Page:Robert W. Dunn - American Company Unions.djvu/39

This page needs to be proofread.

a more cautious growth due largely to the weakness of the trade unions and the consequent absence of any effective threat of organization which, as we have seen, drives the employers to seize on the company union as a defensive weapon. In the South several corporations, like the Durham Hosiery Co. and the Riverside and Dan River Mills, have used the Congress, Senate and Cabinet type of "industrial democracy" in fighting off the United Textile Workers. These Dan River workers, incidentally, were among the first to vote themselves drastic wage cuts in 1920. Whereupon Dr. Frank Crane, the notorious word weaver, told his readers that the New Day of Democracy had arrived in industry. That Crane was justified in using this gorgeous generality seems a little dubious judging from the wages paid in this mill, and the servile attitude of the workers. But being a capitalist journalist, his soul may have been elevated by the mere words used in connection with this Dan River plan. The company circulates among its workers a printed pledge card. On one side of the card are printed many pretty paragraphs about Justice, Cooperation, Economy, Energy, Service. On the other side, this oath:

"I hereby subscribe to and heartily endorse the Policy of our Company as printed on the back of this card. I pledge myself to observe and be governed by its principles of Justice, Cooperation, Economy, Energy, and Service. I also agree with my fellow-associates of the Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills that by the help of God, I will do all in my power to aid in carrying out this Policy and to achieve the distinguished success which I believe is within the reach of our great organization.

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date . . . . . . . . . .

Street Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

In a speech before the Rotary Club of his home city, the President of these mills informed his audience that his plan embodied the ethics of the Rotarians and the teachings of the Apostle Paul!

35