Rockefeller and Atterbury Industrial Heavens Fail to'Allay Desire for Real Trade Unionism
Levinson, Edward
Rockefeller and Atterbury Industrial Heavens Fail to'Allay Desire for Real Trade Unionism By EDWARD LEVINSON P~"lSf the poor company union, the workers never wanted the kid, anyhow. It...
...With the second and third generations the volume of wealth is not in the hands of the people who made it, but to a very measurable degree in the handj of people who have never done any work and whose one object in life is to spend money...
...we are the richest and have the richest ruling class, so that, our surplus being large and concentrated, the problem of getting gifts from the rich is comparatively simple...
...One of the elections has gone wrong...
...1 ' Bat, at a care-all for industrial Bis, it hat always teemed to work tm tlraage manner*, bringing only eeatlaaed strife aad unrest in ita wake...
...Than they were treated with th* reading of a long latter recounting the blessings of th* Employes' Representation Plan...
...A scsttering few permitted themselves to be browbeaten Into signing...
...Though the election was held under the regulations set down in the Atterbury plan, the Pennsylvania refuted to abide by its result...
...Men like Carnegie and Rockefeller had a humble background, with limited needs, and spent a great portion of* their lives hard at work collecting wealth...
...The wealthy do not give primarily to the support of subnormal individuals, but to the support of - public institutions—educational and religious in large part, and research to a lessor degree...
...But the chances of this ara pretty remote...
...But now property is not so easily disposed of, because it is so diffuse...
...The United Mine Worker* openly and bitterly denounce the Rockefeller Plan...
...that the issue of trad* unionism versus employes' representation it kept conatantly alive by the company'a refusal to permit onion meetiaga in any building In tha camps owned by ths company, by other j to '••••>» and by tk...
...They W*re SOt permitted to leave by th* taste door they had entered, lest they might confer with tha other committee corn waiting for their lesson in the Pennsylvania's school •f industrial democracy...
...There are also in each mining district joint committees composed of equal numbers of employes' representstives and company officials to consider :(1) safety and accidents', (2) sanitation, health and housing...
...Taking Cripple Creek and Ludlow as the scene for his Industrial Heaven, he was the first of the protagonists of company unionism...
...And now comes Nicholas Murray Butler, in his annual report, with this significant comment: He says that Columbia University is badly in need of funds, but that under present conditions these funds csnnot be secured becsuse taxes sre so high thst there is nothing left to give...
...If, by converting wealth from personal property into trusteeships, the own-' ing class provides the income for institutions, with a consistent policy carried on generation after generation, just so long will the rich bo in a position to decide the policy of institutions...
...The owners of wealth are in business to stay, not to go...
...When they were refused even a few hours to "think it over" or dis(BH the situation with fellow-committee-men, most of them refused to sign...
...Aa it stands aow...
...The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, In the words of its general manager, sect numerous good reasons for not signing a contract with the union...
...If the prosecution ia not dismissed, Schedel faces Imprisonment for Ave years and deportation following hia release...
...II* worked his way back to the United State* through Mexico after having failed three times previously to gat back...
...Exponents of employes' representation in a highly anionised industry like bituminous coal," in the opinion of Miss Van Kleeck, "mutt recognise that questions of wagei and hours should be settled by agreements, which are no limited to a single company but include the industry at a whole if ths idea of Labor's partnership is to be made practical...
...Schedel is hold under bail for tho Federal grand jury at Chicago, whore ho was arretted during bis reunion with his wife and caildrea after four years...
...My blood sings in the breese...
...No fruitful discussion between these two group* would bo possible unless each, approached It with the will not to press the solution of its own group for acceptance, but rather to think first df the needs of the man in the mine* snd then to work out the agreement which will best meet those human needs...
...From this would follow, we are confident, a spirit and method of managing the industry which would better serve also the public interest...
...It is true that taxation is higher, but it is also true that interest, dividends, etc., have increased, so that after taxes are deducted the rich still have more wealth than they had thirty years ago...
...WL child of General Atterbury's Kg has won no end of applause BFloud huxias at countless Rottritn functions...
...He therefore suggests the very imperative necessity of reducing taxation...
...John D. Rockefeller, Jr., daddy of them all, is heart-broken, a...
...During her husbsnd's absence, Mrs...
...Its presence marks our society as one of the most unsound social growths in the world...
...But there are certain common characteristics of philanthropy...
...Rockefeller's child has missed the most essential influence— bona-fide trade unionism--they find...
...A philanthropist has all he wants to eat and spend, and when he gets through living he has so much left over that he can give millions away...
...Bringing up children is a matter el eupplying the proper influences...
...Meaning of Philanthropy What is philanthropy...
...It seems to me that Mr...
...Not at all...
...4) industrial cooperation and conciliation...
...f APPEAL TO STONE IN SCHEDEL CASE Aa appeal to Attorney-General Stone to dismiss a charge of illegal entry Into the United States after deportation was sent the other day by tha American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of John C. Sehodel of Fort Wayne, Ind., a Comaraaist deported to Germany la 1820 after ths anti-red raids conducted by Attorney-General Palmar...
...A Sign of Social Disorder What is the character of thia philanthropy...
...When you see philanthropy you know that wealth is unequally distributed...
...President E. J. Manion r*» put the matter up to the Rail»»d Board and demanded quick effective action...
...What does it mean to have the wealth power centered in a university T In the case of the Duke University Fund st Durham, tho official statement of the board of trustees implies that Duke just happened on this university and found it exactly to his liking...
...Hit family will again bo left here to take ear* of tbemsolvss...
...So that Mr...
...The "trustee of the poor" surrenders his trusteeship to a group of secondary trusts...
...When we read that Rockefeller or Duke has given away a large sum of money, we may say to ourselves that here iS another case where stolen property is being bended around by the thief of his agents, where the community's attention is called to the fact that distribution is so unequal that one man has at his disposal as much as thousands have for a whole lifetime...
...Shaping Education Philsnthropy msy be used, hast, to advance the revolutionary movement, to direct a campaign against tho established order...
...to give that wealth personally, and ' so hands it over to some board of 1 trustees...
...I The committee-man ware called lato th* supcrintendenti' office* on* lit a time...
...Butler is making i grave error when he assumes thst it is increased taxation which is drying up the sources of philsnthropy...
...Th* committee¦tea were given an alternative of signing or being removed from their places a* committee-men, despite tk* fact they had bean elected by ta overwhelming vote...
...The Industrial Representation Plan wet developed by W. L. Mackenzie King, now Premier of Canada, at the request of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and was introduced at the mines of the compsny by Mr...
...I RocUefeJIor Plan Found Wanting In making the report on tho Rockefeller Plan public, Mary Vsn Kleeck, Director of the Foundsticn's Department of Industrial Studies, said it has a three-fold significance for industry generally and for the country at large: it reveals ths underlying causes of the perennial controversy between coal miner* and mine operators...
...The harder the Peaasyl„„i...
...The lesson for industry generally in tho experience of this company is that giving workmen a voice in the management of industry is decidedly a step toward permanent industrial peace and efficiency, but the measure of success to be attained by an employes' representation plan depends on the sincerity and intelligence with which the plan is carried out by foreman, superintendents and higher administrative officials...
...Bashed the plan, the more it refeeed to work...
...Alien members of that organisation are not now deported for mere membership...
...B|*not the furrow of the laborer of Jfcnch value as that of the Idler, 1*™ that idler, by some absurd Ej*' hM m*°* ¦ little noise in the 2»MI and left behind him an abiding mPVGoorge Send...
...She and tho children were all placed In institutions...
...Each bad the dsmsssl pat to th.m that they agree to handle all questions with the tsaaagement "In accordance with Its plan of employe repretentatiea...
...Instead, to best Mussolini fashion, the company on January 10 summoned to the offices of the various district, superintendents the members of the local committees representing thg telegraphers...
...Now the Russell Sage Foundation has given the kid the once over and says its bringing up has been very bad...
...when he wants a large sum of money ho surely would not pick out the 100 most generous people in New York, he would pick out the 100 richest and hope that they were generous...
...ternary Paradise I^Mata Trouble Encral Atterbur -i "Employes' jfHgatnUtion Plan," has been K|ed through the medium of a ¦pen-dollar advertising campaign ¦e panacea for all industrial ills...
...It seem* to have died from ims*evea»eaui th* worker* have r*smat*dly booted it about) th* United States Labor Board has condemned it repeatedly and in uamietakeabl* terms...
...Vag.hond'* Joy There's sunshine in the heart of m...
...It wasn't kgtrs, they said...
...The mountains are a part of me, , I'm fellow to, the tress...
...One follows the other just as consistently as night follows day...
...The extent of that maldistribution is measured by the extent of philanthropy...
...surplus funds available to Mr...
...She Ister recovered and kept her little family together by hard work as a domestic...
...Tit committee-men ware inter6»*OTpW*U*M«atly...
...If the Institution goes to him and asks for money it will shape it3 policy accordingly...
...Butler is living in a day, first, where there are much higher standards and therefore much less xurnlu.,, and second, where the business of giving is taken out of the hands of generous individuals and put into the hands of business organisations...
...But unless he is willing to maintain that taxes have diminished the surplus in the hands of the owning class he will have to admit that taxation cannot have any effect, for if his theory is correct, it is the amount of surplus that is the determining element...
...This inequality grows more pronounced year by year...
...In New York people do not...
...ment of trusts, or gifts during the j life of the owner...
...John D. Rockefeller donated $1,600,000 for the Imperial University of Tokio and $1,000,000 for the New York Museum...
...Second, philanthropy may be employed in the interests of tho subnormal—people poor, sick, or out of work...
...The reign of industrial democracy on the Pennsylvania had evidently taught the disjHet superintendents many of the Mutation tricks of company unionism...
...it must bo considered by the unions on Its merits, snd not ruthlessly condemned as their natural enemy...
...Carnegie pointed this out in a paper, "The Gospel of Wealth," which he contributed to the North American Review in June, 1889...
...The possessor of large wealth finds it impossible, therefore...
...Manifestly, the problem is a different kind of problem...
...His employes STfor the wrong people—their bona-nde union...
...It is the willingness of a small group of rich people in the community to part with considerable sums and turn them over for some public purpose...
...Still oa Trial" Tho concluding chapter of the report ssys: "This particular plan has hsd so much publicity and has been copied so widely that it presents definitely a challenge to the trade union movement...
...Butler have correspondingly diminished...
...He says that the' man of wealth should "consider all sin plus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is I called upon to administer.' In the Middle Ages there was a law by which the eldest son inherited the estate...
...Robert W. Service...
...Threehundred and eighteen voted for the "Employes' Representation Plan...
...This was followed by an announcement that these places would filled at an election to be held Jtnder company auspices February 6. jjjas' members of the Telegraph«•' Union will refuse to participate <n the so-called election, which gives •Wry promise of turning out to be m* cause of corruption and Intimi*W<m which have marked every election held under company •¦•pices...
...now Atterbury himself hat boon forced to ride over it roughshod...
...We think of ourselves as tho most generous people in the world...
...These representatives from all branches of the company meet periodically with an equal number of company officials...
...Finding themselves baffled by the feat number of committee-men who stood solid and refused to Bign, Atterbury's fellow-crusaders for industrial brotherhood issued an edict vacating the places of the recalciteants...
...Ths Civil Liberties Union points out "that ths sols charge agslntt Schedel wss his membership ia the Communist party and that tho Government's policy towsrd Communists has undetgone a marked (bangs tine* 1980...
...Standards of living have increased...
...It subjects the donor to all kinds of petitions and complaints, and he seeks relief by putting it into the hinds of [ a business organization called a foundation...
...DUKE, EASTMAN PHILANTHROPY DRUGS COLLEGE FREEDOM By SCOTT NEARING RECENTLY there have] been a number of significant developments in connection with philanthropy in the United States...
...That system held the property intact...
...3) recreation and education...
...At these conferences any matter vhich employes desire to hsve discussed csn be brought up—at least, so the rules provide...
...Schedel wss driven temporarily insane by the separation and by tho death of on* child...
...it is the lira impartial appraisal of the most prominent experiment in employes' representstion — an experiment which was tha forerunner of the shop committees, works councils, and similar projects introduced in about 1,000 companies within recent years in an effort to solve Labor difficulties...
...Th* report points out that at th* Colorado Fuel and Iron Company th* employes' represent...
...Philanthropy is no longer a matter of noblesse oblige or generosity...
...Eastman and Duke have given extensive sums to Rochester and Duke universities...
...know each other and do not caro to, and regard any attempt in that direction as an impertinence, so that neighborliness is turned into charity organizations, with snooping agents and card catalogues, whereby we pretend that we can do what people did wljen they lived in villages...
...He says that wealth can be disposed of in one of three ways—inheritance, establish...
...that in ictnal practice tha employee' representative, have no share in decisions concerning reported grievances...
...My golden youth I'm squandering, ., Sun-libertins am I, A-wandering, a-wandering, , > Until the day I die...
...This would automatically here mad* them committee-men of Ike company union...
...And the outright gift is not a happy method...
...tives ar* man who work in the mines and who do not feel free to act in opposition to th* company'* interest in defense of fellow-employes: that employes are thus not making fnll ate of th* plan even for th* presentation of grievances...
...Many prominent people hostile to Communist doctrine have joined ia the Schedel appeal...
...Lmaanw.hile, General Atterbury J*°«eeds serenely to tell in railroad ™»s:tsbles, on the backs of dining r*I Wsnus, in the numberless flNtches that tickle the funny-bones ft Rotarlans, of the rosy Paradise •town as the Pennsylvania Emir***' Representation Plan, where m Pennsylvania Railroad and their "•POyss slumber peacefully side ? aide much ss Isaiah's idyllic lion ¦plamb...
...Just as the Order of Railroad Telegraphers seems to be the only proper guardian for the Pennsylvania's industrial relation problem, the Foundation finds that what the Colorado mine situatfen needs is the United Min« Workers to guide it...
...A fsw months ago the Rail Labor Board held an election among the telegraphers on the Pennsylvania...
...After which they ware presented with a esMsd.lia* and told to sign...
...Thereupon the Rail Board decided "tyst the Order of Railroad Teleembers hsd been elected the duly authorized representative of the •Stnlsyes in telegraph service of the Pennsylvania Railroad and shall b»' so recognised by the carrier...
...If ow can it be possible that an institution which needs a new dormitory will not be influenced by the fact that the donor holds certain views on certain questions...
...Be has always thought his kid was pretty good, like all proud fathers...
...Of 7,760 ballots mailed out, 4,523 were returned marked for the Order of Rsilroad Telegraphers...
...the trustee holds his job just as he would hold a job selling butter and eggs...
...In a village, as long as the people know one another, the job of philanthropy is done petsonally by people helping each other out...
...When it comes, however, to tho very large philanthropy in the United States a different lino has been followed...
...Philanthropy is a sign of basic social disorder...
...Kills Worker*' Initiative The report shows thst, as a result of this plan, working and living conditions are more wholesome and happy for the miners and their families, but that the miners are far from satisfied that their representatives have the power to protect them in decisions regarding wages and other conditions of work, i "Employes' representation, as practised in the mines of this company," Miss Van Kleeck said, "works a revolution in remedying the outstanding grievances of an earlier decade, but—limited at it is to conference, concerned primarily with adjustment of grievances, and failing to take cognisance of organized Labor—it doe* not develop leadership or stimulate intereat among the wage earner...
...c..*«.ys POiiCy l>f tMsMafprwRsMy-^Hfc ^P"B**»* (aP^rP Of it* competitors which has at - taaily beoa oat by sualonlsod com pantos through negotiation with tho United Mine Worker*, vail* refusing to deal ia aay way with tk* miners* union Tao report credits too company with a much mere liberal attitude toward unionism tinea the employes' representation plan was introduced, but adds that a conflict is in existence in Colorado between employes' representation and trade unionism, which must be dealt with before any plan can be made to work satisfactorily...
...Now General Atterbury, crusader-in-comSSgj in the battle for sweet reasonableness in industrial re,^008, has found his offspring a pesky nuisance on the PennSoia...
...Probably, on the contrary, they asked him for tho money, he laid down certain prerequisites, and the gift was then forthcoming...
...At sach mine, two or more representatives are elected by the employes to serve for one year...
...Butler knows that...
Vol. 2 • January 1925 • No. 5
