i8o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



point to a scattering of manufacturing plants; to a spreading out over 

 more ground space in the case of each individual establishment and to 

 more healthful, natural and inviting home and shop surroundings for 

 the working men. One company may own many plants located on one 

 large site or in many different parts of the United States, as circum- 

 stances may dictate. The great economies which consolidation permit 

 are in the expense of management, in buying, selling, advertising and 

 the like. These are as readily obtained when the business is carried on 

 in several moderately large establishments as in one mammoth one. 

 Increased facilities for rapid transportation also allow workmen to live 

 many miles from their work. In this connection one more point must 

 be discussed. Employers as well as students of social conditions are 

 beginning to understand that the efficiency and value of workingmen 

 to their employer depends, in a large measure, upon the home and shop 

 conditions and environment. Poorly fed, poorly housed and poorly 

 clothed workmen are not efficient laborers; also, dark, dingy, un- 

 sightly, poorly ventilated and badly heated factories are distinctly det- 

 rimental to the amount and quality of the work done in them. Look- 

 ing at the matter from the standpoint of profits, as purely a business 

 proposition, employers are beginning to realize this fact and to attempt 

 to remedy it. The following quotation, taken from a magazine devoted 

 to shop management and economy, illustrates the trend of thought : 

 " The duty of a corporation, like that of an individual, is of a dual 

 nature, viz., toward itself and toward its neighbors. Its duty to itself 

 comprises the necessity of turning out its product cheaply and at the 

 same time excellent in quality. To fulfill these requirements the man- 

 agement must see that the component factors of production are kept 

 in prime condition. The more intelligent the employees and the more 

 efficient their facilities for |)roduction, other things being equal, the 

 cheaper and better will be the resultant output. . . . The manager 

 who lives in luxury, without seeming to care for the condition or welfare 

 of his employees, rouses antagonisms, which are not conducive to col- 

 laboration with his interests either in the works or in the community. ' ' 

 A better grade of workingmen is, as a rule, attracted to a shop located 

 in the suburbs owing to its superior advantages in regard to shop and 

 home environment. The theory of demand and supply is not the sum 

 and substance of economic thought and reasoning. The human ele- 

 ment must be considered. Humanitarian principles are beginning to 

 be recognized in the business world and must be reckoned with in the 

 future. 



The improvement of the rural school, the increased rural circulation 

 of the daily paper and the magazine, the electric suburban and inter- 

 urban railroads, improved roads, rural mail delivery, the extension of 

 the telephone service into the rural districts and many other improve- 



