vision of the statesmen who founded these United States and to the
daring and indomitable persistence of the great industrial leaders,
together with the myriads of men who with faith in their leadership
have coöperated to rear the marvelous industrial structure of which our
country is justly so proud.
This result has been produced by the coöperation of the four factors
in industry: labor, capital, management and the public, the last
represented by the consumer and by organized government.
No one of these groups can alone claim credit for what has been
accomplished. Just what is the relative importance of the contribution
made to the success of industry by these several factors and what
their relative rewards should be are debatable questions. But however
views may differ on these questions it is clear that the common
interest cannot be advanced by the effort of any one party to dominate
the other, to arbitrarily dictate the terms on which alone it will
coöperate, to threaten to withdraw if any attempt is made to thwart the
enforcement of its will. Such a position is as un-American as it is
intolerable.
The personal relationship which existed in bygone days is essential to
the development of this new spirit. It must be reëstablished; if not in
its original form at least as nearly so as possible.
In the early days of the development of industry, the employer and
capital investor were frequently one. Daily contact was had between him
and his employees, who were his friends and neighbors. Any questions
which arose on either side were taken up at once and readily adjusted.
A feeling of genuine friendliness, mutual confidence and stimulating
interest in the common enterprise was the result.
How different is the situation to-day! Because of the proportions
which modern industry has attained, employers and employees are too
often strangers to each other. Personal contact, so vital to the
success of any enterprise, is practically unknown, and naturally,
misunderstanding, suspicion, distrust and too often hatred have
developed, bringing in their train all the industrial ills which have
become far too common. Where men are strangers and have no points of
contact, this is the usual outcome. Much of the strife and bitterness
in industrial relations result from lack of ability or willingness on
the part of both Labor and Capital to view their common problems each
from the other’s point of view.
Representation is the principle upon which the democratic government
of our country is founded. On the battlefields of France this nation
poured out its blood freely in order that democracy might be maintained
at home and that its beneficient institutions might become available in
other lands as well.
Surely it is not consistent for us as Americans to demand democracy in
government and practice autocracy in industry.
What can this Conference do to further the establishment of democracy
in industry and lay a sure and solid foundation for the permanent
development of coöperation, good-will and industrial well-being? To
undertake to agree on the details of plans and methods is apt to lead
to endless controversy without constructive result.
Can we not, however, unite in the adoption of the principle of
representation, and the agreement to make every effort to secure
the endorsement and acceptance of this principle by all chambers of
commerce, industrial and commercial bodies and all organizations of
labor?
Such action I feel confident would be overwhelmingly backed by public
opinion and cordially approved by the Federal Government. The assurance
thus given of a closer relationship between the parties to industry
would further justice, promote good-will and help to bridge the gulf
between Capital and Labor.
(_Resolution introduced by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., earlier in
the session, which was not debated or acted upon but superseded by
the resolution to which the foregoing remarks were addressed._)
WHEREAS, the common ground of agreement and action with regard to the
future conduct of industry, with the development of a new relationship
between Capital and Labor which the President sought in calling this
Conference can only be discovered as we approach the problem in the
spirit of justice, brotherhood, and of willingness to put one’s self in
the other man’s place, the coming of which means the substitution of
confidence for distrust, of good will for enmity, of coöperation for
antagonism; and
WHEREAS, this spirit can be developed only by the resumption of
personal relations between employer and employee or the nearest
possible approach thereto; and
WHEREAS, some form of representation in industry is essential in order
to make personal relations possible under modern industrial conditions;
Now Therefore be it
RESOLVED, that this Conference recognizes and approves the principle
of representation in industry under which the employees shall have an
effective voice in determining their terms of employment and their
working and living conditions; and be it further
RESOLVED, that just what form representation shall take in each
individual plant or corporation, so long as it be a method which is
effective and just, is a question to be determined by the parties
concerned in the light of the facts in each particular instance; and be
it further
RESOLVED, that any form of representation to be adequate must include:
1. Ample provision whereby the stockholders and the employees through
their respective representatives, shall give current consideration to
matters of common interest such as terms of employment and working and
living conditions;
2. Any such further provisions, if any, as may be necessary to insure
the prompt uncovering of grievances, real or alleged, and their speedy
adjustment.
FOOTNOTE:
[4] Remarks at National Industrial Conference, Washington, D. C.,
October 16, 1919.
V
TO THE EMPLOYEES[5]
This is a red-letter day in my life.
It is the first time I have ever had the good fortune to meet the
representatives of the employees of this great company, its officers
and mine superintendents, together, and I can assure you that I am
proud to be here, and that I shall remember this gathering as long as I
live.
Had this meeting been held two weeks ago, I should have stood here
as a stranger to many of you, recognizing few faces. Having had the
opportunity last week of visiting all of the camps in the southern
coal fields and of talking individually with practically all of the
representatives, except those who were away; having visited your homes,
met many of your wives and children, we meet here not as strangers
but as friends, and it is in that spirit of mutual friendship that I
am glad to have this opportunity to discuss with you men our common
interests.
Since this is a meeting of the officers of the company and the
representatives of the employees, it is only by your courtesy that I am
here, for I am not so fortunate as to be either one or the other; and
yet I feel that I am intimately associated with you men, for in a sense
I represent both the stockholders and the directors.
Before speaking of the plan of industrial representation to which
our president has referred, I want to say just a few words outlining
my views as to what different interests constitute a company or
corporation.
Every corporation is made up of four parties: Stockholders, directors,
officers and employees.
This little table (_exhibiting a square table with four legs_)
illustrates my conception of a corporation; and there are several
points in regard to the table to which I want to call your attention.
First, you see that it would not be complete unless it had all four
sides. Each side is necessary; each side has its own part to play.
Now, if you imagine this table cut into quarters, and each quarter
separated from the others, what would happen? All of them would fall
down, for no one could stand alone, and you would have no table. But
when you put the four sides together, you have a useful piece of
furniture; you have a table.
Then, secondly, I call your attention to the fact that these four sides
are all perfectly joined together; that is why we have a perfect table.
Likewise, if the parties interested in a corporation are not perfectly
joined together, harmoniously working together, you have a discordant
and unsuccessful corporation.
Again, you will notice that this table is square. And every corporation
to be successful must be on the square--absolutely a square deal for
every one of the four parties, and for every man in each of the four
parties.
I call your attention to one more thing--the table is level. Each part
supported by its leg is holding up its own side, hence you have a level
table. So, equal responsibility rests on each one of the four parties
united in a corporation.
When you have a level table, or a corporation that is on the level, you
can pile up earnings on it (_piling coins on the table_). Now, who gets
the first crack at the earnings? You know that we in New York don’t.
Here come along the employees, and first of all they get their wages
(_removing some of the coins_), every two weeks like clockwork, just
what has been agreed on; they get the first chance at the pile.
You men come ahead of the president, the officers, the stockholders and
directors. You are the first to put a hand into the pile and take out
what is agreed shall belong to you.
You don’t have to wait for your share; you don’t have to take any
chances about getting it. You know that there has never been a
two-weeks’ period that you have worked when you have not been able
to get your pay from this company; whatever happens, so long as the
company is running, you get your pay.
And then the officers and superintendents come along, and they get
theirs; they don’t get it until after you have gotten yours (_removing
more coins_).
Then come the directors, and they get their directors’ fees (_removing
the balance of the coins_) for doing their work in the company.
And, hello! There is nothing left! This must be the Colorado Fuel and
Iron Company! For never, men, since my father and I became interested
in this company as stockholders, some fourteen years ago--never has
there been one cent for the common stock.
For fourteen years the common stockholder has seen your wages paid to
you workers; has seen your salaries paid to you officers; has seen the
directors draw their fees, and has not had one cent of return for the
money that he has put into this company in order that you men might
work and get your wages and salaries.
How many men in this room ever heard that fact stated before? Is there
a man among you? Well, there are mighty few among the workers who have
heard it.
What you have been told, what has been heralded from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, is that those Rockefeller men in New York, the biggest
scoundrels that ever lived, have taken millions of dollars out of this
company on account of their stock ownership, have oppressed you men,
have cheated you out of your wages, and “done” you in every way they
could.
That is the kind of “dope” you have been getting, and that is what
has been spread all over the country. And when that kind of talk was
going on, there were disturbances in this part of the country because
the four sides of this table were not square and the table was not
level, there were those who in the streets of New York and in public
gatherings, were inciting the crowd to “shoot John D. Rockefeller, Jr.,
down like a dog.” That is the way they talked.
The common stockholders have put $34,000,000 into this company in order
to make it go, so that you men will get your wages, you officers have
your salaries, and the directors get their fees, while not one cent has
ever come back to them in these fourteen years.
If there is anyone who questions that statement, let him speak. Now,
let me put it to you men, is it fair, in this corporation where we
are all partners, that three of the partners should get all of the
earnings, be they large or small--all of them--and the fourth nothing?
Is there a man of you who would put his money in the savings bank and
leave it there for one year even, unless he was sure to get at least
four per cent. interest? Otherwise you would say that the savings bank
was trying to cheat you out of a proper return on your money.
But for fourteen years, to my knowledge--how much longer I do not
know--the common stockholders have gotten not one cent out of this
company. I just want you to put that in your pipes and smoke it, and
see if it tallies with what you have heard about the stockholders
oppressing you and trying to get the better of you. That does not sound
like oppression, like trying to get the best of the bargain!
And you cannot expect that any one of the partners will remain
indefinitely in this or any other corporation if he does not get a fair
share of the earnings, with the others. Capital is entitled to a fair
return, just the same as labor is.
Would you continue working in some mining camp for even a week, much
less a month, a year, or fourteen years, without pay? Of course you
would not. You would go to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio--anywhere else
on God’s earth where you could get a fair return for your work.
Now, the stockholders have been pretty patient all this time; they have
taken a lot of abuse because people have not told the truth.
I think if we had all gotten together, as we have to-day, months and
years ago, and discussed these questions, and the facts had been fairly
presented, that there is not a man in this room but who would have said:
“That is not a square deal, and in so far as I have anything to do with
this company, whether I am digging coal, driving mules, or sitting in
an office directing operations--whatever my position, I will do what
I can to see to it that every last man in this big family here gets a
square deal.”
Now, I am not here to seek sympathy for the common stockholders, but I
just want to point out to you what you ought to know: that capital will
not stay indefinitely where it does not get proper recognition and a
reasonable return.
And not one man in this room can afford to have the capital invested
in the mines of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company become discouraged
and withdraw, because as capital gets discouraged and withdraws,
work falls off, mines are closed, wages go down, men are thrown out
of employment, and the whole enterprise is endangered, and all of
these things may result because only three of the four sides in the
corporation have received consideration.
(_Interruption by Mr. Ben Beach, superintendent of Coal Creek mine_:)
“Mr. Rockefeller, I wonder whether I may say a word right here?
“Mr. Rockefeller and Fellow Workmen: What Mr. Rockefeller has stated in
regard to the common stock I can vouch for, for about eight years ago I
bought some common stock in the C. F. & I. Co. and I have been one of
those sorry men because I never got any returns for it.”
Mr. Rockefeller: That is testimony that comes directly home. I have
been expecting to hear such expressions from the stockholders. I have
been expecting that there would be criticism, and just criticism, from
men, like our friend here, who have had no dividends on their stock all
these years. They may well say:
“What right have you to go on spending money for club houses, bath
houses and fences, for this improvement in the camps, or that, simply
to add to the comfort of the men, when we common stockholders have
never gotten a cent?” That is just the way the stockholders may well
feel. I am glad you brought up that point, Mr. Beach.
I want to show you another thing in connection with this table, this
corporation with its four sides, working harmoniously, and with
earnings piling up. When any one side says to itself:
“I am not satisfied with my fair portion; I am going to grab all I can
and let the others take care of themselves,” and thereupon commences to
reach up and lay hold of more than its fair share of the earnings, then
it happens that the earnings commence to fall off, there is trouble and
nothing is left to divide.
(_At this point, Mr. Rockefeller raised one of the legs of the table,
thereby tilting it and causing the coins piled upon it to slip off._)
There is still another thing I want to speak of in regard to this
table. Here is one of the four parties in the corporation who says:
“I am tired of doing my share, holding up my end of the game. We
wage-earners are tired of this thing, we don’t like to carry our fair
share of the burden, let us try to get all we can out of the company
and put in just as little as we can. Let us do each day just as little
work as we can and hold the job down.”
Now, you know there are men going over this country from one end to
the other who are saying to the workmen of the country:
“Your game is to get the shortest possible working day you can, to do
the least possible work that you can get away with and not lose your
job, and to get just as much as you can for what little you do.”
Any man who preaches that doctrine, instead of being your friend, is
your deadliest enemy, because see what happens. Here is the side of
Labor; it says:
“We will get out from underneath, we won’t work so hard; we will do
just as little as we can.”
And Labor’s corner begins to drop down (_lowering the corner of the
table_), the earnings fall off (_coins slip off_) and there is nothing
left for anyone (_the table is bare_).
Men, only when every man connected with that square corporation which
is on the level, is interested, unselfishly, not in what he can get
out of the corporation, but what he can put into it for the benefit of
every man in the concern, will that man himself get the most out of it.
And I think there is no one thing that threatens greater harm to the
interests of the workingmen of this country than that pernicious, that
wicked, that false doctrine, that a man should do just as little work
in a day as he possibly can, and just as poor work as he possibly can,
and hold on to his job.
We see, then, what this company ought to be, what any corporation ought
to be: a concern that is square, and always on the level, with every
man doing his part. You do not need to take my word for it, you see
from the illustration of the table that the interest of every man is
sacrificed when any other principle governs.
Now--the problem which lies before the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
is to so interrelate the different elements in the company that
the best interests of all will constantly be conserved, and the
wage-earners, seeing the situation as it is here shown, must say and
will say--because they are square men:
“We only want a square deal; we only want what is our fair proportion
of return from this corporation; we will do our best to make it a
success because we know that our success is dependent upon the success
of all our partners.”
The officers must say:
“Our interest is to have every man that works with us realize that we
are his friends, not his enemies; that there is no reasonable thing
that he may want to talk about which we will not gladly discuss with
him and explain.”
The directors must, on their part, give their best energies and efforts
to the devising of policies which will be in the interest of all.
The common stockholders must be patient yet awhile as they look at
that empty table from which the rest of you have rightly taken your
earnings, and they will be patient, I am sure, if they feel that all of
the other elements in the company are earnestly coöperating to bring
about the highest success of each and to secure a fair deal all around.
This meeting has been called to-day for the purpose of seeing whether
we can work out and agree upon, among ourselves here, some plan which
will accomplish what I feel sure we all want to accomplish. I have been
asked to explain the plan which is up for our consideration.
I may say, men, that for years this great problem of Labor and Capital
and of corporate relationships has engaged my earnest attention and
study, while for the last eighteen months I have spent more of my time
on the particular problems which confront this company than I have put
on any other one interest with which I am related.
I have talked with all of the men whom I could get in touch with who
have had experience with or have studied these vital questions. I have
conferred with experts, and I have tried in every way to get the best
information I could, looking toward the working out of some plan which
would accomplish the result we are all striving to attain.
Nearly a year ago the officers of the company, after having studied
this question with us in New York, introduced, as you know, the
beginning of such a plan, namely, the selection by the men at each camp
of duly chosen representatives, to confer with the officers of the
company in regard to matters of common interest.
That was the beginning, and Mr. Welborn, in discussing the plan with
you men, told you that it was only the beginning, that as rapidly
as it became clear what further steps should be taken in order to
conserve the common interest, those steps would be jointly discussed
and introduced as soon as agreed upon. And so, in conjunction with
Mr. Welborn and other able advisers, we have worked out a further
development of the plan adopted last fall.
Then I said to myself: nothing shall be said about this plan, nor will
we undertake to complete it until I have myself seen every mining camp
operated by the company.
And now I have visited every camp, with the exception of those on the
western slope, and lack of time alone has prevented my getting over
there to see you men.
I have gone, as you know, to every camp in the southern fields, have
talked privately with every superintendent, except one who was away,
and with all of the representatives at each camp with the exception of
some two or three who were not available at the time; I have gone into
scores of your homes and I met your wives and children, and have seen
how you live; I have looked at your gardens, and in camps where fences
were only recently built have seen how eagerly you have planted gardens
the moment opportunity was afforded, and how quickly you have gotten
the grass to grow, also flowers and vegetables, and how the interest in
your homes has thereby been increased.
I inquired specifically about the water supply at each camp; I went
down into several of the mines and talked with hundreds of the miners;
I looked into the schools, talked with the teachers, inquired what
educational advantages your children were getting.
I asked what opportunities you men, my partners, had for getting
together socially, and I visited some of your club houses and saw plans
for others. I went into your wash houses and talked with the men before
and after bathing.
As you know, we have pretty nearly slept together--it has been reported
that I slept in one of your nightshirts--I would have been proud had
the report been true.
If any man could have gone more carefully, more thoroughly, into the
working and living conditions that affect you, my partners, I should
be glad to have had him make me suggestions as to what further I might
have done.
Now, it was only after that careful and exhaustive personal study that
I was willing to go on with the plan of representation and undertake to
complete it for presentation to you. And, frankly, every waking moment
since I left you men in the Fremont district last Saturday, practically
every daylight hour of this last week has been spent with the officers
of this company in constant, careful, earnest thought looking toward
the development of such a plan as would serve our common interest in
the best possible way.
I have made a very lengthy introduction, and will now proceed to the
explanation of the plan. I shall be glad if Mr. Welborn, Mr. Weitzel,
Mr. Matteson, or Mr. King, whose assistance has been of the greatest
value in working out this plan, will correct me as I go along in case I
make any mistake or omit any features.
(_Mr. Rockefeller then explained the plan in detail, calling attention
to the fact that if it met with the approval of the representatives and
officers in the meeting, together with an agreement respecting wages,
working and living conditions, both would be submitted on the one hand
to a vote of the men in the camps, and on the other to the directors of
the company, and if then approved, the agreement would be signed and
become binding until January 1, 1918. Mr. Rockefeller went on to say:_)