"Che Conservative ,
] . PIERPONT MORGAN AND THE
LABOR SITUATION.
An Associated Press report conveys
the intelligence that Mr. Morgan is
about to introduce a plan which , al
though not intended as a solution to the
problem of labor complication , will at
least be accepted as a long step in the
direction of harmony.
The report states that several millions
of dollars worth of stock in the United
States Steel Corporation , valued at par ,
has been set aside for purchase at inside
figures by the 165,000 men employed by
the companies that make up the "steel
trust , " and to thus afford the oppor
tunity for each employee to become a
co-operator in the business.
This suggestion is not entirely new ,
and is open to criticism as well as com
mendation. The Illinois Central Bail-
road company , the National Biscuit
company and the Pillsbury-Washburn
Flour Mills company furnish working
examples of the system proposed by Mr.
Morgan.
In the Illinois Central , it may be re
marked that the opportunity to pur
chase the preferred stock of the com
pany , which was recently granted them ,
was , by many employees , immediately
seized. Thousands of dollars each
month were and are being paid to the
treasurer for the stock thus purchased.
The writer knows of an office boy ,
about 20 years of age , who paid for one
share and has received over $80.00 in
dividends , and has nearly finished paying
for another. The employed men of the
road have thus acquired sufficient stock
to name a director in the Illinois Cen
tral board.
The National Biscuit company has
only recently put this new co-operative
plan into operation. It is safe , however ,
to predict that it may be equally success
ful , as the Biscuit company guarantees
4 per cent upon the money invested ,
if the investor lapses , and they agree to
pay 7 per cent interest , "dating
from the tune of first payment , if they
make complete payment for it , as long
as they pay $100 per share for it , or
less. " This guarantee is substantial , as
this same company has for nearly four
years earned double the amount neces
sary to pay dividends on its preferred
stock.
The Pillsbury-Washbnrn Flour Mills
company furnishes a somewhat differ
ent co-operative demonstration , as its
method is based upon a simple , profit-
sharing system , whereby each man's
labor bears a certain proportion to the
total capital invested. His profits ac
crue upon the basis of that percentage.
In the event of crop-failure , and a sub
sequent loss in the operation of the
plants , each man relinquishes his claim
to profit-sharing , and the loss is sus
tained by the owners , while the wages
of the men , if they are continued in
employment , are undisturbed.
Thus , in the first instance , we have a
profit-distributing system , by a com
pany whose ability to earn upon its in
vested capital is not questioned , and
which never assesses its stock ; second ,
the National Biscuit company , whose
earning capacity lias been demonstrated ,
and whose four and seven per cent ,
guarantee is good , and , lastly , a com
pany whose employees assume no lia
bility in the event of a loss.
However , the United States Steel Cor
poration proposes a new method of solv
ing the question. Before combining ,
the individual companies were , no
doubt , able to carry such a system into
effect. Now , the claim is made that the
combination is over-capitalized , and
their ability to show a net earning upon
a capitalization of $1,500,000,000 is
questioned. A loss once sustained in
troduces a pro raid assessment upon
each certificate of stock. The problem ,
then , is , will the stockholders , among
the laboring-class , willingly submit to
an assessment ?
Is it not true , that the steel-workers
are more partial to profit than to losses ,
and that their attitude , at assessment
time , will be in accordance with their
sentiments , rather than with their judg
ment ?
It is true that Mr. Morgan's entire
scheme is not wholly made known to the
public , and we are , therefore , unable to
deal with the question in detail as intel
ligently as otherwise.
The experiment reduces itself to the
query : Will there be a dividend or inter
est guaranteed ? And , considering the
amount of capital purported to be in
vested , will that guarantee , if made , be
good ?
These are questions which , at the
present development of the situation ,
are unanswerable. Mr. Morgan's propo
sition is perhaps somewhat premature.
On the other hand , it is pleasant to
hope that these two industrial comple
ments are breaking over the artificial
barrier , which has been raised between
them , by demagogues and walking del
egates ; that they are coming together in
friendship , animated by a gigantic
impulse for peace , and an irrepressible
desire to settle fairly , the world's most
momentous question.
Why would it not be in order , to sug
gest that the funds in the hands of the
treasurers of the various lodges of the
Amalgamated Association , which are
now being devoted to an object which
will demoralize the industrial prosperity
of today , be diverted to the purchase , at
an agreed price , mutually satisfactory
to seller and buyer , of United States
Steel Corporation stock ?
LEWIS M. HEAD.
DEFORESTATION A CAUSE OF
DROUTH.
In a letter to the editor of The Com
mercial West , J. Sterling Morton , of
Nebraska City , answers a suggestion
made by the editor of this paperrelative
x ) deforestation being one cause of
drouths. His letter is given below. Mr.
Morton has done more than any one
else in this country to stimulate a senti
ment against forest destruction and in
favor of tree-planting. lie was the
founder of "Arbor Day , " and at his
own Home at "Arbor Lodge , " he set a
practical example to his countrymen of
the benefits of tree-planting. Largely
through his teaching and influence , Ne
braska is far ahead of every other state
in the Union in arboriculture. While
secretary of agriculture , during Presi
dent Cleveland's second administration ,
he accomplished a vast deal in the in
terests of national forestry. Lately in
his paper , "THE CONSERVATIVE , " he has
been advocating that 88 feet off every
66-feet-iu-width country road in Ne
braska be either sold to increase the
road fund or be planted in maple , elm
and ash trees , to be an endowment to
the state , by which other endowments
would sink into insignficanoe. Mr.
Morton's letter follows :
The deforestation of the eastern and
middle western states is undoubtedly
one of the primary causes of long and
intense drouths , and likewise of the tor
rential rain storms , which follow them ,
and do so much damage to the agri
culture , commerce and manufacture of
the country.
The denudation of the hillsides and
mountains of Pennsylvania and West
Virginia , has had very much to do with
the destruction of lands , lying at the
base of mountain ranges. In fact , some
entire valleys have been made infertile
by the erosion of unimpeded waters ,
rushing down the treeless mountain
sides.
In a state of nature , the mountain
sides , and in fact all heavily wooded
lands , have a covering of leaf mold ,
running from six to twenty-four inches
in depth. This leaf mold catches and
holds down-pouring rains. It operates
as a great sponge for the absorbing and
holding of precipitation. It permits the
stored waters to ooze out slowly , and
thus forms little springs and rivulets.
But the same areas , denuded of trees ,
permit the water' to escape in torrents
as it descends , and thus we have the
constantly increasing disasters from
high water along the Ohio and other
western rivers. The Commercial West.
' 'Whether the reduction of duties on
articles which can be produced at home
more cheaply than abroad , and which
for that reason are exported largely ,
would , unsettle business is doubtful , "
the Chicago Tribune ( Rep. ) says : "It
is certain that a persistent refusal to
modify tariff schedules by reciprocity
w
treaties or in any other way will bring
about finally a condition of affairs which
will seriously disturb trade and unsettle
business. "