United States Steel: A Corporation with a SoulCotter, Arundel
History
United States Steel: A Corporation with a Soul
Cotter, Arundel
United States Steel Corporation
Drinking water generally is thoroughly purified and piped through the
mills so as to be at all times easily obtained by the men. Cups, with
their possibility of contagion, are eliminated. Fountains, with guards
to make it impossible for the drinker’s lips to touch the outlet, are
substituted.
Most, if not all, of the comfort rooms maintained at the plants are
equipped with shower baths and every workman has his private locker
where he keeps soap, towels, and a change of clothes.
The results of these measures are not reflected only on the health
of the men. The worker who is able at the end of a strenuous day’s
endeavor in a hot mill or a coal mine to enjoy a cool shower and leave
the plant clean and comfortably dressed must necessarily be a more
self-respecting member of the community than he who has to return to
the bosom of his family grimed with the sweat and dirt of his day’s
toil, and his family also benefits, both in self-respect and comfort.
It was a difficult job for the wife to maintain a pride in her home
under the conditions that once existed in the steel districts.
Cleanliness is far-reaching in its results. It benefits not only those
directly affected but the entire community.
[Illustration: Ore Cars at Proctor Yards]
There is one aspect of the sanitation work that is hardly obvious, but
nevertheless important. America is the great melting pot of the races.
History has shown that it normally takes several generations in the
crucible to produce the out-and-out American. And cleanliness, probably
more than anything else, is the birthright and symbol of the American.
Many of the foreign races that flock to our shores are regrettably
lacking in this respect, but they learn quickly. And the more
quickly we can accustom them to the idea of the necessity of personal
cleanliness the more speedily will they become real Americans and good
citizens.
[Illustration: General View of Duluth Ore Docks]
Which all harks back to the question of self-respect. The American
is naturally self-respecting and independent. And his accustomed
use of soap and water is no small factor in making him so. And the
Corporation’s welfare workers see to it that its employees shall never
lack soap and water.
Incidentally, among the many activities of the Welfare Bureau is that
of instruction for citizenship. This includes the teaching of the
English language to foreign workers, instructing them in American ideas
and institutions, and assisting them in obtaining their naturalization
papers. Foreign workers’ wives are instructed in American standards of
housekeeping and in the proper care of their children, and every effort
is made to encourage and assist the foreign-born worker to realize the
opportunities that this country offers to all and to enable him to take
advantage of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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