The first is that whereas the plan itself and an agreement covering working and living conditions was adopted by the coal miners employed by this company some fifteen months ago—since that time the same plan and agreement, adapted to the particular requirements of the steel workers, and also of the iron miners employed by the company, has been adopted by both.
The second, while the company has reopened a number of mines formerly idle and is now working quite to the limit of its capacity in the production of coal, it has all the labor at its various mines which it requires, and that too without having made any special effort to attract labor to its recently reopened mining camps.
But there is a further reason why the personal relation in industry is of such vital importance, and that is in order that the attitude and purpose of the owners and directors of a company may be rightly understood by and interpreted to their partners, the employees, and vice versa; also that all grievances may be taken up and adjusted as they arise.
How true it is that when some petty representative of a great corporation makes a sharp trade with a customer, the customer at once says, “Obviously, the president of this corporation is a dishonest and unscrupulous man. It must be that he has directed his agents to pursue these sharp and crooked practices.”
However high-minded the owners or directors of a company may be, it is of the utmost difficulty to guard against such practices on the part of an occasional representative. But it is obviously just as unfair on such grounds to maintain that the owners and managers are unjust and crooked in their business methods, as it would be to say that the whole tree was bad simply because one apple on it had spots or imperfections.
The employee in any corporation must form his opinion of the owners and directors of the corporation from the petty officer or foreman with whom he has personal contact. Too often these men, not infrequently promoted from the ranks, become overbearing and arrogant in their treatment of those under them.
This very naturally is as irritating and unjust to the employee as it is distressing to the company, and it is at this point in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where grievances arise.
The Colorado Industrial Plan to which I have referred has been so drawn as to guard against the exercise of arrogance or oppression, by providing various channels through which the employee with a grievance can at once secure a sympathetic and friendly hearing, carrying his difficulty to the president’s ear, if necessary.
The foreman who knows that any arbitrary or unjust action on his part may be reviewed by his superior officers is very much more careful in his treatment of his men, always wanting to avoid having his decisions reversed.
If a slight scratch made on the finger with a rusty nail is immediately cleansed with an antiseptic wash, it heals at once. On the other hand, if the poison which has been introduced is allowed to remain, soon inflammation sets in, the disorder spreads, and serious menace to life may result.