The Butler County press. [volume], February 05, 1915, Image 1

About The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946

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VOL. XIV. NO. 43.
TESTIFYING
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Another question: "Is it desirable
for a corporation to assume so large
a measure of control of employees as
the Ford company has done?" Mr.
Ford answered as follows:
"We do not undertake to say what
corporations should do in general, but
if employers of labor—we mean the
men themselves at the head of these
enterprises—have a genuine, sincere
and active interest in the improvement
of the conditions of labor, and heart
felt personal interest in the welfare of
their employees, no conditions that are
Irksome or distasteful will be laid upon
the men.
"Theoretically, some persons may ar
gue, we have no right to inquire how
a man lives at home so long as he does
his work at the factory, but we are
talking of conditions, not of theories.
Our experience leads us to conclude,
beyond doubt, that the interest taken
in employees as to their individual
Welfare is most desirable from every
standpoint, not only that of the em
ployee and his family, but of the busi
ness itself.
"The ever increasing interest de
veloped in our plan by other employ
era of labor and the individual expres
sions of the men themselves, which
we have taken great pains to learn
from disinterested sources, further
prove the correctness of our views."
REMEMBERING DATES.
Mark Twain Had a Good Scheme and
He Didn't Patent It.
"Dates are hard to remember because
they consist of figures. Figures are mo
notonously unstriking in appearance,
and they don't take hold. They form
no picture, and so they give the eye
no chance to help. Pictures are the
thing. Pictures can make dates stick,
ffhey can make nearly anything stick,
particularly if you make the pictures
yourself. Indeed, that is the great
point—make the pictures yourself. I
know about this from experience.
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WAGES TOO SMALL
HENRY FOR* TELLS WHY ME RAISED PAY AND SHORTENED DAY
before the federal
commission on industrial re
lations, sitting in New York
city, Ilenry Ford, the automo­
bile manufacturer, was asked the ques
tion "What reasons did the Ford com
pany have for assuming so large a
measure of responsibility not only for
the labor conditions in their plants,
but also for the social and moral sur
roundings of their employees?" His
answer was:
"The knowledge that market rates ot
Wages were not sufficient for men to
properly care for themselves and their
dependents and that the environment
in which its employees were thus made
to live gave rise to mental anxiety and
a physical condition that made it ut
terly impossible for the human agency
to deliver all of the effort that it was
capable of in fulfilling the best and
larger functions for which it was de
signed, at work, at home and in the
community.
"The company also had the courage
to seize an opportunity for breaking
away from old time habits and cus
toms that were possibly applicable to
other periods. The institution of a
new order, treating men like men in
man fashion, has brought out much of
human salvage and proved that bar
riers between employers and employees
thought to exist and that often do ex
ist can be largely removed.
"A large proportion of our employ
ees were foreign born, many of them
recent arrivals not used to American
habits and surroundings. Very few, if
any, resented our guiding them Into
better conditions, into habits of thrift
saving, sobriety and improved moral
and social conditions. No coercion is
laid upon any employee, but if he is
not living a sober life or is neglecting
his duties as a father or husband, and
he persists in such course, he cannot
be an associate in our business.
"No man can bring up a family and
hope to own a home on the ordinary
rates of wages.
"I do not think that any man can do
good work mentally and physically for
more than eight hours per day."
rJWiir-
ty years ago I was delivering a memo
rized lecture every night, and every
night I had to help myself with a page
Of notes to keep from getting myself
mixed. The notes consisted of begin
nings of sentences and were eleven in
number, and they cap something like
this:
"'In that region the weather'—
'At that time it was a custom'—
'But in California one never heard'—
"Eleven of them. They initiated the
brief divisions of the lecture and pro
tected me against skipping. But they
all looked about alike on the page.
They formed no picture. I had them
fey heart, but I could never with cer
tainty remember the order of their suc
cession. Therefore I always had to
keep these notes by me and to look at
them every little while. Once I mis
laid them. You will not be able to im
•jgine the terrors of that evening. I
How 8aw that I must invent some oth
protection. So I got ten of the in
itial letters by heart in their proper or
der—I, A. B, and so on—and I went on
the platform the next night with these
ttarked in ink on my ten finger nails.
"Hut it didn't answer. I kept track
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awhile then 1 tost
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ft, and after that was never quite
sure which finger I had used last. I
couldn't lick off a letter after using it.
for. while that would have made suc
cess certain, it would also have pro
voked too much curiosity. There was
curiosity enough without that. To the
audience 1 seemed more interested In
my finger nails than I was in my sub
ject One or two persons asked me
afterward what was the matter with
my hands.
"It was now that the idea of pictures
occurredtto me then my troubles pass
ed away. In two minutes I made six
pictures with a pen, and they did the
work of the eleven catch sentences,
and did it perfectly. 1 threw the pic
tures away as soon as they were made,
for I was sure I could shut my eyes
and see them any time That was a
quarter of a century ago. The lecture
vanished out of my head more than
twenty years ago, but I could rewrite
it from the pictures, for they remain."
—Harper's Magazine.
COWED THE BAD MEN.
A General Who Didn't Fear Risking
a Shot In His Back.
General Franks, a lender of many a
dashing charge in India, held a unique
position among his soldiers. They
loved him for his courage, but were
sometimes irritated by his strictness.
Yet in spite of this exacting severity
he was unexpectedly lenient when a
large occasion demanded it.
One day when the regiment was "fir
ing blank" a bullet whistled by him.
He did not stop the tiring, but when
the number of rounds ordered had been
completed he rode up to the line and
said:
"Boys, there's a l:td shot in the
Tenth. He nearly shot my trumpeter,
and what should I have said to the
boy's mother? I don't want to know
the blackguard's name. The officers
will not examine the men's pouches."
This was on the eve of a campaign,
and before action the senior major
came to him and said: "Don't put your
self in front of the regiment tomorrow,
sir. You know there are always one
or two bad men in a regiment"
"Thank you, major," was the reply
"It's very kind of you. I might have
given you a step."
When the Tenth was drawn up for
the final advance he put himself at its
head and called:
"BOJTS, I'm tould ye mane to shoot
me today. Take my advice and don't
shoot Tom Franks until the fighting's
done, for ye won't find a better man to
lade ye!"
The regiment answered with a cheer
and carried the Sikh batteries with the
bayonet rather than run the risk of
shooting the beloved old fire eater at
their head.—Washington Star.
More to Be Feared.
"Don't you get tired of finding
fault?"
"No," replied the patient man of re
sponsibilities. "I suppose people have
a right to discover faults. What I ob
ject to is the man who assumes that
faults exist and never troubles himself
to investigate."—Washington Star.
Came Natural.
Bacon—They say that the president
of the bank who got away with a lot
of the money began his career as jani
tor of the institution. Egbert—Never
forgot his early training to clean out
the bank, evidently.— Yonkerg States
man.
Carpenters Aid Unemployed.
Carpenters' union No. 32. New York
city, has voted an assessment of 25
cents a week on each member who is
working three or more days, to help
support the unemployed. Carpenters'
union No. 309 had already taken steps
toward similar action, and other un
ions probably will supplement their un
employed benefit funds by this method.
Road Fights Law.
The Burlington road objects to the
safety appliance act applying to its
switching trains in yards and is resist
ing in the United States supreme court
payment of a $300 fine. The company
claims the law was only intended to
apply to through trains and that its
use on switching trains hampers trans
porta tion.
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LABOR BRIEFS.
The immigration bill as passed by
congress v.as favored by organized la
bor.
A number of mines in the east Ohio
coal field have been opened on the
open shop basis, but reports to the
officers of the United Mine Workers
declared that comparatively few men
went to work.
Illness among workers involves an
annual loss of $750,000,000 in the Unit
ed States.
The total amount paid to injured em
ployees in the state of Texas during
the last fiscal year was $275,907.97.
Nearly every legislature in the Unit
ed States is facing this winter the prob
lem of Improving its labor laws. The
eutiwk J« jbopelul ln many states.
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POTHER PRIVATE
WAR ON LABOR
Hired Guards Shoot Down Un
armed Men In New Jersey.
HOW
much longer are .state gov
ernments in this country go
ing to tolerate private wars
in industrial disputes? asks
the New York World.
How much longer are they going to
tolerate the private employment of
hired gun men to deal with labor trou
bles?
What happened in Colorado has now
happened in a way in New Jersey and
with less excuse, for the Colorado
strikers were not only armed, but they
were on the company's property. The
New Jersey strikers were apparently
not armed they were not rioting, and.
they were not on the property of their
former employers. The worst offense
they had committed was to flag a train
supposed to carry strike breakers and
then stand aside on being warned to
do so.
For this offense they were attacked
by a private army of detectives and
deputies, and twoscore or more of men.
were shot down, some of them receiv
ing fatal wounds. At one of the plants
the statement is made that "if there
has been any violence it is probably
due to business depression and the
consequent nonemployinent of work
ers." What this means we do not pre
tend to know, but we know that there
is more anarchy behind it than there
is behind all the anarchist societies of
the country.
Government is a failure In a state
where this can happen—in a state
which permits an industrial quarrel to
reach the stage of bloodshed in a state
which permits private corporations to
arm detectives to do the police work
that the state itself was created to do
in a state which manifests no official
concern over a private war until it Is
time to count the dead and wounded.
This is a mighty poor time for em
ployers to shoot down strikers, what
ever may be the right or the wrong of
the original controversy. It Is a
mighty poor time for states to surren
der their police power and leave the
protection of property to private gun
men. New Jersey has seen the shame
ful effects of anarchy in Colorado. Has
she no concern for her own honor and
reputation?
ROCKEFELLER FUND EVIL.
Creates a Censorship Over Universities
to Stifle Thought.
Amos Pinchot in the course of a
speech in New York city made a vig
orous attack on the Rockefeller founda
tion.
"The force," said Mr. Pinchot, "of so
vast a sum as $100,000,000 in the hands
of a small group of gentlemen is of
tremendous power and menace and is
one not only to affect our lives, but
those of our children and our chil
dren's children, for I believe this great
fund will be used to create a censor
ship over American universities to
stifle thought and spreading of opinion
that might work for the disintegration
of the Rockefeller control of politics
and industry.
"It is a move by which the Rockefel
ler interests would also control thought.
The independent economic thinker in
our own day will find himself out of
the circle in the heavily endowed east
ern universities. He only has a chance
for intellectual freedom and expres
sion in the fresh water colleges of the
west. I do not charge the Rockefellers
with a conscious conspiracy or plot, but
basically I regard this foundation fund
as the most powerful effort made to
tight the democratic ideals of American
life."
Acoidents Due to Poor Lighting.
That fully 25 per cent of the acci
dents to workmen are caused by in
sufficient lighting for men working at
night is the opinion of experts who
have made a study of the subject It
is estimated that $250,000,000 Is the
average annual cost of injuries to
workmen in the United States alone
and that over 50 per cent of these ac
cidents are preventable.
Tailors Won't Amalgamate.
The Tailors* union of San Francisco
has decided against the amalgamation
of its international union with the se
ceding faction of the United Garment
Workers' Union of America.
CAUSE OF UNREST.
Industrial unrest springs from
the desire of all men to better
themselves,, from the feeling that
there is nothing before them but
the eternal, hopeless grind. The
right to more life than he is get
ting—our present unrest is the
expression of a desire for that.
The refusal of employers to
deal with their men is a factor,
and any employer who doe3 that
makes a terrible mistake. An
other Is the opposition of corpo
rations to remedial legislation.
To oppose it if good, and not
presented by people who know
nothing about it. has always
seemed to me due to unintelli
gence, stupidity and greed.—-Ida
M. Tarbell.
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THE JTUTLET1 COUNTY PRESS.
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1815.
¥¥*AHMHMHHME¥¥¥¥V¥¥¥¥
CURSE OF POVERTY.
We cannot by any public or
private charity possibly carry
the load which we are building
up by our industrial system. The
state will pay at compound in
terest and at pawnbrokers' rates
the continued increase in the cost
of maintaining the dependent
unless there is some legislative
action on the minimum wage.
It is one of the curses of the
poor that they have to buy cheap
food, and this applies as well to
merchandise. People don't take
care of things that are not val
uable. The advance in efficiency
through higher wage would be
tremendous, both on the side of
the employer as well as the em
ployee. The objection of manu
facturers and employers to the
minimum wage is largely senti
mental. Trade unions oppose
the law because they fear the
legislation would seriously curb
the power and influence of their
organizations. Louis D. Bran
dels.
Mr. Lewis spoke of the difficulty con
gress had in proposing arbitration for
the Colorado trouble, because the coal
owners argued that there was nothing
to arbitrate, as they had the undeni
able right to do what they pleased
with their own property.
"We must either modify this theory
to meet conditions," he said, "or so
cialize the property itself. I presume
the country is not ready for this sec
ond alternative, and it might be worth
while asking whether the public utili
ties commission might not be called
upon to determine the facts in labor
controversies, so that the voice of so
ciety as usual might speak, to settle
the controversy."
Congressman Lewis made a strong
appeal to the commission on the ad
visability of the federal government
taking over the telegraph and tele
phone services. lie argued that it
could carry them on much more cheap
ly than the private concerns and quot
ed the success of the parcel post com
pared with the express companies.
Absentee Ownership.
Roger W. Babson, statistician and
economist, in a recent statement said:
"The greatest handicap labor and cap
ital have today is absentee ownership.
The present unrest among workers
and the small return upon capital are
due to control in the hands of small
groups—men who try to run big busi
nesses from desks in twenty story of
fice buildings. Strikes seldom come
against the man who has built up his
own business and lives in the town
where his success has been won."
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NOTES OF LABOR.
Workmen's co-operative banks, oper
ated by workmen, for the benefit of
workmen only and to aid honest ven
tures of workmen, are in prospect
New Jersey accident board must de
cide a unique case. A Newark work
man killed at Natick, Mass., has chil
dren living in Italy. The liability com
pany claims children living abroad are
not dependents.
The mayor of St. Louis has signed
the union wage scale ordinance recent
ly passed by both branches of the mu
nicipal assembly. The act provides
that all city employees shall be paid
the prevailing union wage rate.
That the present movement for the
uplift of the toiling masses originated
with Dickens is the belief of a promi
nent professor.
The Cuyahoga county (O.) carpen
ters' district council is fostering a
movement to urge congress to take i
stand against allowing the United
States to declare war at any time with
out first conducting a referendum vote
vf the people on the advisability of
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HELP THE NEEDY
Pay Workers Enough Money
to Help Themselves.
RANK
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••••••••••a***************
OWNERSHIP OF MINES.
Relations of Employer and Worker
Grossest Kind of Feudalism.
Congressman David J. Lewis of
Maryland in a statement before the
federal commission on industrial rela
tions said:
"A man can no longer own a coal
mine as he owns his house and gar
den. Suppose a friend and I were to
find 10,000 acres of coal lands in West
Virginia. We ou*,ht to exploit the
mines for the good of society. We
must take the miners out there and
build them houses. This gives us the
relation of landlord and tenant as well
as employer and employee. Then we
may have to start commissary stores.
This gives us a third relation. And
then we may have to supply the doc
tor and perhaps even the saloon for
our miners.
"So if mine employees have trouble
with their employer the result to them
is disastrous. It affects all their rela
tions to life at once, except toward
their wives and children. Not only
their work, tyut their homes and their
stores are gone, and it is inevitable
that when the employer tells the men
to get out there should be trouble.
"The employer is not wholly to
blame, for society has told Wra that
the mine is his, just as his garden and
cottage are his. But his relations with
his employees are impossible in this
country. They are a feudalism grosser
than English history has ever shown.
If all the country was in the same
state we should either cease to have
private property or the republic itself
would perish."
WALSH, chairman
of the United States commis
sion on industrial relations, i
an address before the east sid
forum, New York city, said in part:
"I am a great believer in agitators an»i
agitation, believe with the perso
who defined an agitator as a man wit
a strong voice who did not have a pai
ty to save or a living to make, but trie i
to tear every question open to th
heart so that the light might flow fre
ly in.
"Now, I want you to understand wh
I am talking to you, the people, whil.
I am serving as chairmao of the indue
trial relations commission. It is be
cause the commission is made up of
various elements. Some members rep
resent the capitalists—the employers.
Some members represent the labor un
ions. I represent the people.
"It is serious business for the people
when the capitalist gets in a fight with
the labor union over the coal. A baby,
of the people—the consumer—may
freeze to death while labor and capital
quarrel and the supply of coal is shut
off. For that reason I am in favor of
taking over the coal mines and putting
them under public control.
"Now, they say In criticising me foi
speaking while I am chairman of the
industrial relations commission that I
ought to maintain a judicial pose.
Well, I say that the two greatest foes
to the bringing about of an enlightened
understanding of our economic rotten
ness are the 'judicial pose' and the
'trimmer' attitude of so many of our
public officials. I mean the attitude of
those who dodge the whole economic
issue.
"I would like to see every school
house thrown open for public forum
meetings of the people and a ballot
box in every schoolhouse on election
day so that they may educate them
selves on their economic plight, for
at bottom all our evils are due to low
wages. A great employer who knows
this is true testified that he would
Just as soon take every prisoner out
of Sing Sing and put him to work and
trust him. This man knew that if he
put into the hands of those men more
money than enough to keep them to
gether body and soul they would for
the most part be normal human be
ings.
"My topic for tonight is the best
way to help the needy. The best way
to help them is to pay them enough
money to help themselves. Give them
a chance to work and enjoy the prod
uct of their toil. I am accused of say
ing the charities do not help. Of
course they help. If there was not
something that helped we would be
In the midst of revolution.
"If you want to know what embez
zled fortunes we should take back go
to the reports of the department of
commerce for 1913 and read the wholt
shameful story of coal and timber land
embezzlements. If I am to be called i\
'confiscationist' for urging that such
fortunes be refunded to their rightful
owners, then I'll have to stand for
that designation. I am opposed to al
violence, but when you try to push
the worker off the life raft then you're
bound to get violence. It is inevitable.
"I am for the minimum wage on
railroads and for telephones merely be
cause we have public commission!
with power to order in minimum rate:
of wages. The real thing to do, of
course, is to take over the railroad anc
postaiize the telephone service, bui
until that is done the public commis
sions can do the next best thing—the}
can enforce minimum wage decrees
It is only one step from regulation
public ownership, and of course tha'
step will be taken at the proper time.'
The Capitalistic System.
Samuel Untermyer, the noted Ne\*
York lawyer, testifying before th
United States commission on industrial
relations, among other tilings, said
"Notwithstanding its injustice anc
many other shortcomings, I believe ir
the capitalistic system as our present
solution. Capitalism is more powerful
more rampant, more despotic and less,
controlled by law or public sentiment
here than in any other country, but
socialism is a beautiful, irideseen
dream, which does not work out a prae
tical theory of government. Of all the
blunders of capitalism the worst is its
disregard of the welfare of its indus
trial workers. If it were less obsessed
with its own righteousness and sense
of security the growth of socialism
would soon come to an end."
For Woman Suffrage.
The members of Boilermakers' un
ion local 585. Boston, have voted to
place the organization on record as
favoring woman suffrage and to send
an invitation to the Massachusetts
Woman Suffrage association to have a
representative address the next meet
ing of the union.
More Pay For Printers.
In Milwaukee pay for hand composi
tion has been increased from $21 to
$22 per week and for linotype operator*
irom $24 to $25 per week. For night
workers the increase is from $23
for hand men and from $26 to
machine operatom.
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Squattj
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The
All Suits and Pants made to your
individual order in a
Union Shop
The SquareTailors
106 HIGH STREET
Holbrock
Reliable Dealers in
Dry Goods, Carpets, Cloaks, Queens ware
Millinery. House Furnishings
Toss-Holbrock Stamps with
all Casb Purchases.
Meet him at
Cor. Front and Hieli Sis.
Merchants' Dinner Lunch
Served every Day
Lunch Counter Connected
TRY
II The H.H.Jones Service Disinfectors
Used by all the leading Cafes
and Business Houses in the city
N® Bad Odors and Perfect San
itation at All Times
330 East 5th St. CINCINNATI, IHII
Just Bear In Mind
The Ohio Union Bottled Beer
When you want a geod Beer, all who have drank
it ar« delighted. Nothing but and Malt of
Quality are used in making our
Zunt'Heit, Special Brew
Cincinnati, Ohio
We make Loans on Live Stock, Imple
ments or other chattle property.
Long time. Low rates. Call, phone
or write.
The Haiiiiilon Collateral
KZ%^
A *,
name, Spare
P$\ £|_l
hL
ife
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our
is
s Cafe!
and
Sold by all Leading Cafes In Hamilton
Ohio Union Brewing Co.
Tannhauser
Loan
20$ S. Third St. Both Phones 28 ocue^f
READ THE PRESS
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