As I went from camp to camp I talked with the representatives of the men individually and privately, I went into the men’s homes, talked with their wives and children, visited their schools, their places of amusement, their bathhouses, and had just such friendly relations with them as any man going among them would have had.
Frequently I found points of difference between the men and the officers, but in no single instance were the men as I met them other than friendly, frank and perfectly willing to discuss with me, as I was glad to discuss with them, any matters they chose to bring up.
It often occurred that there was justice in the points which they raised and their requests were acted upon favorably by the officers. Also frequently situations were presented in which it was impossible for the company to meet the views of the employees. But never was a subject dismissed until, if unable myself to make the situation clear, the highest officials of the company were called in to explain to the employee with the utmost fulness and detail the reasons why the thing suggested was impossible.
No matter presented was left without having been settled in accordance with the request of the employee, or, in the event of that being impossible, without his having been fully convinced that the position of the company was just and right and in the common interest.
This personal contact with the employees of the company led to the establishment of mutual confidence and trust and to the acceptance on their part of the premise that they and we were partners.
The men generally came to see that the man about whom they had heard was very different from the man whom they had met in their homes and at their work. While they distrusted the former, they believed in the latter. Before I left Colorado, a plan of industrial representation, providing for close personal contact between the duly elected representatives of the men and officers of the company, was worked out and adopted by a large majority vote of the employees.
This plan in substance aims to provide a means whereby the employees of the company should appoint from their own number as their representatives men who are working side by side with them, to meet as often as may be with the officers of the corporation, sometimes in general assembly, where open discussions are participated in and any matters of mutual interest suggested and discussed; more frequently in committees composed of an equal number of employees and officers, which committees deal with every phase of the men’s lives—their working and living conditions, their homes, their recreation, their religion and the education and well-being of their children.
In brief, the plan embodies an effort to reproduce in so far as is possible the earlier contact between owner and employee.
I do not venture to make any prediction as to the ultimate success of the plan. Two interesting side lights, however, may be mentioned.