test is a real one, for in retaining women, the officials are not availing themselves, as other employers do, of a cheap source of labor, because the same salary is paid to men and women.

WOMEN MAKE GOOD IN MANY POSITIONS

The chief objection which has been urged against the employment of women is their unfamiliarity with railroad life. A boy who grows up in the service acquires a general knowledge as he advances from job to job. There is no doubt that women were handicapped when they first began work on account of this lack of experience, especially in outside work, and because of their lack of familiarity with the materials used. Under the pressure of war conditions, it was difficult to give them adequate training, but some experiments in personal instruction were highly successful. Women have, for instance, only rarely qualified as clerks at a freight claim desk, as this requires a full understanding of claims. One of the railroads furnishes an example of systematic instruction for this work. A group of women were given lectures for one month on the various types of claims, details of rule book, etc. They were then taken to freighthouses to see how freight is handled; they learned the trade name of commodities; they visited yards to examine loaded freight cars on the tracks; they observed the construction of empty freight cars and went to car repair shops to examine damaged ones; they visited local stations to observe the agent's work in handling freight, and then traveled by way-freight to see the methods of handling this class of goods. Finally the group was taken to the shipping department of several large factories to see how articles are packed. In fact, as the agent said, they saw and learned a great deal more about the movement of freight than most men in the office knew, and they were thus able to begin the work of investigating claims with a background of actual knowledge. There is no doubt that intelligent training of this kind can make up for the lack of railroad experience. It enabled these women to qualify for highly paid positions, which had previously been considered too difficult for them.

This is only one instance of well planned training. Courses were also carried on in various cities for the instruction of ticket sellers. One of the chief objections which had been made to the

employment of women in these positions had been their ignorance of geography. Through their training they were able to overcome this and other handicaps. A considerable number have made good even in inter-line work, which is known to be the most difficult part of the field.

There is undoubtedly a consensus of opinion on the part of railroad officials that women have made good in a great variety of positions, although judgment is not unanimous as to the jobs for which they are best fitted. The women clerks, officials say, adapt themselves quickly to routine work, pay close attention to details, and are careful and accurate. In manual occupations, such as sorting tickets and way bills and for comptometer work, they show greater dexterity and speed than boys. Their accuracy in certain cases is interestingly proved by the records of errors. In one office, for instance, where women as well as men are employed for the abstracting of inter-line way-bills, the total errors amounted to less than one half of one per cent, although they were working at a high rate of speed. Several machine operators in the same office, who were cutting cards, showed their deftness by an almost perfect record in three successive months, although they were cutting thousands of cards each day. One woman is listed as having cut 85,000 cards during one month without an error.

The criticism has also been made that while women are good in routine, they lack ambition to advance into higher positions. This statement will hardly hold water in view of the many important places now filled by women. That they have, in some instances, been slow to avail themselves of opportunities to bid for better positions is presumably due to their lack of industrial experience. Wherever they have been educated up to their new jobs and been encouraged to advance, they have shown the same capacity as men.

Judging from the facts before us at present, all indications point to the retention of women as a permanent part of the personnel in practically all types of clerical work. Space does not suffice to discuss the probable fate of women in all classes of railroad occupations, in which they are found at present. It can be said, however, that they have proved their value as telegraph and telephone operators in the transmission of train orders, and

will be retained in these positions. They are also spoken of highly as station agents. Women will, of course, continue to do all the different forms of cleaning, including coach and station cleaning, and they will be found in the laundries and personal service, where they have the field practically to themselves.

In conclusion it may be said that sufficient time has not yet elapsed to allow a comprehensive statement of the future of women on the railroads to be made. This article is intended only as a contribution in the railroad field to the general stock taking and valuation of women's industrial achievements, to which the war has given rise.

Should Labor Participate in Management?

By GLENN E. PLUMB

Counsel for The Organized Railway Employees of America

THERE

HERE are three basic interests in every industry first, the

need of society for the products of that industry; second, the use of capital to procure the tools, equipment, materials, essential for the conduct of the industry, and, third, the human effort required to direct and utilize the tools, equipment, and materials which capital furnishes in the various processes of production and distribution, in order that society may obtain and possess those things which it needs.

The first element represents the interest of the consumers, the second element the interest of the investors, the third element the interest of the producers. If there are no consumers, there can be no industry. If capital cannot be obtained, the consumers' necessities cannot be met, the producers cannot find employment. If there are no producers, there can be neither field for investment nor the satisfaction of the needs of consumers. Each element is absolutely essential to the existence of the other two. With one single element lacking, the other two elements cannot function. No single element can obtain a preponderance in the industry, except at the expense of the other two, and no two elements can combine for their mutual benefit except at the expense of the third.

These three elements are all equal essentials to the existence of industry. These three elements make up society as a whole. A benefit to one or two elements at the expense of two or one, disturbs the social balance and creates disorder, unrest and revolution.

Each of these elements has certain well-defined rights which may not be violated without producing inevitable social disorders. The consumers-the need of society-have a right to obtain the products essential to their welfare at a price no more than sufficient duly to compensate the investors and reward the producers. The investor who devotes his capital to the service of society is entitled to the protection of his investment and to that constant

and uninterrupted return which induces him to make the investment. The producer is entitled to receive, likewise, protection in his investment of human effort—that is in the security of his employment, that rate of return which induces him to place his efforts at the service of society, and a fair share of any increase in productivity which his skill promotes and creates. The corporate control of productive industry has resulted, first, in the complete organization of the capital invested in that industry, second, in the partial organization of the labor employed in the industry, and, third, in the total disorganization of the consumers requiring the products of that industry.

In the capitalistic organization the investors contributing money to the enterprise, as the condition of their investment, have been required to surrender all competitive efforts between themselves and to join in a complete coöperative production, each contributor of capital agreeing to pool his money with the other contributors and to pool returns or profits, so that the reward for one should be the reward for all; as owners of capital they have surrendered their privilege of competing with each other in the industry, which they now conduct on a coöperative basis. True, the owner of two shares of investment receives twice the amount of return which the owner of one share receives. But each receives the same rate of return apportioned upon the amount which he contributes to the enterprise. Under the same agreement these investors surrender to the board of managers which they create all of their individual powers of negotiating with employes as to wages and conditions of labor. This group of capitalists through their agreement adopt collective bargaining as the basis of their side of the negotiations with the producers as well as collective selling as the basis of their transactions with consumers. The wage which their management fixes for employes is the wage which all of the investors adopt as the basis of negotiation with the producers. The price which the management fixes for the products of the industry is the basis which all investors adopt in their negotiations with the consuming public.

As against this capitalistic organization so established, labor has organized, not as completely as has capital, but to a very large extent, and has insisted on collective bargaining with capital on behalf of the producers. Capital and labor have classified by