492 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



half -century of equal advance would bring them very near to the ideal 

 condition. 



The American employer discovered, long before the missionary, 

 that the condition of a man's body has much to do with his openness 

 to reason. Men, well-fed, well-clad and comfortably housed, are more 

 efficient in every respect than are men scantily supplied and embittered 

 against the dealings of Providence. The recognition of this fact — the 

 recognition of manhood in the employee — is the basis of American 

 commercialism, the true secret of its success. This recognition is 

 less marked in Great Britain, where all are bound by traditions from 

 which men free themselves slowly and with difficulty, but the keenness 

 of American competition is compelling the recognition. In our land, 

 mere animal strength counts for little in man, machinery takes its 

 place; the steam shovel has displaced thousands of hands, but it has 

 made necessary an immense number of intelligent men; our rolling 

 mills are no longer crowded with an army of laborers, dull, sluggish, 

 automatic; the work is done by a, so to speak, handful of men, keen- 

 eyed and alert. Of course, this recognition may be due to no altruism 

 on the employer's part, but that is wholly aside from the issue — we 

 are considering conditions, not motives. 



Increased wages came with increased value of service — whether 

 through the employer's wisdom or through compulsion, matters not. 

 Decreased cost of living came with increased wages, for, owing to the 

 introduction of machinery, wages did not keep pace with capacity for 

 production. The condition of the mechanic in respect of food, lodgings 

 and general surroundings has shown steady improvement during the 

 last thirty years. In the United States, food is cheap and abundant; 

 the homes of our laboring classes are better than anywhere else. Away 

 from towns, owners of mines or great manufacturing establishments, 

 knowing that men, to do good work, must be well cared for, build 

 comfortable homes for their employees and charge low rental. Many 

 of them recognize a certain responsibility; they encourage thrift and 

 urge, even assist, employees to own their dwellings. Mr. Carnegie is 

 not the single instance of this type of employer, as many suppose. 

 He was one of the first to develop the plan, but many have followed 

 in his steps. Even in New York city, where the tenement problem is 

 so complicated, owing to the form of Manhattan Island, the accom- 

 modations for those with mechanics' wages are inviting, while the 

 wretched conditions in the Italian quarter are, to say the least, an 

 improvement upon those in Naples. 



This recognition of those, who in non-commercial countries are 

 regarded as the 'mudsills of society,' — to use the language of an ante- 

 bellum senator from North Carolina — has had a reflex influence upon 

 those living amid more favorable surroundings. One hundred years 



