22 TWENTY-FIRST REPORT. 



such and such failures by the management."* In England, various plans have 

 been proposed or adopted which lead toward "constitutionalism in industry." 



These and other plans of forward-looking business concerns are innova- 

 tions ; and many hard-headed indi^^duals are ready to sneer and to point out 

 the impossibility of success. It should not be forgotten, however, that every 

 worth-while innovation meets ridicule and oppo.sition. One writer on business 

 affairs puts the matter in a nutshell when he writes : Many managers "don't 

 want to learn new ways." They want to get results in their way. The ways 

 of business managers are too frequently traditional and autocratic. The foun- 

 dation principles come down from the time of slavery. Little or no attention 

 is paid to the wishes or ideas of the workers. It is assumed by the old- 

 fashioned employer that the average worker is a blockhead and one to be 

 driven. The former puts fear into the breasts of the workers. The possibility 

 of harmonious conferences in regard to grievances and production methods is 

 scouted. The traditions of the American business world regarding the rights 

 of employers and employees and of the relations between managers and men 

 are about to suffer from disturbing influences. A new era is dawning; but 

 just what it will be depends greatly upon the willingness and the ability of 

 leaders in the business world to adjust their policies and to study the situation 

 from other points of view than that of the man "who proposes to run his own 

 business to suit himself." "The job must be made worth while" for the worker, 

 — if efficiency is to follow. The old idea that the essence of the labor problem 

 consisted in keeping laborers contented on wages which were insufficient to 

 live upon, is being replaced by a more hopeful, hiimane and scientific point of 

 view. 



The leader of the new type in industry is studying men. He pays good 

 wages, he maintains a model plant, he makes it possible for his employees to 

 hold up their heads and be men. The new industrial leader recognizes that 

 human energy can only be released and properly guided by utilizing the 

 motives which underlie and determine human conduct. It may again develop 

 into a case of democracy and many mistakes versus autocracy and smooth 

 action. But in view of the peculiar make-up of the human being, autocracy 

 and smooth action may spell inefficiency through subtle forms of sabotage and 

 the lack of zest or interest in the process or in the amount of output. 



5. A stable form of industrial democracy must rest on a stronger founda- 

 tion than the more or less erratic impulses of employers or the war emergency 

 powers of the government. It must rest upon an organization of workers 

 which has a firm footing outside any particular industry. An organization 

 of workers in one business unit without outside affiliations or members, is in 

 great danger of being dominated by the employer and to lack stxibility and 

 backbone ; but a national labor organization stands on firmer ground, its foim- 



=IIard, The New Republic, September 21, 1918. 



