OCR Text |
Show I "-v -"the eights of labor. (Catholic Sun.) ,M' ,Prdon' the millionaire mill owner of Fall River, Mass., who refused to join other mill owners In a J5 per cent reduction re-duction of wages and prevented such reduction, has again put the mill 'own-1 era combination in a hole by voluntar- ! Ilv granting his employees a 5 per cent1 advance In waKes. " causing the employees employ-ees of. other mills td demand a similar advance. This indicates that Mr. Borden Bor-den places a 20 per cent higher value on laho- .ban ail the othe- cotton mill own- ers in New England. That he is guided by fairness and sound business policy is attested by the fact that he has always paid the highest . wages, worked . the shortest hours, treated, his employees with every consideration, with the result that from a small beginning he has become be-come wealthy and the owner of the largest cotton mills in the country; has never had a strike or trouble with his labor, nor been forced to tide over periods peri-ods of depression or financial stringency. strin-gency. His course has resulted profitably profit-ably to himself and all having business with him. The course of all the other New England cotton mill owners has been widely different, as have the results. re-sults. Mr. Borden evidently regards labor as any other commodity he buys; the best is the cheapest; he wants the best and willingly pays what it is worth, and runs his entire business on the same basis. Such an employer never lacks efficient and trustworthy emoloyees; his employees value therr ' situations and other workmen are eager ta- abandon other employers to work for him. It is strange that all employers cannot see the item of labor in this way, but they don't. Their ideas of economy are wrong; they cannot afford to pay the higher wages; tho few cents difference pey day amounts to dollars in a year: that shocks them to stolidity against all argument and paralyzes their reasoning. Yet they have only to look about them to see that the employers who give iabor the shortest hours and highest wages have the best workmen and are most prosperous. The laborer is worthy of his hire: the best laborer is worth more and is eheaner at the price than the inefficient ineffi-cient and irresponsible laborer |