CHAPTER XII.
MANAGEMENT OF THE GREAT PLANT SYSTEM WORTHY
OF ADMIRATION AND IMITATION.
There is perhaps no greater source of waste in our country than that of labor strikes, which have become of frequent occurrence during the last two decades. There is great waste of material from the destructive violence of infuriated mobs. In 1877, the great railway strikes of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Pennsylvania and Erie Systems, resulted in the destruction of sixteen hundred cars, one hundred and twenty-six locomotives, and five million dollars worth of property. A report made in 1895 by the United States Commissioner of Labor (covering a period of twelve years and six months, that is, from January 1, 1881, to June 30, 1894) on strikes in the United States, gives the following suggestive statistics. We read that the number of strikes was 14,390, affecting 69,167 establishments. The number of employees thrown out of work was 3,714,406. Loss of wages during this period to the striking workmen amounted to $163,-807,866. From lockouts the loss was $26,685,516. The losses to employers from the same cause were, from strikes $82,590,386, and from lockouts $12,235,451. The losses to employees and employers amount to the enormous sum of $285,319,219. And this is only a part of the losses, for it does not take into account the cost of police, detectives, and soldiers, required to protect persons and property. In one strike eight thousand of the latter force alone were needed to subdue riots, and save life and property. What estimate can be made of the damage to commerce, the disorganization of labor, the demoralization of the laborers, the families broken up and scattered, the hate and bitterness engendered? The corporation, therefore, that can co-operate peacefully with its working force adds much wealth and moral progress to the nation, as well as legitimate profits to its own treasury, and comfort, well-being, and happiness to its employees. There is mutual advantage on both sides, and far reaching and beneficial influence on all sides. There must be justice and consideration for the workman from the employer, and there must always be justice and appreciation from the workman to the man who gives him work,—mutual interest, benefit, and advantage. It is greatly to the credit of the Plant System, that the public has never suffered inconvenience in travel from strikes among its large working force, that the men have not suffered in person or estate, and that the company has been saved losses and crosses from this hydra-headed monster, “Conflict between labor and capital.” That these evils have been avoided, is due to the head of this great System, due to his sense of justice, to his personal knowledge of, and friendly interest in such a large number of the employees, and to a large-hearted consideration for the weaknesses of human nature. Mr. Plant was one day riding in a baggage car, when he saw an expressman turn wrong side up a box that had been marked “Glass.” He called attention to the fact. “That box,” said he to the man, “is marked ‘Glass’ and should be kept ‘glass’ side up as marked.” “Oh I know it is marked ‘Glass,’ but I never pay any attention to that,” said the expressman. Mr. Plant said no more. When the man and the superintendent of the express office were alone together, the superintendent said to the man, “Do you know who that gentleman was who spoke to you about the box marked ‘Glass’?”—“No.”—“Well, that was Mr. Plant, the president of the express company.”—“Oh my! that means my dismissal sure.”—“Yes, I think it does; I shall have to dismiss you”; and he said, later, to Mr. Plant, “I shall dismiss that man of course.” “No,” said the president. “Don’t discharge him; call him to your office and impress it upon him that that is not the way this company does its business, and he won’t forget it.” The man has been long a faithful and efficient employee of the company. Mr. Plant’s name does not figure as often as do some others in lists of large donations to churches and charities of deserving character, though they have not been passed by without recognition, and kind and generous treatment of the deserving men in his employ have never been wanting. While travelling with Mr. Plant to Atlanta, one of the heads of a department reported to him that an old gentleman who held an honored and important position in the System was greatly broken down with nervous prostration. “Send him to his home to remain until he is well, and remit his salary all the same.” It was remarked by a bystander that he thought that that was very kind of the president. “Oh,” was the answer, “that is only a regular occurrence to those of us who have been with President Plant as long as I have.”
Those who have read the blood curdling accounts of some of the strikes that have occurred within the past ten years, and have experienced some of the inconveniences and dangers resulting from them, will contrast such accounts with what was seen on “Plant Day” at the Atlanta Exposition, and on all other days throughout the South as well, and will feel that the account of that day was worthy of a place in the record of the noble life we are endeavoring to preserve as an example to public men and as a lesson and inspiration for coming generations. We let the associates and employees of the Plant System tell their own story. It was printed in a beautiful pamphlet as a souvenir of the day, and was specially designed for those whose devotion to duty prevented them from sharing, in person, the pleasures of that memorable day. With the exception of a few paragraphs of biographical matter contained in other sections of the volume, or merely of temporary interest, the account is published in full in a later chapter.
It is as creditable to the men who have stood around their president most faithfully in his arduous labors, as it is honorable to him who has led them on to noble achievement, and deserved success. Mr. Plant’s methods of management are worthy of highest commendation, and would repay careful study in like conditions. If any man were to discover a plan for extinguishing fire that would to save the country $285,390,219, in the course of a dozen years, the insurance companies would purchase his patent for a large sum of money, and the country would raise monuments to his honor. Mr. Plant’s method is even better; it is on the philosophical principle of prevention. It prevents the kindling of the flames, and while it may not be absolutely fire-proof, it has stood a long and severe test. We honor him and his loyal associates and employees for the more than peaceful course they have left on record. We say “more than peaceful” for it has been a course of mutual concessions, personal interest, and friendly association, as the following chapters will show. Nor is the view taken in these chapters narrowed to special and individual cases. It is as broad as the South linked to the North, and covers the whole United States; for no part of our country can be advanced without every other part sharing in the uplift.
It would not be surprising if the best part of Mr. Plant’s work should fail to be recognized. People see the material progress of a State, the things that can be measured, weighed, and valued at a price; the subtle forces that produce the material are often overlooked. The intellectual, moral, patriotic, and philanthropic spirit that moves the man and diffuses itself throughout the State or nation is not the first thing that arrests attention. Yet this unrecognized force is the great uplifting power of a people in all that is best and noblest in their onward march of progress. It is now an axiom that the North and South did not know and understand each other previous to the late war; that if they had understood each other, a war such as the revolt of the Southern States would never have occurred, would, in fact, have been impossible. The facilities afforded for travel and the superior hotel accommodations which have been provided by, and have resulted from, the Plant System, have brought North and South together in mutual interest and friendly accord to such an extent that a war can never again take place, for these two sections of our country are so interlaced, interdependent, and identified in interest, and withal in such friendly association, that the misunderstandings of the past can never again arise. It is a fact of history, that in proportion as nations, races, and religions come closer to each other, the causes of conflict are, to the same degree, lessened. A homely illustration of this fact is contained in the story of the Irishman who was walking along the Strand in London one morning, when through the fog he discovered a monster from which, at first, he was going to run away; then, grasping his shillelah, he came close up to the monster intending to kill the “baste,” when “lo and behold,” said Pat, “it was me brother John!” So it often comes to pass that the monster in the distance to be annihilated, in closer proximity is a brother to be loved.