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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1920. 



INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS-EMPLOYMENT. 



New York, March 16, 1920. 

 To firm and affitiated members: 



Replies to the letter of your committee on industrial relations, 

 dated February 18, 1920, have been very gratifying. More than 

 a hundred and twenty-five manufacturing members, large and 

 small, have designated an executive or a specialist within their 

 organization to supervise the work of industrial relations, and 

 additional replies are being received daily. 



It is the aim of your industrial relations committee to serve 

 you intelligently whether your plant is large or small. In order 

 to make the rubber industry foremost in industrial relations it 

 is necessary that the members adopt a sound general policy 

 which will fit local conditions. 



As is well known, many of the larger plants in the rubber 

 industry have industrial relations departments well established. 

 While it is hoped that all plants can profit from the service 

 offered, the committee, in outlining labor policies which have 

 proved successful, has decided to begin at the beginning and 

 proceed along practical lines as though each plant were just 

 starting the study of industrial relations. 



Assuming that a manufacturer has appointed an executive or 

 specialist to supervise industrial relations work, experience indi- 

 cates the next step to be the problem of employment. 



Experience has shown that in any plant employing one 

 hundred or more persons some one should be appointed on part 

 time for smaller plants or full time for larger plants to specialize 

 on the employment problem. He should report to the executive 

 or specialist responsible for industrial relations. His duties 

 should consist of supervision of employment, keeping records, 

 hearing of all grievances, investigation of all discharges, care 

 of all transferring and the study of causes of and remedies for 

 labor turnover. 



It is a mistake to place a mere clerk in such a position. A 

 high-grade man with a naturally pleasant personality, good 

 judgment, and plenty of back-bone should be appointed. Hiring 

 and discharging by individual foremen are eliminated when the 

 employment manager is introduced, and therefore diplomacy, 

 good judgment and back-bone are needed in the employment 

 manager. 



The employment division must have a thorough knowledge of 

 the company's needs for help, of the sources of supply and of 

 approved methods of selection and placement so that each em- 

 ploye's experience and ability will be best utilized ; should give 

 the new employe general information as to shop regulations and 

 as to the company's industrial policies, and should see that the 

 employe receives, through the proper channels, such instruction 

 as is needed to enable him to become familiar with his duties. 

 The division should thereafter maintain an interest in the 

 progress of the employe. 



A great deal more might be written on the subject of employ- 

 ment. Your committee feels, however, that it is advisable for 

 each plant to build up its own employment policies in accord- 

 ance with local conditions. Your committee can make avail- 

 able to you plans and policies of employment departments which 

 have been operating for some time in plants of various sizes and 

 would prefer to answer any inquiries that may arise rather than 

 to be considered as advisors. 



A. L. ViLES, General Manager. 



QUESTIONNAIRE OF REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON 



INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE PROBLEMS OF 



CAPITAL AND LABOR. 



New York, March 19, 1920. 

 To firm and affiliated members: 



The Republican National Committee, through its Advisory 

 Committee on Policies and Platform (with headquarters at 19 

 West 44th street. New York), has distributed a questionnaire 

 on industrial relations and the problems of capital and labor, of 



which you have doubtless received a copy, as we understand it 

 has been given wide distribution, particularly among manufac- 

 turers. If, however, you have not yet received a copy, we shall 

 be very glad to arrange to have one forwarded immediately. 



Because of the broad questions of policy and practice which 

 are involved in the questionnaire and because the inquiry is of 

 so searching a nature in the extent to which it goes into detail, 

 it has been thought desirable to have the questionnaire given 

 consideration by our members from the broader point of view 

 of the entire industry, and to this end President Sawyer has 

 requested the Executive Industrial Relations Committee to meet 

 to give consideration to the specific questions presented therein 

 with the view to developing information which, it is believed, 

 will be helpful to members of the association in making their 

 responses to the questionnaire. This committee is to meet next 

 week, and it is expected that the information which may be 

 developed by the Executive Industrial Relations Committee will 

 be available to our members the latter part of the week. 



It should be thoroughly understood that such suggestions or 

 information as may emanate from the Executive Industrial Rela- 

 tions Committee, following its examination of the questionnaire, 

 are only oti'ered as possibly of help to our members in their 

 study of it, but because the work of the committee may develop 

 phases of the problems involved which are not apparent to 

 individual members, it may be thought desirable by some of 

 them to await advices from the Executive Industrial Relations 

 Committee before disposing of the questionnaire. 



If the suggestion presented in the foregoing is well thought 

 of, we shall be very glad to have our members handle this matter 

 accordingly, and further communications from the Executive 

 Industrial Relations Committee will be transmitted to you as 

 soon as possible. A. L. Viles, General Manager. 



SPRING MEETING OF RUBBER CHEMISTS. 



The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society will 

 hold its meeting at St. Louis, Missouri, April 14 and IS, in con- 

 junction with the spring meeting of the society. The following 

 program of subjects that are of vital interest to the trade should 

 insure a large attendance. 



1. Discussion of report of committee on "Physical Testing." 



2. "Bromine Addition to Rubber," W. K. Lewis and W'm. H. 

 Mc.Adams. 



3. "Relative Value of Shoddy in Meclianical Rubber," J. M. 

 Bierer. 



4. "Recovery of Volatile Solvents," W. K. Lewis. 



5. "The Determination of True Free and True Combined Sul- 

 phur in Vulcanized Rubber," W. J. Kelly. 



6. "Analytical Determination of the Coeflicient of Vulcaniza- 

 tion." S. W. Epstein. 



7. "Small Amounts of Magnesia and Certain Organic Sub- 

 stances as Accelerators," G. D. Kratz and A. H. Flower. 



8. "Obscuring Power of Pigments," W. K. Lewis. 



9. "The Effect of Compounding Ingredients on the Physical 

 Properties of Rubber" (lantern), C. O. North. 



10. Symposium on the testing of pigments. Led by W. W. 

 Evans. 



Attention is called to the symposium on "Colloid Chemistry" 

 by the Physical and Inorganic Division. Arrangement will be 

 made, if possible, so that both these papers and those of the 

 Rubber Division will be given at such times as not to conflict 

 with each other. 



The Dunlop Rubber Co. of Australasia, Limited, increased 

 its profits in 1918 to £145,500 by £30,000 over the year before, and 

 in its report for 1919 the profits increased to £177,000, which 

 enabled the directors, after paying 10 per cent on the preferred 

 shares to distribute 13 per cent to the ordinary shares and to 

 lay away £53,330 in its reserve funds. 



