August 19, 1905 



H ORTICULTURE 



THE IDEAL EMPLOYER 



FIRST PRIZE. 



Our worthy president. .Mr. J. C. 

 Vaughan, in his very able and thought- 

 ful paper on the ideal employee, which 

 he delivered before the Society of 

 American Florists and Ornamental 

 Horticulturists at St. Louis, dwells 

 with remarkable clearness upon those 

 qualities which, in his opinion, consti- 

 tute the chief requirements of an ideal 

 employee. Like all successful business 

 men. employers of labor, he seems to- 

 have a pretty clear and accurate idea 

 of the kind of men that contributes 

 largely towards the success of a busl^ 

 ness enterprise. Men of the Garcia 

 messenger type, knowing no fears, des- 

 pising the difficulties and defying all 

 hardships, liaving but one aim and ob- 

 ject in view, and that the achievemsnt 

 of success for their employer, such 

 men I say, are indeed ideal in the 

 broadest sense of the word. Granted, 

 then, that such men are a blessing and 

 are well worthy of their hire, the ques- 

 tion naturally arises who is responsi- 

 ble for such unselfish devotion on the 

 part of the employee? In viewing the 

 ideal employee, one must be sure to 

 take a simultaneous glance at the em- 

 ployer himself. And this brings me 

 to the very question I have undertaken 

 to answer, namely. What is an ideal 

 employer? 



Briefly stated, the ideal employer is 

 a man of a broad turn of mind, of 

 broad views, by nature an "optimist, a 

 man of lofty aims and aspirations, one 

 incapable of a mean, selfish deed, 

 whose domestic life is pure and chaste, 

 who in his relations to his fellow-men 

 is governed not by pelf, but by that 

 divine rule which prescribes, "lovte 

 thy neighbor as thyself." The ideal 

 employer is a man who, aside from his 

 business training, has imbibed those 

 moral truths but for which our world 

 would be desolate and dreary, a man 

 who, like the late George W. Childs, 

 lives for the welfare of his fellow-men. 

 When the Typographical Union of 

 Philadelphia sent a delegation to Mr. 

 Childs instructing it toimpress upon'the 

 good man the needlessness of paying 

 his employees more than their union 

 schedule required, the worthy gentleman 

 replied that his men earned all ho gave 

 them, that he did not intend to reduce 

 the pay-roll, scale or no scale Such 

 men are indeed ideal employers and it 

 is with such men that the ideal em- 

 ployee is to be found. "Like master, 

 like man." is a truth that no sophistry 

 can shake. 



Having defined in a genfra! way the 

 qualities to be sought in the ideal em- 

 ployer, I will now attempt by way of 

 contrast, to present a picture of the 



real employer. Far bo it, however, 

 from my intention to reflect upon the 

 honesty and integrity of the gentlemen 

 present, most of whom, I take it for 

 granted, are employers. The truth, 

 however, requires me to take a pessi- 

 mistic view of the aims and motives 

 that govern some of our employers in 

 their relations to their men. The 

 grower who hires his man to look 

 after his roses and carnations seldom, 

 if ever, gives him a thought beyond 

 that of what he can produce. If the 

 stock is creditable well and good, else 

 out he goes to make room for another 

 man. On the face of it, it looks 

 proper, of course. Yet how often do 

 we ignore conditions and circum- 

 stances beyond the control of the best 

 men? Good wages to the right man 

 are paid, as a rule, not because of 

 choice, but because of necessity. I 

 have often met men working from 

 sunrise till sunset and late into the 

 cold, wintry nights for a paltry few 

 dollars per week. At last, when life 

 becomes burdensome and a more suit- 

 able place is found at a higher wage, 

 the employer is ready to offer better 

 terms. Necessity, of course, has com- 

 pelled him to "compromise." Such is 

 not the ideal employer. The "Knight 

 of the Grip" or the man of the road 

 is as happy as the proverbial lark 

 when he can show "big results" and 

 send good orders to the house. Fif- 

 teen below zero, or ninety in the shade, 

 it matters not to him. Out he goes 

 on his daily rounds, trudging along 

 some country road in quest of busi- 

 ness, faithful to his trust, like the 

 true soldier defending a righteous 

 cause, hopeful and persevering. Some- 

 where in the great city of New York 

 or Chicago a little woman and little 

 children feel lonesome, at times deso- 

 late and forlorn, because of the ab- 

 sence of their bread-winner and pro- 

 tector. Things look discouraging and 

 gloomy at times on the road, despite 

 one's best efforts. At such times a 

 word of encouragement would be 

 welcome indeed, but here is a letter. 

 "Get a hustle on yourself," it says. 

 "You must do better." "Why don't 

 you sell to Mr. So and So?" Results 

 are wanted regardless of all circum- 

 stances. Those who read the letters 

 of Mr. Graham, the pork packer, to his 

 son, which appeared periodically in 

 the Saturday Evening Post, can see 

 the typical real employer. Mr. Gra- 

 ham wants no apologies, no explana- 

 tions; he wants orders for pork, spare 

 ribs, lard, and nothing but orders. 

 Very laudable indeed, but the ideal 

 employer is not reflected in Mr. Gra- 

 ham. 



The man or woman behind the 

 counter toiling from morning till 

 evening, and during the rush of the 

 holiday season late into the night, 

 finds no pleasure in the work if his 

 or her efforts are not appreciated. 

 Things are done in a half-hearted 

 manner. On the other hand, be the 

 employer of the ideal type, having the 

 interest of his employees at heart, a 

 sort of enthusiasm is sure to pnrvade 

 the establishment. I can cite in- 

 stances that came under my personal 

 observation. The kind hearted mas- 

 ter, who in the "good" old slavery 

 days took a fatherly interest in his 

 human chattels, who fed them well. 



protected them, never abusing the 

 helpless creatures, was the ideal mas- 

 ter whose virtues are extolled to this 

 very day by the old Southern darkies. 

 Such a master seldom, if ever, had oc- 

 casion to employ his bloodhounds in^ 

 l)urKuit after a liberty-loving negro. 

 "Like master, like man," faith and 

 mutual confidence obviating the neces- 

 sity of the lash, the bloodhounds, and 

 the vengeance of the slave. 



The ideal employer is he whose inr 

 terests extend beyond the narrow 

 sphere of the counting room and the 

 shop, who sees in his employees the- 

 man rather than the producing ma- 

 chine. Ever on the alert, ever watch- 

 ful over his own interests, he realizes 

 at the same time that the interests of 

 his employer must be protected as 

 well, that the one subserves the other, 

 that the one is impossible without the 

 other. It is a noteworthy fact that 

 some of the men at the head of the 

 great industrial establishments in the 

 west such as Proctor and Gamble of 

 the Ivory Soap fame, and Mr. Pater- 

 .son of the National Register Machine 

 Co.. are approaching the type of the 

 ideal employer. The schools, lecture 

 rooms, clubs, hospitals, which these 

 gentlemen have provided for th? bene- 

 fit of their employees, are most grati- 

 fying signs of an ideal state of affairs 

 obtaining in those establishments. 

 The result of these experiments proves 

 most conclusively that each and every 

 employee on the place takes a keen in- 

 terest in tlie work at hand, regarding 

 himself, as it were, as part and parcel 

 of a community, whose progress, as a 

 whole, depends upon the good will and 

 the good work of each individual 

 member. Mr. Paterson has indeed 

 accomplished most wonderful results. 

 His employees are a -well-bred, well- 

 cultured class of men and women. It 

 has been well said, that no man has a 

 right to demand that which he can- 

 not give in return. The ideal employee, 

 who, like Garcia's messenger, knows 

 no obstacles and will face danger with 

 the fearlessness of a true hero, must 

 have a Garcia to serve. Admiral Togo 

 won a naval battle the like of which 

 history does not record, because every 

 man under his command found in him 

 the ideal admiral, stern, exacting, and 

 withal kind hearted and considerate. 

 On the other hand, the Russian sail- 

 ors suffered defeat because the men in 

 charge of the unfortunate fleet lacked 

 the qualities of the ideal commanders. 



To sum up: The ideal employer is 

 first of all a moral man; second, he is 

 broad-minded and considerate: third, 

 he po.ssesses in no small degree those 

 qualities or virtues commonly called 

 patience and perseverance; fourth, his 

 own interests are inseparable from 

 tliose of his employe, and fifth, he re- 

 gards his business as a means rather 

 than an end ever striving to mould 

 his life as his conscience dictates, 

 even aspiring to live up to the golden 

 rule, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." 



SECOND PRIZE. 



This Society being composed of men 

 of various trades, such as plant and 

 cut flower growers or both, wholesale 

 and retail dealers in plants or cut 

 flowers or both, seedmen, supplymen, 

 novoltymen, builders of greenhouse 



