Salt Lake Telegram | 1929-08-11 | Page 28 | Campany Believes It's Good Business to Make Capitalists out of Its Workers

I od Business to toMake Make ke C Capitalists Out of Its Workers jf CLEVELAND 6 O. NEA NEA The The factory that has lias neither a tJ time clock nor a no boss has just uHl celebrated celebrate its ILI fiftieth anniversary and and i It I has lias as done it lit just about tho the unusual way you might expect of ot that unusual unusual unusual un un- usual kind of factory It has hils given its a 8 gift of ot somewhat more th than n All r this thi i Is hi en enough u h out of or the ordinary in the American industrial scheme to tobo tobe be worth reading about The Tho factory Is the big clothing hm 1 0 of th the Richman Brothers It Its gift consists In In giving the workers a n. chance to touy IU buy uy new liew stock at something like third one of ot its market value HOW PLAN WORKED Here is how it worked out The directors dIrectors' voted a stock spIll split of three to one The Tho Tho authorized common shares of ot the connan were increased from to 1 and the outstanding Ine sha shares es from to Fifty thousand of ot the out but outstanding standing shares share's Were vete ete set aside for r distribution to t-o s at t 50 a a ashare share although share although the market value was f a a. share shar were only asked t to mal make mage e a down payment pay pay payment ment merit of ot 6 5 per cent ent arid nd were given until NoVember 1 I 1931 to pay lh the bal balance out but of ot their earnings The Tho of shares allotted to each was based on on ous employment for the e 1027 and 1923 1928 an and oU on the rate of ot pay The company hi has In its Hs factories at Cleveland ICle and Lorain 0 O. O Oo and SOO more in the tiie th thirty eight retail stores It operates in thirty seven cities Near Nearly y all aU of ot k advantage of ot th the com corn panya pany offer It Is 18 worth noting In inthis' inthis this this' c that thal previous us to I this p the tho alre already d held J ot stock t I Inv ln their compa company FOURTH ISSUE j Three times before the tho company has distributed stock among mong Its workers at prices fa far below the tho market t. t value In 1921 1021 for In instance In- In stance vere were able to sub sub- f for r stock It t-t 1667 a a. share Almost Immediately a a. 15 cash casi dividend was d declared lar d y follo b by n. n regular a r dividend nd of or 1 50 so 80 that tho the actually paid o only 17 17 cents cent a a share for for his hits stock LAnd An b of or three st ck dividends th that t. t have since be been n voted those c 17 cent 17 nt shares today are w worth rth aro around nd 1116 Tho The company b hasa liast s unique idea It l holds olds that it is lo to d Its interest In a strictly monetary way t to make its 1115 financially finan daily independent pendent By selling them Its sto stock k it hopes to make mak them jall in all financially Independent in their old age and age and In many mony cases It is doing precisely th that t. t For instance a 8 woman oman cook Inan In an cs' cs restaurant retired this year ear after thirteen years of ot service with 30 oooo q Qt qC stock in ad nd- Ion to a B account of t Men ten en she retired the c management suggested that she sho sell sen her stock und and Invest inest the proceeds In an an an- an n- n nUlty She d because b cause she had too much confidence e in the stock to toc give c It itu up Then rhen there was wa a 9 tailor Jailor who re tired this this' year elt after fter twenty five years of or service II I He ulo had hi f 30 30 wo and had harJ d n home hOhle that thal wart i fully paid for oz- oz Many others have haye even better records than these these but but these will wm do 10 for samples DENIES ALTRUISM N N. G. G Richman chairman i of Ut tho board that there is any l par r.- r. tl altruism In tn the company's practice c and says says' as the workers themselves have been largely re e for Increasing the this va value uc of or their stock Wet Wo don donEt t need the thc money from lom ou ye es subscrIptions subscription to finance or carry on Uti our business ss lie be says If It we really needed money we could undoubtedly soil sell tho the stock st stockholders nt at m much ch higher prices than that at which j the tho stock Is offered to the em- em i What we do need is Is 18 tho the em tin- toyes wholehearted d cooperation and Interest day cIny because h 8 and sell Rich Rich- n cl clothes the There Is n no better wn way to obtain such cooperation than to take taka them into the business as as as pa part t owners NO LA LABOR OR TROUBLE TI Then en to demonstrate his point ho hI cites these facts rho ho c company has hai never had any labor Jabor trouble Seldom has hns ns any ny askil ask I Jor for t raise In n wages o or piece wo work wok k prices Many 1 girls get more than 35 a Since Sinco Jt it first offered stock to Us its cm J CS Its plants have hav run continuously con con- for or nine forty weeks week each ench year Each gets one week summer vacation and two weeks at Christmas time on full run pay J I In that same period the market value of the company's stock has risen 1 from 2 to m Th Richman company makes no effort to interfere nt in its workers workers' private lives b by organizing workers workers' clubs or the like Nevertheless the theoff off officials are are are- alwn always s 's read ready to give advice to th the workers on any subject sub sub- sub jec Jeet the ding of or a good doctor doc doc- tor tar to the the best way to finance a a Ii ahome home borne But Mr Rich Richman man does n not t tuSe uSe the word werd paternalism pl Philanthropy Sociological the the- pries cries 1 1 h ts Not N t at all We Wc WeL L ar merely business men seeking profits pI and bur ur exp experience den e has bas shown us that this way Is the best j way to m make k them