Show r. r LIVE UVE AND LET LIVE By Dy James G. G Woolley r What are aro we going to do I Ir asked by way of conversation turnIng turnIng turn- turn Ing ng to the quiet gray-eyed gray man mun who t had seated himself beside me in the ther r Pullman smoker He glanced up as asI asI asI I spoke and then looked hurriedly away shifting his gaze to the ash end of oC a halt finished cigar Then he looked my way again and his eyes blinked In interrogation for my my query had broken on him after acter a hour half of silence What are we going to do I repeated ref repeated re- re f striking with one forefinger at the dozen headlines screaming g sordid sensation from the crowded crowde d columns of the dally daily press You an anI and andI d I I went on What Is the answer How will we stop this profiteering these buzzards glutting the life blood of industry Our train was racing Into the station station sta sta- tion at Salt Lake City its monotonous ous staccato Interspersed with sharper sharp sharp- er notes as It lurched over the cross cross- cross cross- rail frogs My neighbor flicked the ash from his cigar then turned his blinking bUnking eyes eyes toward the window with such studied purpose that I II I thought he meant to avoid speech with me Suddenly he turned There he said In a dull gray mon mon- otone atone which matched the Iris of or his eyes There is the answer to both your our questions I looked as he pointed with one finger held against the dirty pane Mutual Creamery Co I read upon the painted wall of a building fronting frontIng frontIng front- front Ing the right of way Then puzzled I looked to him for explanation He cleared his throat but that put put no vigor in his tone Mutual the mutual plan that Is s the an an- Deliberate and dispassionate this utterance carried the conviction of of finality and he punctuated It b by again flicking cigar elgar ashes across the floor Then he looked at nie JUe a and the Interest of surprise lighted his dull eyes as they ceased blinking for only only only on on- ly a moment Did you never hear of the mutual plan he asked I I 1 admitted I had not noL He cleared his throat again before he spoke W F. F Jensen he commenced with a precision which matched his personality dreamed the dream which fathered that plant back there and thirty one others like it That was less than six years ago when the middleman was scapegoat for every fluctuation of the market The Jensen dream was a vindication for that charge and it is one solution to the economic problems of puffed on his cigar before continuing This profiteering he said Is merely a catch phrase with which the people and the politicians are playing play play- ing It is in reality a new dress for lor fora lora a very old grievance the latest tad fad fad in clamor a Parisian Parisian model for a 3 sphinx For this same thing un thing un unwilling willing as some of us may be to admit admit admit ad ad- mit it this it-this this getting the most ana and giving the least has been the policy of ninety per cent of the human race s since ce the days when our ancestors swung by their tails from the gnarled gnarl gnarl- ed limbs of primeval forests and swapped cocoanuts It is another attack attack attack at at- tack of industrial unbalance So many there are who seem to think that this is purely a war post-war 4 evil And yet In our own generation generation generation genera genera- tion you cannot lay your finger on a single day but what the same charge has been made The only difference has been In the phrasing But six years ago this man Jensen Jensen Jensen Jen Jen- sen of Mutual creameries saw the light found a path through the jungle of avarice discovered a way to wipe out the evil of unbalanced earnings And when America has hal learned the lessons of his career 1 believe this sort of thing will stop I believe we will be near near- the tie industrial industrial industrial indus indus- trial millennium when each each man shall receive an honest compensation for an honest effort efford He stopped to relight his cigar and aud I studied this quiet with queer Interest His clothes were too conservative for a Bolshevist yet his appearance did not rank him among the aristocrats at the other extreme and I judged him an average man manlike manlike manlike like you or me Then he took up his story You rarely hear the word trust nowadays in its application to big business Yet twenty five years ago in the days of Mark Hanna and McKinley McKinley McKinley Mc- Mc Kinley and later Roose elt the trusts were the target on which popular popular popular pop pop- ular disapproval centered fire You remember the cartoons we saw in those days Huge giants inning gi with avarice from the pages of every magazine Then you'll remember that as all this ogre sank in the bog of legislation legislation legislation legisla legisla- tion and common common common- Just sense sense just just as the trusts learned that their methods would boomerang boomerang Mr Mr Mr Middleman was selected for forthe the role of despot and the mantle of onus was thrown i across his shoulders Now we have havet havethe havethe t the profiteer There are probably I q more of him than there were of his predecessors and this fact of quantity l j ty alone is the only feature that can 1 1 1 i r r S be honestly blamed upon the recent recen recent war He Stopped shopped talking and blinked hi his eyes at me as if expecting that 1 Bu Buthis nut But might challenge this assertion this Jensen I asked dragging him back to the point which Interested me What h he dO done He I e originated ted t the e mutual plan which b by operating co-operating rating the factions faction of at Industry by co tn tIle tite functions of producers manufacturer er and distributor tor turns the fin finished shed product over to the ultimate consumer consumer consumer con con- sumer with such economy as to quash any suspicion of extortion This man Jensen of Mutual creameries made an exhaustive study of or Americas America's economic eco eco- economic problems with especial reference reference refer refer- ence e to the attitude of of each Industrial Industrial industrial Indus Indus- trial faction toward the others That was during the period when Mr Middleman was hooted as the parasite parasite parasite para para- site of business Jensen at that time was head of his own company tile the Jensen Creamery company of Salt Lake Cit City a successful business and therefore particularly attractive as a at t target for abuse The farmers who led the attacK I Ion on the integrity of the middlemen were at that time Inclining toward the formation of small operative co-operative strictly local organizations hoping in that way to obtain a better price for th their lr dairy and poultry products This disaffection of the farmer was seized upon b by professional pr promoters promoters' promo promoters promo promo- mo- mo I who with with with-a a few rare exceptions were the only ones nes to benefit from such an enterprise Isolation from the he world markets and lack of distributing distributing dis ds- led to failure But the farmer blinded to to the truth found in the fact only another evidence evidence evidence evi evi- dence of the tho pernicious middleman Jensen also sensed the growing disaffection among wage-earners wage In all Industry and he appreciated that the Investor would not support an In Institution Institution Institution In- In which did not recognize the earning capacity of the dollar He found his problem to be threefold the welding of oC producers and Investors And his mutual plan was the r result In the spring of 1915 1916 he organized ed the Mutual Creamery company manufacturers of the famous Maid Maido o o 0 Clover butter about the old Jensen Jensen Jensen Jen Jen- sen sen Creamery company with its extensive extensive ex ex- distributing organization a highly prized asset The new company company company com com- pany was Incorporated under the laws of Utah and maintains maintains maintains main main- its principal office in Salt Lake City The capital stock was divided divided divid divid- ed 40 per cent for Investors and 60 per cent for the producers producers the farmers As there is no common or preferred ed the company Is essentially a po- po organization with the voting power vested in the producer of raw materials This 60 per cent was offered to a group of nearly 1000 farmers who l had ad been the chief source of supply for COr the Jensen company They wanted wanted wanted want want- ed the stock but were unable to finance it so that Jensen determined to work out his s theory arranged to let them have it on easy payments crediting their accounts account with dividends dividends dividends divi divi- accruing during the purchase period Of the investors' investors 40 per cent Jensen wishing to bring his em em- Into the operative co plan offered a portion to wage earners prorated at 10 per cent of the individuals individual's Individuals Individual's Individuals Individual's Indi Indi- vidual's salary for five years EmpI Em Em- pI ores paid 10 per cent of each months month's salary for their stock No Interest was charged on deferred payments and with dividend credits the plan paid out in forty months He stopped to nurse nurs his cigar which he had neglected while talk talk- ing lug His Hs blinking eyes tried to read the expression lon on my face Where I finally asked him Where did the money come from to carry this concern concern concern con con- cern In its infancy How could It buy milk and e eggs gs and pay wages how could It grow and expand on deferred stock payments That said he resuming was wa arranged for by the balance of the 40 per cent the portion not sold to em em- This portion allotted to investors in investors investors in- in I was taken at par within a avery avery avery very short while by business men who had faith In Jensens Jensen's dream The nearly raised In this fashion put the already equipped and organized Jensen establishment In Inthe Inthe Inthe the soundest financial conditions Mutual creameries were assured supply supply supply sup sup- ply from Crom its stock-holding stock farmers labor from its stock-holding stock em em- and business management from its stock holding stock holding investors The problem of operation co-operation in business business busi busi- ness was completely solved I But you said that this mutual plan offered a solution to profiteering profiteer profiteer- ing that this company was a marker mark mark- er on the road to an industrial millennium mil mil- I objected Yes he answered my impatience quietly I was just going to speak of that But he ho kept me waiting while he prepared a fresh cigar Yes he went on this man Jensen Jensen Jensen Jen Jen- sen is a wizard like I 1 told you There Is no one absolutely u no one one and his voice raised Its pitch for the first time There is not a soul who v ti J R can can prove a single charge of profiteering profiteering profi profi- te against Mutual creameries More than that the tho falsity of such sucha a charge is s apparent in the fact there Is no incentive for Mutual 1 cre creameries m rles to make excess prots I For this man Jensen wrote n Do corrective into the laws by-laws of the company into the thc very soul of the organization He limited stock earnings earnings earnings earn earn- ings to 3 per cent of the gross busi busi- ness In that 3 per cent all stockholders stockholders stockholders stock stock- holders share Profit above that 3 per cent is divided among only the producers in proportion to their sales of dairy and poultry products to the corporation Now suppose for Instance that you ou and I are farmer stockholders In fn Mutual creameries Say for forsake forsake sake of argument that I lawn own 1 per percent percent percent cent of the tho stock but sell the company com com- pany 10 per cent of its raw materials materials materials mate mate- rials while you own 10 per cent of or orthe the stock stacIe but produce only 1 per pei percent percent cent of the products used Then as all money received must be counted In the gross return the return the gross business business business busi busi- ness of the tho company our respective benefits from all profits would be disproportionate disproportionate dis ds- proportionate to our responsibilities Say for exam Ie that that of profits are earned Only 3 of that would be distributed as stock dividends under the Jensen plan Your 10 per percent percent percent cent of stock would therefore call for thirty cents and my 1 per cent for three cents only But of the 9 97 reverting to the producers I would receive while you would be given just seven ninety-seven cents In all aU profits my total earnings will run to every earned by you and your our earnings will exceed those of the investor and stockholder stockholder stock- stock holder by more than four to one That is s the persons person financing Mutual creameries cannot benefit materially from rom excessive profits Profiteering the he evil of unbalanced earnings Is therefore reduced to a cumbersome absurdity by the Jensen scheme for balanced earnings It was originally estimated that this his 3 per cent on gross business would pay annual dividends of between between be- be tween 8 per cent and 10 per cent on the he capital stock and this estimate has been proven correct by perform perform- ance nce Thus with the investor the and the producer linked together happily satisfied Jensen has put over his dream of the mutual mutual mu mu- ual plan and when similar methods methods meth- meth ds have spread throughout our In- In abric the trust the middleman middleman middleman mid the striker and the profiteer profiteer profi teer eer will lie In the past past we we wont won't worry about and suspicion each other ther He finished hurriedly with feeling but ut immediately he lapsed again into the he the quiet voiced drab-voiced gray-eyed gray man whose I had challenged And what has been the growth ot of othis this his Mutual Creamery I 1 Inquired w with th deference Its fI fifth th annual report on May 1 I last la ast t showed two thirty-two plants scattered scattered scat- scat ered through eight states Utah states Utah Nevada Colorado Wyoming Mon- Mon Montana Montana tana ana Idaho Oregon and Washington with with more than farmers supplying supplying sup- sup plying plying lying products and a business for forthe the he e fiscal year of nearly he e answered and then glanced from the he window as the engineer whistled for or a station Ogden he exclaimed exclaim exclaim- ed d heres where I 1 leave you rIsIng rising rIs- rIs Ing ng and extending his hand Remember Remember Remember Re member construction and not de- de the the 1 plan plan will will so olve ve our problems Dont Don't worry a out the profiteers he threw back backover backover over ver his shoulder as he stepped toward toward to- to ward vard the vestibule Adv 0 o D |