Show PROBLEMS FACING STRICKEN WORLD shall chaos or reconstruction in europe bolow follow the great world war PRIMARY CAUSE OF UNREST with the passing of small business went the feeling of community interest which meant so much article vill VIII by FRANK COMERFORD not many years ago soi something nothIng hap which changed tho relations between ind and employee C that hop happening pening lius has had a marked effect upon industrial discontent 4 something was lost out of the rotation relation between the ho owner arid and the nien ilion who worked for blin the human element tile the per between the boss and the he workers stopped with its passing unrest grow grew with great vigor it was a I 1 new le w I 1 kind ind of unrest too it was a lasting determined resolute discontent tills this canio canie to pass in ili tho the tiny day that all business entered the alie twilight twill glit in the day of fit the small plant bust busl 1 ness lies was owned and run by it 11 man mail or it number of men ilion doing business as it a ill these anten tved lived in fit tile ho community in which their ilion lived they worked with their men in tile of tho the plant was the office odthe hoss bloss lie ile was on the job lie ile it hired boss elther either he was the real boss tho owner the sign under which the lie business was run bore ills his name it identified him with the bustness business the hoss had ills his home lit in tile i city in which the plant wits was located ills ilia children went to tc tho public school chool fc frequently to the sante sanie school to which tile the children of lils ills forkim n went it if t lie ho was a churchgoing church going man and gen errilla lie he wits was lie he and ills his family went weid to religious lous services on oil sunday to the shamu church that many of lil ills s men and hiela families attended the men who s ani worked kol for him flint knew him at least to atlie the extent of recognizing him when phily jilin lie ile knew many malty of them i ind recognized them thein alth a not or good morning when lie saw them thein sion ion lie street few people realized chow how much this his to harmon harmonious relations in the industrial world when working men had a grievance or thought they had they took it directly to the ho boss lie ile talked it over with hem lie was fia reasonable and fair it if tile complaint was well founded it was given consideration a rein edy was found tile working man was satisfied lie ho had find had find his say lie i was its treated as a human being by it a human abeln being g lie ile felt lie he was part of the business so did the boss regulated by public opinion in ili the day of small business the owner of a factory or plant who paid hs his nien men nit an mill ving wage was a corked man mail lit in ilia community pub I 1 lie le opinion chastised him film for his selfishness kill und inhumanity tito people said lie was a sweater a slave Ir lyev rind and held jilin him in contempt they contrasted ills his good clothes the stylo style of lits his family and ills his fine mansion with tho the rags his working men wore the hovels lit in which they lived ile he wits wai pointed ii out ut hated despised the thought of tile community was that it would he be better for hill and ills to 1 give up some settle of their excess luxury and give the men ilion living wages the disgrace fell riot not only bukoll buon lih 1119 bond a but it followed ills 1119 wife arid children when they went to church they were looked upon upon as hypocrites for nil all tile tha people knew that every day jn in tile tho week lio ho was insulting tile christ lie pretended to worship on the sabbath few men tire so thick skinned as not to feel the lash of public opinion ion it easy to bear the linte hate of ones neighbors it Is natural for men ilion to want tile pio good opinion of their fellows in it the day of small business public opinion hold held a lash over tile the inhuman i and greedy kept hirers of men human hut but in tile progress pro gresa of the world tile the small mail ern employer was loomed to go tile the partnership passed off of the stage 1 I tind aind with it the ilia personal touch between on employer and employees tile alio corpo 1 l ration a soulless body was born of lie ilia law it absorbed small plants und and small businesses it collected under a single roof thousands of men the corporation the combination the trust lt had came come this new order of doing business on it large scale economical it eliminated was waste and duplication it was a great smooth v run running ning machine it represented lit in doing the worlds work py the ilie corporation name did riot not ills close I 1 tile the owner of ilig business Busin esq it yris waa an impersonal inhuman thing frequently he stockholders did not live in tile the cities where the plants were acre I 1 located tito the real owners were unknown to employees and public many of tile the large shareholders find never seen keen tile plant tho the men who worked in the plants had never nevee seen men lio lie men it for whom worked tito the man mail actu tilly running tile the business was only till an fc employee lie ile wits paid a large salar and i it was made plain to him when lie ho was hired that his salary antl and ills his job on hla his ability tomake profits tho the corporation wits organized for ruff tlona lions of dollars the mainger was ex l to bithe dividends the larger Ibo lit dividend r diecks ho he was W IR als tenure of job and salary were inea measured by tills this definition of success to mako profits it to la necessary to keep down tte tle cost of 0 production tito tho principal item in the cost of production Is the labor charge the ngos nages of tho the men the employee man tiger riger set himself to his one of object one olle thought was always before blin keep down wages lie he drilled tills this idea into lili his stuff lilt his superintendents ten dents his foremen the list cont coin mandi nent of to him film wits make dividends or quit evil in capitalization overcapitalization over frequently these largo industrial corporations were greatly gi itly over capital izod A corporation representing nn an actual investment of was organized for it take it a financier to sio see that of its capitalization wals wind water fake a lie the law that gave gava the lie corpor corporation atlon a right to exist forgot to keep it under control tile the stock wits was sold representing fiction na is well as aa those representing value tito tho captolie Capto lil of industry hidu stry spoke of the of its as a melon I 1 tito ho low should have writ ten tell it down larceny the selling 0 of tills this stock ua was nothing more or less alinn obtaining money under tinder false pretenses when a working man of obtained d broad bread under tinder falso pretenses lie was vas sent seni to fiill when honest ilion cried out against ahls this grand larceny they hey were called muck muckrakers agitators nalta and charged cliar geil with provoking unrest disturbing business it if this lid did not silence them paid publicity told the world that tile stock was held by widows arid and orphans that eliat the attacks upon it were hero efforts to rob them the state the ilia law tile government lind had given dollars tile right to organize A corporation Is it a union of dollars exactly as a labor union Is an organization of men the men organized organ as a organized izod matter of self defense they ki knew law tit tha individual no longer had a chance to register its his complaint with tile alio owner and that us ns tit nil individual the worker was utterly in such it a inigo scheme when lie complained lie was told take things its aa they tire are stop whining v it you dont ilke your jobs quit there sire lire thousands of men inen waiting to step into your shoes one of tho the first things ilia corporation did was to deny to men the right tile the law kno gave it the right to organize in defiance of their attitude tho the men did organize and forged the strike is as a weapon with which to fight for their rights the law had riot not kept paco with tile the times it failed to furnish protection it frilled failed to provide a reasonable control over these powerful big combinations the men risked asked for the privilege of collective bargaining it was a simple blo request quest ic a just one olle Is dear clear tito men wanted the right to appoint a committee committed to represent present le them thein and till discuss with tile nen men who hired them the terms of employment tho the directors generally men who never saw the plant telegraphed tile employee emp loye boss the ilia manager it a direction to refuse the ilia demand del liand for collective bargaining there was ans only one reply tho ilia tuen luen could make they made it it was force alio strike the last twenty tave years have been filled with strikes which created waste and cause caused hate which grow grew out of tile lie refusal of ill nig bust ness to concede to men inen it right the law conferred on oil it the right to organize capitalistic duplicity when the cost of living forced men to ask for till nn increase in migas they were often met inet with the ilia answer wo cant afford it the hie men could not afford to work longer for tile the wages they were cro getting because they were unable to make both ends meet tito pay envelope was not largo large enough the iha men ilion pointed to tho the fact fact that the lie rill ansher given gavon by capital wits was not true to show their cod faith the lie capitalists told tile the general public 1 we tire me only making 3 per cent on our capital nien men money per cent they did not toll tell tile the people they were receiving 3 per cent on oil while the real capital invested wits was only the sweat of men it was as being used to pay dividends on oil if the dividends earned carried were vote distributed over the capital act actually invested the profits would have been shown in ili their truo light the reasonableness of tile the demand ot of the ilion would havo have been ills closed it wits was a case ot of crooked capitalization lying liln to protect its ill III got ten gains nig big busl bus ness needs ethics captains ot of industry need ideals let me ino repent repeat the law left the men helpless they had only one course right strike I 1 strikes cause great public the people smarting under tinder hardships condemn nil and blaire blar c the strikers strikes have another effect that Is even worse they horden hate into a 0 concrete class feeling strikes aro responsible for the attitude of mind of many working inch today wild say 1 I will do as little work aik oik pa s possible for the money I 1 get it la Is it a niclous circle of hate cooper co operation lg Is made anade impossible congdo confidence nce Is 19 destroyed trust hellei tile chasm between employer and Is widened and deepened A final consequence of these physical and psychological effects 14 1 tha lite tendency towards riot the strike Is s a training school it develops hate it creates indies lawlessness idleness hunger hate irritation disregard of law which when combined and concentrated make lions the seed of unrest is planted copyright 1920 We wehrn storm union |