The ultimate test of the rightness of any particular method of division must be the extent to which it stimulates initiative, encourages the further production of wealth, and promotes the spiritual development of men.
The Colorado Plan is of possible value in that State, and may prove useful elsewhere, because it seeks to serve continually as a means of adjusting the daily difficulties incident to the industrial relationship. It brings men and managers together, it facilitates the study of their common problems, and it should promote an understanding of their mutual interests.
Assuming, as we must, the fundamental fairness of men’s purposes, we have here possibly a medium through which the always changing conditions of industry may be from time to time more closely adapted to the needs, the desires, and the aspirations of men.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Note.—This article, “Labor and Capital—Partners,” originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, January, 1916.
III The Personal Relation in Industry[2]
Heretofore the Chief Executives of important industrial corporations have been selected largely because of their capacity as organizers or financiers.
The time is rapidly coming, however, when the important qualification for such positions will be a man’s ability to deal successfully and amicably with labor. Yet how to do this is a subject which, I fancy, is never taught or referred to in the classroom.