Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/756

 74-" THE AMERICAX JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

department as to his ability I Fig. 3). A complete record of all employes since the system was inaugurated, as well as all present employes, is kept by this employment bureau. Suitable blanks are also provided for employment, transfer from one department to another, increase of wages, etc.; eight of these blank forms in all being used, some of them in manifold. Thus, nothing of impor- tance is clone respecting any employe unless a full and complete record is made. The evident merit of it all is that each employe is treated upon a basis of justice instead of one of chance or of I 'ivterment.

One novel feature of organization is the training school. On the fourth floor of the main or administrative building is a theater seating several hundred (Fig. 4). Here is held the training school, a systematic six-weeks' course given to all salesmen. It is not within the scope of this article to describe the relations between the company and its employes of the selling division; sufficient to say that it is characterized by the same broad- minded, liberal, and just policy. But so important a feature as that formed by the theater in the factory life is worthy of notice. F<>r here, also, the factory operatives are given the opportunity of appreciating the wants of the agents, and of the public which they serve. The workman does not labor blindly or mechanic- ally at his own special task, but he works intelligently, having in mind not only the specialized duty and the completed prod- uct, but also the general function that he is performing for society. He appreciates the needs of the public and the tests which his labor must stand.

Thus briefly have been indicated the more important features of the organization so far as they relate to the interests of the employes, but the effort of the company does not stop here. "We have found," said the president, "that to accomplish the largest amount of work possible our men must be healthy. To those who do not see the connection between the question of health and the matter of conducting a paying business we would sav that a healthy operative turns out more work than a dyspep- tic." The general hygienic features of the factory have been mentioned. The employes are taught how to take care of their