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r 1 Can La boring! M [enl Bel M lad e j H laDDv and Satisi Fied l? PRESIDENT ELIOT • UlUl, 4 I Vvtuwili Relations Between Capital and Labor Which Must Be Accomplished to Insure Fortunate and Happy Con ditions of Life for Employes. By Dr. Charles William Eliot Harvard U W ITH the Protestant Reformation there began in Europe a series of efforts on the part, now of this people, no* President of nivercity.) of that, to obtain an Increasing measure of political and religious liberty; and nearly three hundred years ago the most Important of all the steps In that long series was taken, when a few English nonconformists crossed the for mldable Atlantic and started In the wilderness that Immense development of political liberty and religious toleration which has taken place on the North American continent. To-day, one mav say that In the United States political liberty has done all It can do to promote the happiness and well-being of the mass of the cltlaena The American voter is about as free as con stitutions, laws and political practise can make him. We complain, to be sure, that the peo ple’s will does not always got promptly exe on ted, because It Is blocked by the action of tha people’s own representatives and elected servants, and of unofficial but powerful polit ical managers: but these hindrances, or ob stacles, arise after the individual voter has expr-eased his will, or rotde his choice between the alternative* aet before him and are due to the diverse opinions, or clashing Interests, of parties or groups among the voters. They are not due to any direct Interference with the individual voter's right to form, express and aet on his own opinions. Having thui attained to a large degree of political liberty for the individual, why are so many people in this free country so dlscon tented with the degree of independence and practical freedom they enjoy? Why Is there such widespread discontent among working people not only In this country, but also in almost all the countries of Europe? The rea son Is that the mass of the working people to-day feel that they are not personally Inde pendent, but, on the contrary, very dependent, on others for the satisfaction of their dally needs and desires and for the opportunity to earn a livelihood. Americans of the eighteenth century and the flrat half of the nineteenth had nn Indepen dence of character, and an Independent mode of life as farmers, mechanics and traders, founded on their climatic and Industrial con ditions, and on the fact that they and their fathers were living on fresh soil, and In free dom from the restraints of tha feudal system and the established churches, from which they had escaped. The great majority of the American people to-day find themselves dependent on wages, or salaries, for the means of living; and every large community Is dependent for food, fuel, shelter and clothing, and even for water, on powerful collective agencies which control hundreds of thousande of wage-earners. In the factory system, which necessarily prevails In most of the Important Industries, the Indi vidual workman la one unit In a machine which works well only when each Individual workman’s will Is subordinated to the rate and rhythm of the complicated whole. The factory system Involves for the Individ ual workman incessant monotonous repetition of a few hand and eye movements, and de pendence for steady employment on the Intelli gence, energy and marketing skill of the owner or manager of the works. A foolish, lazy owner without skill In buying or selling may prove as disastrous to his employes as an unjust or dishonest one. The large Industrial corporations, great banks and insurance companies, and the big department stores, In all of which captains ars few and privates many, tend to diminish the personal Independence of the average man or woman who works In them. On the other hand, the monopolistic; combinations called trade unions greatly diminish the personal liberty and Independence of their members, who distinctly agree to sacrifice their Individual liberty In grave matters. In the hope of pro moting the Interests of their class as a whole, or of some particular union. The frugal American farmer or mechanic used to put his savings into lands or buildings, live stock, vehicles, vessels, tools, or other use ful chattels; but now he must put his savings Into the stocks or bonds of corporations, or Into savings banks, or he must Invest In the pledgee of insurance companies, thus becom ing dependent on other people’s honesty and skill, oven for tbe security of Ills own savings. Observing these new conditions, the work ing man who reads and thinks, comes to the conclusion that political freedom Is not the only kind of freedom he wants. He wants also genuine Industrial freedom, and knows that lie Is not enjoying It. Hence, dissatisfaction or discontent, and a blind struggle after bet ter conditions. Hence, the existing warfare, open or veiled, between employer and em ployed, between the managers of successful Industries and their wage earners, between the few owners of water powers, coal deposits, buildings and machinery and the many peo ple who feed and tend the machines. Wherever the factory system prevails and the contributory means of transportation and communication have been created, this con flict Is going on, and Is threatening to reduce efficiency, Increase waste and dry up the springs of contentment and happiness for the working multitude. The workmen believe, or seem to believe, that higher wages, or mors pay for Icbb service, will bring them the lib erty and happiness they long for. They aim at getting a larger share of the values which capital and labor combine, and must always combine, to produce; but the plain faot Is that larger earnings will not necessarily make them either freer or happier; for the sources of publlo and private well-be ing do not lie In the amount of the average earnings, but In the relation of earnings to the cost of satisfying wholesome desires, and In the moral as well as physical conditions under which the labors of the community are per formed, and family life Is carried on. In many Industries the employers are now as thoroughly organised as the workmen, al though their associations sometimes prove to he less trustworthy than the unions of the workmen when an actual combat Is taking place; that Is, the employers’ associations are more apt than the unions to disintegrate and give way during a strike or lockout. In spite of this too common weakness, combinations of capitalists or employers have some substantial advantages over combinations of wage earners. In the first place, the employer can endure the suspension or hts profit much easier and longer than his employes can endure tha sus pension of their wages. On this account the resolute employer Is Bure to win If he has right, and reason on his side; If he has not, he will probably lose as soon as public, attention is drawn to the dispute between him and his employes. If destruction of property or life occurs, or if consumers are seriously Incon venienced or distressed, the force of public opinion will sooner or later put a stop to the combat, sometimes on Just terms, but oftener on unjust. Secondly, the harassed owner will try, and often with success, to substitute machinery tended by comparatively cheap labor for high- priced hand workers; and he is also likely to find means of reducing the proportion of skilled labor to unskilled. In both these ways Invention has been greatly stimulated by the Industrial warfare, and theNo processes, which tend temporarily to emancipate the employer, are still going on. Thirdly, the owner or manager, who finds the cost of a material he has been accustomed lo use forced up by the exactions of the work men who handle It. Is sure to seek for a new material which will answer his purpose at a smaller cost. The recent substitution of con crete for granite In foundations and walls is a case In point. The employes are at a disad vantage, because they have no suen alterna tives as these which are open to the employer. Yet neither side can crush the other once for %11. and Indeed, neither side can long exist without the other. Dr. Charles William Eliot, the Distinguished Former President of Harvard University. How can this stupid, unhappy, and wasteful discord be stopped or mitigated? The first step must bn to study the favorable conditions of human labor. The work of the world must be done; for the livelihood of mankind and the progress of civilization depend on the produc tive Industries of the race. Is it possible to get this work done happily and contentedly by free, comfortable, and improving people, or must It bo done in the main by people who feel themselves oppressed, take no pleasure in their work, and, like slaves, look on work as something to be avoided to the utmost? The grave social and industrial problems of to day turn on the answers to these two questions: What are the fortunate conditions of human labor? Can they be secured for the laboring millions? The winning of satisfaction and content In daily work should be the most fundamental of nil objects In an Industrial democracy; for un less this satisfaction and content can he haliitu ally won on an immense scale in the national Industries, the hopeH of democracy cannot be realized. There can be little public happiness unless the dally work of the masses can be pursued bv well-disposed people with satis faction and Interest, apart from the amount of dally pay received. That is already true of alt the higher employments. Can it be made true of the lower? I now proceed to consider the sources of satisfaction in labor. 1. in any Industry, large or small, the first need of an Intelligent laborer- no matter whHt Ills work—Is to feel that he has been, and is. In some good measure a free man. He needs lo remember that he W'as free to choose his employment. He wishes to feel free to change his employment, or Ills employer. If he can change to his advantage. He likes to be free to change the tools or machines with which he works, if better are Invented. As a young inan, he wishes to be free to set up early, and main tain comfortably, family life, and lastly, he would prefer to see open before him a fair prospect of improvement as regards earnings and responsibility as life goes on. These are the elements of a Just Industrial liberty. Cer tain trades-unions’ policies Interfere with some of the most precious of these liberties, by re stricting the number of apprentices in a given establishment, and making unreasonably long the term ot apprenticeship. Their rules often make it impossible for a son to follow his father's trade even when the fgther is a union man, and very difficult for a journeyman to become an employer. II. The next source of satisfaction in work is the pleasure which the natural, healthy man takes in using his bodily and mental powers. There ought always to be pleasure in the use or exercise of one s powers. All the athletic sports illustrate this principle, even though they call for severe and prolonged exertion. This pleasure, however, is hardly to be secured if his occupation compel the worker to make monotonous exertions, often repeated, and easily becoming automatic. Hence, the intelligent laborer w-ants variety in his work. Fortunately, many very useful— indeed, indispensable—occupations afford such variety, as, for instance, the occupation of a motorman. Carpenter, mason, blacksmith, wheelwright, compositor, farmhand, miner, fisherman, cook, tailor or housewife. The building trades all afford a good variety ’n the dally work, because buildings vary indefinitely in size, quality, object and materials. In general, tt is factory labor or machine tending which lacks the variety necessary to the enjoyment of work. How the desirable variety in the individual’s work can be provided in large factories, where it probably pays to keep every employe for years on a single operation incessantly re peated, is an unsolved problem. All-around workmen, and even all-around foremen are dis appearing from the great factory industries. Superintendents can no longer grow up in the works from boyhood, but have to be trained in an exceptional manner on the basis of a col lege or technical school education. It certainly seems an unwholesome thing both for the individual and for society that a man shouk. spend his life in doing one piece of me chanical work which he can learn to do per fectly In a week. This is the rational objection to piece-work; and yet in the present state of the industrial strife payment by the carefully Inspected piece seems to be the safest and fairest way to procure efficient work. Against this danger of producing in time a generation of factory workers mentally stunted by monotonous repetition and lack of variety in their daily work, some defenses can be dis cerned. Short hours in the factory furnish one defense; for in the rest of his day the work man can, if he will, develop an enjoyable va riety of manual and mental skills. Another defense may be found in the employment of large numbers of young people who lo not pro pose to spend their lives in a factory, but nevertheless learn quickly their simple tasks, make good hands for a time and then withdraw. III. The next source of genuine satisfaction in one's daily labor lies in achievement, that is, in doing and accomplishing something worth while. This is a motive which should be con stantly appealed to In education, from its earliest through its latest stages; and it should be appealed to in all Industries, and be kept con stantly in the minds of the working people. Competitive achievement is more pleasurable than achievement without competition; because competition needs liberty, hope and a deter mination toward improvement. The sense of achievement is heightened if the achievement is the result of the co-opera tion of several or many persons, particularly if the co-operation is effected by any sort of rhythm, or harmony, or team-play. The indus tries, like the sports, afford innumerable In stances of the satisfaction which naturally springs from such competitive effort. Human nature responds with joy to competitive effort toward any productive or collective end, Just as it does to the desire for victory in a ball gam. or a boat race. IV. Another important source of satisfaction in any life-work is the hope or expectation of improvement as time goes on, improvement in the amount of earnings, in personal skiil, and in the utilization of mental capacity and moral responsibility. The most destructive things in trades-union doctrine are the uniform wage, the restriction of output, the condemnation of zeal in work, and the discouragement of effort for Individual improvement with the consequent legitimate increase of earning power. These practices rapidly Impair the moral fibre of any workman who adopts them, and soon destroy the very sources of enjoyment and satisfaction in the life-work; their worst effect is the destruction of the motive for that per sonal progress in skill and mental capacity which commands larger pay as life goes on, and gives Increasing satisfaction in the earn ing of the livelihood. In establishments which employ many thou sands of work-people, so that there can be little, If any, acquaintance between employer and employed, the recruiting of the working force and the shifting of the recruits must go on all the time in a routine way which lacks personal touch, and promotion is secured through subordinates, and not through the principal. In this respect very large factories are inferior to those of moderate size. The present tendency is toward factories of moderate size (300 to 600 employes) placed, not in large cities, but in small cities or large towns and so detached that they can secure light, air, and rural surroundings. Such a factory may be expected to make careful selec tion of its employes, to maintain healthy con ditions throughout its premises, and to retain a fair proportion of its male employes through long terms of service, and so to favor and satisfy among its workmen the expectation of improvement. V. Some occupations contain an element of risk or danger which proves a source of satis faction to those who work in them. The danger must, of course, be visible and avoidable by the exercise of courage and skill, and it may well be combined with an element of chance as to the productiveness of the labor in the industry concerned. The gamble on an unusually good haul, or on an unusually short passage to or from the grounds, distinctly adds to the enjoyment of the fisherman’s somewhat hazardous occupa tion. Every time a good trader makes a bar gain, ho gets out of it the interest of an ad venture, and there is much natural human pleasure in the adventure which combiues uovelty with taking a risk. VI. The most important of all the favorable conditions of labor is a loyal state of mind on the part of the workman. Here the lower vocations can learn much from the experiences of the higher. whether his profession be clerical, legal, medi cal, scientific, or artistic—the teacher, the preacher, the engineer, and the artist— no mat ter what his art—all feel in a high degree this sentiment of loyalty to something outside themselves, as, for example, to a political or legal institution, a church, a school, an as sociation, or to the whole body oi a profes sion. This sentiment grows as life goes on, and be comes in the long run the source of deep and lasting satisfaction to him who feels It. in the national industries the individual worn* man ought to feel a strong sentiment of attach ment to his trade, and of loyalty to the particu lar factory, mine, bank, railroad, or mill in which he works, or to the employing person, firm, or corporation on whose Just and skilful management the profits of the business, and therefore the workman’s own steady employ ment, depend. Without this sentiment of loy alty happiness in labor is impossible; with it the humblest service yields solid and lasting satisfaction. Employers and employed alike need to un derstand better than they do now the condi tion.-, under which satisfaction In dally toll become not only attainable, but natural and inevitable, and to see clearly that the prime condition is loyalty on both sides. The trades- unions perceive the value of loyalty to their unions and their class; but, as a rule, they do not see clearly the value, toward the accom plishment of their own ends, of loyalty to a just, humane, successful employer. There are, however, two good signs In recent years In regard to the state of mind of trades- unions toward employers—the union men aro boginning to appreciate the fact that an indus try, which is not kept profitable, will not long afford employment tc anybody on any terms. It seems to me that within the last fifteen years good progress has been made in devel oping both In employers and employes the right states of mind on these subjects. Em ployers have learnt that It is “good business” to make all the surroundings of their working people healthy and cheerful, to take thought for the housing of their workmen, to put their factories In such places that their permanent employes can live a family life in cottages with gardens, to make provision in the vicin ity for public playgrounds and play buildings, so that wholesome recreations may be within easy reach, and to do everything possible to promote the safety, health and sensible pleas ures and satisfactions of the workmen and their families. He is experimenting carefully on profit-sharing methods, the most promising lode o f creating and maintaining satisfactory relations between employers and employed. He maintains a rising scale of wages based on efficiency and length of service, does his ut most to secure for his workmen steady em ployment, and takes care of employes who have passed their prime and need lighter jobs. Fully realizing that the interests of bi9 workmen are bound up with the life of h's works, he labors to keep his industry profita ble, and therefore a sure support for his em ployes as well as for himself. If the establishment is old enough to have secured a firm reputation for successful man agement, and therefore for durability, he es tablishes a pension system, thereby increas ing efficiency in his works, and also making promotion more rapid among the permanent workmen. He rejects the Dolicy of the high est possible immediate profit, without regard o stability of the business in the future, as Inconsistent with the right view of his trustee ship for his partners or shareholders and his. employes alike; and believes that the only way to bring in the reign of industrial peace is to deal righteously and humanely with the people ho employs, competes with, buys from, or sells to. In the meantime It is to be hoped that on the side of the workmen leaders and followers alike will abandon the wrongful policies of monopoly and violence, recognize the fact that steady active work for all hands within the limits of health, far from being a curse or an evil, is the source and support of the most durable satisfactions in life, and the chief means of civilization, study anew the fortu nate or happy conditions of labor, and with out abandoning their organizations or their rightful policies, take up the pursuit of happi ness in the only feasible way, through winning the satisfaction of liberty, healthy exertion, competitive achievement, hearty co-operation, variety and progress in the life-work, and loyalty. How ‘The Woman Thou Gavest Me” Fought Her Temptation I N the current instalment of “The Woman Thou Gaveet Me,” Hall Caine's masterly and reverent analysis of the modern mar riage problem, now being printed In Hearst's Magazine, tbe distinguished English novelist re veals the struggle ofa good woman against, temptation. Mary O’Neill, the heroine of the story, has been sold In marriage by her ambi tious father to Lord Kaa. a profligate noble man. Mary, too late, realizes the horror of a loveless marriage and on her wedding day she and her husband enter Into an arrangement that makes her a wife In name only. liorii Kaa shames her by his open attentions to Alms, an old school girl friend. Martin Conrad, an > ther friend of her childhood, now a famous antarctic explorer, comes back into her life and she finds herself deeply in love with him. Her husband is off on a yachting cruise with his dissolute friends when the supreme temptation ;:aei to Mary O'Neill. The following excerpts from the current In stalment of the novel are so remarkable in their ppignant self resolution and In the lesson they teach every woman that permission to reprint them has been secured from Hearst's Magazine. (From the current instalment of "The Wo man Thou Gavest Me” In the April number of Hearst's Magazine.) W HEN' Martin's mother came into tbe room she looked nervous and almost frightened, as if she had charged J^rself with a mission which she was afraii to fulfil. But I got her to sit in my mother's easy chair and sat on the arm of it myself, and then she seemed calmer and more com fortable. In spite of the silver threads In the smooth hair under her poke bonnet, her dear face was still the face of a child, and never be^ fore had It seemed to me bo helpless and childlike. After a moment we began to talk of Martin "He's so tender-hearted, you Bee And then you . . you’re such a wonderful woman grown. Tommy the Mate says there hasn't been the like of you on this island since the; Wd your mother under tbe sod. It's truth enough, too—gospel truth. And Martin—Mar tin says there isn't your equal, no, not in Lon don Itself neither. So . . . so,” she said, trembling and stammering, "I was thinking . . I was thinking he was only flesh and blood like the rest of us. poor boy, and if he got to be too fond of you . . . now that you’re married and have a husband, you know. . . The trembling and stammering stopped her for a moment. ■'Tbey’re saying you are not very happy In jour marriage neither. Times and times I’ve heard people telling he Isn't kind to you, and hey married vou against your will. . . . So, 1 was telling myself. If that's so, and Martin and you came together now, end you encouraged him, and let him go on and anything came of It any trouble or disgrace or the like of that . . . tt would he such a terrible, cruel, shocking thing for the boy . . . just when everybody’s talk ing about him and speaking so well, too.” It was out at last. Her poor broken-hearted ory was told. Being a married woman, un happily married, too, I was a danger to her tK-loved son. and she had come to me tn her sweet, unmindful, motherly selfishness to ask me to protect him against myself. » • • • • I went to the window to watch her as she walked down the drive. * Clod bless her! The dear, sweet woman! Such women as she is. and my mother was— so humble and loving, so guileless and pure, never saying an unkind word or thinking an unkind thought are the flowers of the world that make the earth smell sweet. When she jvas gone and I remembered the promise I had made to her 1 asked myself what was to become of me. If 1 could neither di vorce my husband under any circumstances without breaking a sacrament of my church, nor love Martin and be loved by him without creaking the heart of Ills mother, where was I? “But Martin" “Well?” Do you mean that I 1 am -to- to live with ion ivithou marriage?” "It's the only thing possible, isn t it?" he said. And then he tried to show me that love was everything, and if people loved each other nothing else mattered—religious ceremonies were nothing, the morality of society was min ing. the world and its backbiting was nothing. The great moment had come for me at last, and though I felt torn between love and pity I had to face it. “Martin, I—I can’t do it," T said. He stopped, and then coming closer, he said: “I suppose you know what this means for you, Mary that after all the degradation you have gone through you are shutting the door to a cleaner, worthier, purer life, and that” I could bear no more. My heart was yearn ing for him, yet i was compelled to speak. ’’But would it be a purer life, Martin, if it began in sin? N'o, no, it wouldn't.” “Then think again, Mary. Only give one glance to the horrible life that is before you when I am gone. You have been married a year—only a year—and you have suffered ter- ribly. But there Is worse to come. Your hus band's coarse infidelity has been shocking, but there will bo something more shocking than his infidelity—his affection. Have you never thought of that?” *•«•••*••» ”1 dare not! I dare not!” I said. "I should *he a broken-hearted woman if I did, and you don’t want that, do you?” He listened in silence, though the irregular lines in his face showed the disordered state of his soul, and when I had finished a wild look came into his eyes, and he said: ‘T am disappointed in you, Mary. I thought vou were brave and fearless, anil that when I showed you a ivay out of your miserable en tangiement you would take it in spite of every thing.” His voice was growing thick again. I could scarcely bear to listen to it. "Do you suppose I wanted to take up the position I proposed to you? Not I. No decent man ever does. But I loved you so dearly that I was willing to make that sacrifice and count It as nothing if only I could rescue you from the misery of your abominable marriage.” Then, he broke into a kind of fierce laughter, and said: “It seems I wasn’t wanted, though. You say In* effect that my love Is sinful and criminal, and that it will imperil your soul. So I’m only making mischief here, and the sooner I get away the better for everybody.” He threw off my hand, stepped to the door to the balcony, and looking out into the dark ness. he said, between choking laughter and sobs: "Elian, you are no place for me. I can’t bear the sight of you any longer. I used to think you were the dearest spot on earth, be cause you were the home of her who would follow me to tile ends of the earth if 1 wanted her to, but I was wrong. She loves me less than a wretched ceremony, and would sacrifice my happiness to a miserable bit of parchment.” My heart was clamoring loud. Never had I loved him so much as now. I had to struggle with myself not to throw myself into bis arms. Ho stepped back from the balcony with a resolute expression on his gloomy face, and I thought for a moment (half hoping and half fearing it) that he was going to lay hold of me and tell me that 1 must do what he wished be cause I belonged to him. But he only looked at me for a moment in silence, and then burst into a flood of tears and turned and ran out of the house. Let who will say his tears were unmanly. To me they were the bitter cry of a great love, of a great heart, and I wanted to follow him and say: “Take me. Do what you like with me. I am yours.” I did not do so. I sat a long time where he had left me, and then I went into my room and locked the door. I did not cry. Unjust and cruel as his re proaches had been, I had begun to have a strange, wild joy in them. I knew that he would not have insulted me like that If he had not loved me to the very verge of mad ness itself. Hours passed Price came tapping at my door to ask if she should lock up the house- meaning the balcony. I answered: "No, go to bed.” I heard the deadened thud of Martin’s foot steps on the lawn passing to and fro. Some times they paused under my -window, and then I had a feeling, amounting to certainty, that he was listening to hear if I was sobbing, and that if 1 had been, he would have broken down my bedroom door to get to me. At length I heard him come up the stcr.e stairway, shut, and bolt the balcony door, and walk heavily across the corridor to his own room. The day was then dawning. It was 4 o'clock. The full ‘installment of “The Woman Thou Gavest Me," from which the preceding excerpts haw been taken, will be found in the April number of HEARST'S MAGAZINE. Our Chu-ch Was a Little Chapel-of-Ease on the Edge of My Husband’s Estate. Opened, After Centuries of Neglect, by the Bad Lord R aa. in His Regenerate Days, for the Benefit of the People of His Own Village. It Was Very Sweet to See Their Homely Faces as They Rev erently Bowed and Rose, and Even to Hear Their Creachy Voices When They Joined in the Singing of the Gloria.- -Drawn by Frank Craig in the Current Instalment of "The Woman T h ou Gavest Me." HEARST'S MAGAZINE.