J support from namm.org
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
vantage gained, it is one that should be eliminated
because it restricts the freedom of wage-earners,
and does not admit of their changing their place
of employment without loss.
It tends to restrict the wage-earner to one em-
ployer, and in the hands of a mean employer
might be greatly to his disadvantage, but as I
said before, this disadvantage is not due to any
defect in the system itself, but results only from
the limited extent of its application.
It will be seen that every new industry added to
the system lessens this defect, as is shown by the
addition of our neighbors, Green & Co. and the C.
F. Zimmermann Co. If it were adopted by all
textile industries it would remove this defect so far
aS the workers in these industries were concerned
so long as they remained in this general industry.
If the railroad system of this country should
A SUCCF.SbFUI, EXPERIMENT.
adopt it, the same would be true of all railroad em-
With nothing to copy or adapt, I had to resort to ployees, whatever road they worked on, though
experiments, and you will pardon me if I feel they changed from a road in California to a road
rather proud to-night because I say to you that my in Maine.
system, after a test of twenty years, can be called
THE NATIONAL ADOPTION.
the effectual pathbreaker for the road which will
This leads me to what I regard as the most im-
lead to the solution of the social problem as it con-
portant culmination, namely, its national adoption.
fronts us to-day.
Twenty years of experience have shown that If it were adopted for all industries in the United
this system contains the essential elements of suc- States, protecting all wage-earners, of whatever
cess. We have been able to do for our working- kind, we would then have all the advantages and
men what ordinary wage-working does not furnish. none of the disadvantages.
I am not advocating that all employers should
Eight of our men who could not work any longer
have enjoyed the benefits of the pension fund. adopt this system, nor that the wage-earners should
We paid to them $8,372.36 in all, of which sum A. demand it of them as individual concerns. I adopted
S. Foster, on the pension roll since 1882, received it as an experiment, to test its working as an eco-
$3,603.50; Ludwig- Englehardt, on the pay roll nomic principle, by which wage-earners could be
since 1890, received $2,006.88; Alfred Getman, on enabled to avoid what everybody admits to be a
the pay roll since 1893, received $280.06. These great disadvantage ot our modern industrial sys-
three are on the pay roll to-day, and are drawing tem, namely: the fear of want when the power to
regularly the following pensions per year: A. S. work and earn fails.
It was this fact which really led Karl Marx to
Foster, $312; Ludwig Englehardt, $507; Alfred
Getman, $28o»; sufficient to enable them to enjoy evolve his doctrine, that what he calls " surplus
value" does not belong to capital, but to the work-
the rest of their days in ease and comfort.
From life insurance the families of four of our ingman, whom he considers the only producer of
co-workers derived benefits. One thousand dollars wealth. While Marx's extreme position cannot be
each were paid to the families of Myron Robinson, realized short of the disruption of society, it is gen-
who died in 1888; John Penn, 1892; John Carn- erally admitted that wage-workers do not get their
wright, 1892; and Gustav Horn, 1894; protecting full share of wealth produced by them in connec-
tion with capital, but no means have as yet been
them against want and destitution.
It is a satisfaction to me to see our pensioners devised successfully to give it to them.
We should not be too much disposed to blame
strolling leisurely along our streets enjoying their
declining days, instead of seeing them in the fac- wage-workers for becoming socialists under condi-
tory, attempting under painful exertion to do a tions which allow only a small minority of them to
day's work, occupying a place which could be acquire a sufficiency to provide for old age.
With abject poverty and, perhaps, the poor-
filled so much better by younger men.
But in modern society nothing gives its best re- house staring the majority of them in the face if
they live too long, no wonder that the wage-earners
suits which is not general in its operation.
lend a ready ear to the theorists and dreamers,
THE SYSTEM LIMITED.
feeling that they have nothing to lose and every-
Thus far my system has been limited to one en- thing to gain. Hence, socialism makes converts
terprise. This prevents certain advantages which daily; populism gains ground, and capital, which
would otherwise accrue. For instance, if there means our civilization, is permanently in danger.
was no railroad but our short line from here to
THE PLAN FEASIBLE
Little Falls, it would still be very much better
Admitting that the wage-earners are entitled to
traveling than the old method with slow teams
over the muddy road, but its advantages would more than they now receive, it is the province of
not be nearly as great as they are now that it statesmanship to provide the ways and means and
connects with the great New York Central sys- the proper methods to secure it for them. My exper-
tem, which means practically to connect with all iments with our pension fund, covering a period of
twenty years, demonstrates the entire feasibility
points of the continent.
My system has been limited to Dolgeville, and of a national labor insurance or pension, assuring
as you all know it has been immensely beneficial, every honest wage-earner at the age of sixty years,
but its benefits would be much greater if it could or sooner if disabled, his full wages to the end of
touch hands with every workshop of the United his days.
A contribution of 1 per cent, of the amount of
States. Its advantages have been somewhat en-
hanced by the extension of its application to the wages earned, paid by the employer annually into
firms of Daniel Green & Co. and the C. F. Zim- a national insurance fund, would be ample to assure
mermann Co. Previously the full benefits could this. No wage-earner with a clean record would
only accrue so long as the wage earner worked for have to fear the time when his " economic effi-
this firm. When an employee left us, for what- ciency" has reached the unprofitable point.
The adoption of this system would effectually
ever reason, he lost considerable of the benefits.
While this disadvantage is not equal to the ad- disperse socialism and populism, both standing-
NO PROFIT-SHARING.
Profit-sharing as practiced is either paternalism
or philanthrophy, both of which are injurious to
social development and individual freedom. Nor
can profit-sharing ever be generally adopted, be-
cause there are always a considerable number of
enterprises which yield no profits, and in times cf
adversity often suffer losses. Profit-sharing is at
best a makeshift, adopted by well-meaning people
to atone for the iniquities of laissez j'aire doc-
trine, as introduced and upheld by the antiquated
school of middle class economics which teaches
that "profits rise as wages fall.' 1
Any system which depends solely upon the will
of the employer, and cannot be made an insepera-
ble part of the wage-earning system, is repulsive,
and therefore not worth considering.
THE
CELEBRATED
STEGER
ii
menaces to progressive civilization. It would
elevate all our wage-earners socially, because they
could live up to their income and would not be
compelled to deny themselves the comfort to which
they are entitled through fear of want in their de-
clining years.
Such a system would make better citizens, which
is the greatest benefit that can accrue to a nation.
This system does not in the least interel'ere with
individual development. It is entirely free from
the objection of putting the thrifty on the same
level with the spendthrift, the industrious with the
lazy, the efficient with the inefficient.
ACCEPTABLE TO WAUK-KARNERS.
Individuality will have full sway for develop-
ment, and no reason can be found why this plan
should not be acceptable to the wage-earner. Nor
can I find any reason why an employer can object
to pay that pittance into a national insurance fund
which would simply be an imperceptible fraction in
the "cost of production," shared by all alike.
Every manufacturer charges yearly an adequate
amount for the wear and tear of of his machinery
to expense account. Why cannot he pay, on the
same principal, his s!iare of the insurance fund for
the wear and tear of the brains and sinews of his
employees? There is no better investment for an
employer than that which enables him to ask a
man to retire on his pension when he gets too old
to produce as good or as much work as the younger
man.
It is impossible to go into details as to the practi-
cal working of such a system of national labor insur-
ance to-night, but its probability and practicability
can be demonstrated bayond a doubt. I believe
that this nation is destined to show the world that
the factory system, the utilizing of natural forces,
the combination of brain and brawn, as exemplified
in our great railroad, commercial and industrial
enterprises, does not mean the degradation of the
wage-earners, but on the contrary, that our great
industrial progress inevitably leads to higher and
higher social development for wage-earners, and
higher civilization for the nation.
Uniformity in Banking Laws.
I
N order to identify the Connecticut bank-
ing laws with those of New York, pe-
titions are being signed in nearly a]l the
Connecticut banks asking the State Legis-
lature to abolish the three days of grace,
and provide that all notes, checks, drafts
and other evidence of indebtedness falling
due on Sunday or any holiday shall be con-
sidered due on the next following day,
banking hours on Saturday to end at 12 M.
instead of 3 P. M., and Saturday for ac-
ceptance and maturity of paper to be treated
as a holiday, but this provision not to apply
to checks or demand drafts on banks or
bankers presented before 12 o'clock on Sat-
urday.
ALFRED DOI.UK'S address to his employees
last Saturday was noticed in mostly all the
metropolitan dailies last Sunday, as well as
other papers throughout the country.
Prominence was given to his advocacy of a
National Labor Insurance and Pension
Fund.
THE //lustratcd Century, a Western pub-
lication, contains a very complimentary ar-
ticle on the McCammon piano.
PIANOS
PATENTED 1892.
r.rc noted for their fine singing quality oi
tone and great durability.
The most
profitable Piano for dealers to handle.
STEGER & CO., Manufacturers,
Factory, Columbia Hfeights.
235 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO.