Social legislation and social activity : $b being addresses delivered at the sixth annual meeting of the American academy of political and social science of PhiladelphiaAmerican Academy of Political and Social Science
History
Social legislation and social activity : $b being addresses delivered at the sixth annual meeting of the American academy of political and social science of Philadelphia
American Academy of Political and Social Science
Arbitration, Industrial; Child labor; Child labor -- United States; Factory laws and legislation -- United States; Housing -- United States; Juvenile courts; Labor -- United States
Other institutions have established a custom of presenting to their
employees annually a sum of money equal to a certain percentage of their
salaries. But this extra income soon becomes as much a matter of wages
as the weekly or monthly pay-roll, and little real good is
accomplished—the employee is still working for _fixed_ wages. There is
something in the make-up of a man that cannot be wholly satisfied, no
matter how secure it may be, with a definite agreement that he shall
receive a certain fixed sum of money for a given amount of work, however
liberal the compensation may be. There is a positive satisfaction in
having a pecuniary interest in an enterprise where the financial return
is not definitely restricted and known in advance, even though there may
be as an accompaniment some danger of a loss.
Any attempt to satisfy the craving of labor for justice will fail if
handicapped by paternalism. A man must be acknowledged a man. His sense
of independence and self-respect must be strengthened and not crushed.
Furthermore, a man is not satisfied to have even a part of his just
earnings expended for him. Company kindergartens, company libraries,
company churches are doubtless very estimable in their way and are doing
much good. They are a step in the right direction and most valuable in
the practical demonstration which they offer that it pays capital to
improve the conditions and surroundings in which the operatives live.
But those who are to enjoy these institutions should not be allowed to
feel that they are under any obligations to the owners thereof. Rather
they should be given to understand that a certain definite percentage of
the net earnings of the enterprise would be expended for the public
good—not as a benefaction, but as a just due—giving to the operatives,
as far as possible, the administration and management of such company
institutions.
Some manufacturers believe that if their employees can be induced to
purchase homes adjacent to the mills the labor problem has been solved.
From the manufacturer’s point of view the plan is attractive. An
employee who puts the hard-earned savings of years into a small
dwelling—generally situated in a community wholly dependent upon the
local mill of his employer—doubtless ties himself up very effectually to
the enterprise, but whether he is attached by his loyalty to and
affection for the concern, or is held by the self-welded fetters of a
money investment is an open question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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