• HARMONY IN AMERICAN INDUSTRY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" H. C.," in your issue of March 26th, raises the question of harmony in American industry, a change which has come about so quietly that its profound significance is never fully realized, even in this country.
The three causes of the change are, I think : First, the practice which has been steadily growing for the past thirty years of sharing the profits of various industries with employees. This is peculiarly true of Americans, who are, perhaps, the most speculative people in the world. The Vanderbilt system of railroads was one of the first great companies to adopt the practice, and it is the secret of their exemption from strikes for the past forty years.
The second cause is an extension of the first, i.e.; the stock or bonds of a company are sold to its employees. This not only satisfies the speculative instincts, but it gives employees a direct and permanent interest in the plant or establishment. It gives them the feeling that they are wo rking with the company instead of merely for it ; that their whole welfare and interest is bound up in the fate of the company ; that all extra care and effort on their part will react for themselves ; and it keeps them on guard to watch against any body or thing that would injure the company. Some successful corporations which have many thousands of employees among their stockholders are the two greatest steel companies, the Standard Oil associated companies, the Pennsylvania railroad, the great Telegraph and Telephone monopoly, Henry Ford's plant, and many others. These companies no longer fear the Walking Delegate-Labour Union despotism which used to keep all wage workers in fear, and all business in costly uncertainty, as it still does in your country.
The third cause is the still more recent promotion of savings and commercial banks by the higher grade union organizations themselves, which was begun ten years ago or more by the great Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. This most intelligent, highly paid and conservative of all wage classes has always refused to be controlled by the radical, socialistic, communistic and foreign controlled elements. The idea is no longer a novelty, and now not only has the co-operation of the regular financial institutions been gained, but the radical destructionists of society, who always work to foment class hatreds, have been muzzled.
Everyone who holds a share of stock, or a bond—as a vast number do—becomes inevitably a better citizen, a better home man, and more deeply interested in national, State, county, city and town affairs. He associates on equal terms with any class of society. He feels a responsibility for the conduct of the schools. Even if he feels too humble to assert full equality for himself, he struggles to have his children reach an equal rank with all others.
Consider these causes, and you have the key to the profound social and economic evolution in this country, and its obvious lessons for other countries.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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