Page:Robert W. Dunn - American Company Unions.djvu/47

 what wages he will give his men. The independent steel companies follow suit no matter how elaborate their system of "representation."

The Steel Corporation is satisfied that its "Helfare" work, as the workers call it, will keep the loyalty of the men without any "industrial representation." Still the personnel professionalists and the liberal economists are yelping at the Corporation's heels with advice as to the timeliness of such a plan. They point out that the strike antagonisms of 1919 have had six years to cool, that the union is down and out, and hence the introduction of a plan would not be looked upon as a palliative in lieu of real union recognition. They also intimate that "public opinion" is not so heated about Garyism as it was before 1923 when the longer hours were cut.

But Gary budgets his welfare outlay carefully and, he sees no reason why there should ever be any organization to challenge his power in the steel industry. Hence, why bother about committees? With barely 10,000 steel worker "aristocrats" organized out of more than 260,000 steel workers in his plants he should worry about a union ever forcing his hand!

It may be added, that Mr. Gary's social panacea, according to a recent interview is "the general adoption and practice of the Golden Rule."

Then we have in the public utility field, where the movement has recently spread so rapidly, the People's Gas, Light & Coke Company of Chicago, an Insull company, which operates an employee representation scheme prepared and installed by the Bureau of Commercial Economics, Inc., of Chicago. An Industrial Relations Department connected with the company, presides over the plan, and the head of this department is chairman at all the meetings.