Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/404

392 competitive forces and the will of employers alone he reasoned that special organization of laborers and managers is necessary. "It is essential to have organizations of employers, who together shall control and direct the general principles and policies governing the common interest, so that there may be no overreaching by selfish and reckless individuals on either side." He accounts for the fact that many employers have refused to accept the plan by saying: "The proverbial slowness of employers to know a good thing when they see it and their proneness to let matters drift until they get almost hopelessly entangled, in preference to taking a little trouble in advance," is a sufficient explanation.

There are always business men who are not only sagacious managers, with a gift for amassing riches, but who are broad enough to go to the margin of ability in making experiments. The names of Robert Owen, Godin of Guise, Leclaire of Paris, Peabody of London and America, belong in this brilliant company. Every city furnishes examples of the same class and in increasing numbers.

Mr. O. D. Ashley in "Railways and their Employés" is one of those who recognize the responsibility of employers to the public. "If there is social unrest in the civilized world, a fact which will be hardly disputed, we are bound, not only as Christians but as parts of the human brotherhood, to give careful examination to all plans which contemplate man's improvement and elevation."

We may discover in the very arguments by which the gentlemen of affairs warn ethical theorists out of the manufactory a need of theorists. It is assumed by both gentlemen quoted in the beginning, that the class motives of employers and the laws of nature are the sufficient guaranty of social welfare. From this assumption of premises it follows that all discussion or intrusion from other members of society must be impertinent and vicious. But the state of mind disclosed in the quotations is itself a social defect. It is symptomatic of the unsocial temper. These quotations prove that many essential elements are ignored by very able and upright men. They imply that there is at least one class of the community who have no interest in the issue of social