'. - : " " V ' t'll the business in which they are jointly engaged. This advance is inevitable because of our educational system, which teaches, the worliingman to think for himself. It is inevitable because intercommunication intercommuni-cation has told the worldngnian in one community what the workingman in other communities are striving for and achieving. It is inevitable, because strikes and lockouts can never be settled satisfac- - v; -t ( L . -o , - - 1 ' torily or permanently by merely raising rais-ing aYnan's wages. ' It is inevitable because it gives stability sta-bility to business and because it is as Jadvantageous to capital as to labor. As a matter of fact, when a working-Iman working-Iman strikes it is not merely to obtain Ian increase in his wage; that is what 'the papers tell us the trouble is all labout and that is what he asks for; but 'way down underneath what he is really 'striking for is a larger percentage of 'the profits of the business. He may not realize this, but, sub-Iconseiously. sub-Iconseiously. tills is precisely what he is doing. No mere increase in wages can ever satisfactorily solve this problem. It can be solved only on the basis of profit sharing. By profit sharing I do not mean) bonus giving. I mean actual- profit sharing plans based on the earnings of the business, with a fair percentage to capital and a fair percentage to labor after ordinary wages and interest inter-est have been earned. Profit sharing can be done satisfactorily satis-factorily only when the business concern con-cern makes public its transactions, so that the laborer and the stockholder ican know as much about the business las di the manager himself. In the adjustment' of difficulties be-jtween be-jtween capital and labor I am confident conf-ident that open books will accomplish jrauch more than open shops. These changes are far-reaching and (fundamental. W7hat are we going to jdo about it? What is to be our mental men-tal attitude? How are we going to handle these problems? Can we approach them from the Isame point of view as did our -fathers, who lived in a strictly individualistic i'agc? Can we approach them from the ii knowledge we have gained from law iibooks which were written in the in-jdividualistic in-jdividualistic age? If we do we will j:be combatting the mighty onward Uush of new thought and new condi-i'tions, condi-i'tions, provided in large measure by jthe scientist, the educator, the iuven-:tor. iuven-:tor. What the Future Holds Forth. j What is the outlook? Is it a sad, ' 'pessimistic future that unfolds? Does :life hardly seem worth living under l he new conditions or does it hold out an optimistic future, with finer op- ; : nortunities and more worth while goals? Let me see if I can picture it as I see it First. Just a glance into the ! past j About the only goal we have had has been the almighty dollar. The first question asked when a man dies is, -'How much was he worth';" with scarcely a tuought as to how much he dhl for his coiuuiuuity or his country. coun-try. - Lull UUt lias, It U-U ULUudULcd to? ' !'"'( the men who have lived nnd worked simply to acquire great fortunes for-tunes obtained peace of mind, happiness happi-ness and honor? How many of them could answer "Yes" ? Has the country been benefited by the course they bae taken? A very large majority of our countrymen would answer "No." . On the whole, the individualistic age has not been a success, either iOr the Individual, or the community in which he has lived, or the nation. We are. beyond question, entering on a period where the welfare of the community takes precedence over the interests of the Individual and where the liberty of the individual will be more and more circumscribed for the benefit of the community as a whole. Man's activities wili hereafter be required to be not only for himself ibut for his fellowmen. To my mind there Is nothing in the signs of the times so certain as this. How the Rewards Will Come. Our only decoration the almighty dollar is receding Into the background. The man of exceptional ability, of more than ordinary talent, will hereafter here-after look for his rewards, for his honors, not In one direction but in two: First and foremost in some public work accomplished, and, secondarily, sec-ondarily, in wealth acquired. In place of having It said of him at his death that he left so many hundred thousand dollars it will be said that he rendered a certain amount of public service and. incidentally, left a certain amount of money. Such a goal will prove a far greater satisfaction to him, he will live a more i rational, worth while life and he will !be doing his share to provide a better icountry in which to live. I have two reasons for believing that i future conditions will be as I have ibriefly sketched them: First, because the world is being drawn together :n ODe centralized community through t' wonderful development de-velopment in science an-1 'he marvellous marvel-lous work of the inventor Second, because in our country especially w'e are entering upon a new stage of development, which calls loudly for men who will render disinterested dis-interested public service We face new conditions, and in order to survive and succeed we will irequire a different spirit of public service. One reason why I am strongly for universal military training Is that it develops in the youth a sense of all around responsibility to his country, hot only in time of war but in time of Why a New Era Co-opera- t tion Must Succeed Pure X X Individualism. f iij 1TI1 intereommuni- j I cation drawing the i f X world together, (he act of an X X individual can affect a large it number of people; therefore t it that form of freedom which t is simply another expression i j for license to do as one t pleases can no longer exist." t GEORGE YV. PERKINS, t : : -4---- peace, ne Is much more apt to be a faithful, conscientious servant than if he had not had military training. He lenters public service In time of peace !ln more nearly the stfme spirit that he would enter military service in time of war namely, from a sense of patriotic duty and a desire to serve his country and his fellowmen. In recent years we have been hearing a great deal about government ownership owner-ship of our railroads. We are told that in Germany the railroads are owned by the government and that their opera- ! tion is most successful. This is true, ! but In Germany conditions are vastly different '1 he military training ot the youth. In j fact, the entire trend of education a j Germany Is to Impress upon the young ; men of that land that they owe service I to their country. When a muu enters j i the governments emptov In v ','1' road business he is as eons, t.-t.t - ' he would be were he entct in- ti'-c -v-ernmeut's service in time of war If our railroads were to be taken over and operated by our government at this time, how many of you think we would duplicate Germany's success? Government ownership of railroads may be as desirable In this country ns It is in Germany, but we must first have public servants who will at least come somewhere near the standard of Germany's public servants in efficiency and honesty. Look at the spectacle we are presenting pre-senting to the world at this very ra t 4 The changes of the last . . twentv-five venrs socially, in t dnstrinllv and economically have been verv creal. vet I t believe thev ni-e inl'tn,te--!mal t , compared to the chanties thai f are coming. Precedent make t 4 cowards of us all But th" t t educator, the scientist and the inventor have left us n t t choice. We must adjust our . thought and action to new ,. . conditions. t f GEORGE V. PERKINS. t ment in our pork barrel IcgNlnt'mil fould wo afford to have our railroads opera led by the same type of public servants? If our government is to endure, -f we are to take our proper place among the nations nf the world in the new civilization, civ-ilization, the man of the future must live not for himself alone but for others. Consideration for one another is IspeeiTily becoming a social, industrial and economic necessity. Centralization is the order of the day. The telegraph, the telephone, the automobile auto-mobile and the airship are the causes. jThey have wiped out not only old prec-'edents prec-'edents and customs but State and national na-tional lines as well. ! A man living In Boston who wishes I to talk to a man living in San Fran-jeisoo Fran-jeisoo simply rings a bell, puts a little 'instrument to his e-ir and proceeds to I 'talk. Thete Is hardly a miracle in t lie Bible more wonderful thai) tills. I The doctrine of "Slate rights" is being rapidly demolished. The nation na-tion is being obliged to assume many of tile functions of government heretofore here-tofore performed by the State, and Ibis -endency is growing. The Slate, viewed as an individual with the right In do as it pleases within with-in itself, without regard for other Stales, can no longer be tolerated. (inly Ihe nation can act in matters lltat affect inlerstate relations. and with intercommunication and trans-initation trans-initation developed to ineir present ilage a considerable percentage of a slate's aoiivJIies arc iulr.State in heir effects and consequences The World Is Drawing Together. We must therefore take on a new lalionalisin. The world has lii-cn drawn very closely tngolhor by the cable and the transatlantic liner, lint it is on the verge of being drawn infinitely in-finitely more closely togclhcr by ihe wireless, the airship and the submarine subma-rine telVphone Wiien these are practical, everyday instruments of intercommunion! ion and transportation the social practices prac-tices and the Industrial methods of one nation will quickly and nerlonsly ;affect all other nations This will re-; re-; quire the yielding by nations of cr-tln cr-tln of their Individualistic rights and prerogatives in order to safeguard and benefit the world as a whole. This opens up a great, new ista -It presents problems that are intensely in-tensely Interesting and of far-renoh-! lug Importance. The period that Is upon us offem large opportunities for Individual thought, initiative aDd action, for constructive con-structive work and for constructive statesmanship. The mighty changes taking place In Kurope tell us with unmistakable voice that the reconstruction period ,n at hand. The man of the future must realize It. He must be ready ,o adjust himself to the new '-onditions. He must have sufficient vision, Intelligence Intel-ligence and courage to cast aside the methods and precedents of a bygone age. He must let the dead past bury Its dead. He mast not look back i.o the setting but forward to the rising sun. |
