The Outlook by Milton Clarence Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 46.

The Outlook

By Milton Clarence Wilcox

"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will speak with me."

THE GOLDEN RULE IN BUSINESS.

WE are glad that not all capitalists and employers of labor are cold, selfish, cruel. In the race for wealth, in the worship of Plutus, men forget men. The laboring men are but as so many phonographs, pins, axles, levers, pistons—parts of a great system or machine for the piling up of colossal fortunes. Yet not all are such. There are men who regard their fellows as more than mere machines, and treat them as such. A noble instance of that kind is Hon. Samuel M. Jones, the present mayor of Toledo, Ohio. Having seen it stated in an uncertain way that Mr. Jones employed his men on the co-operative system, and that the governing influence among them was the Golden Rule hanging on the wall, we wrote Mayor Jones as to the facts, and received from him the following, which speaks for itself:—

"EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF TOLEDO, O. SAMUEL M. JONES, MAYOR. Sept. 23, 1897. "DEAR SIR: Replying to your note of inquiry, I will say that we have a small factory, employing from twenty to thirty men, in the manufacture of oil-well supplies. The principal article is protected by a patent which enables us to ignore the 'destructive competitive system.' Having an opportunity in this way to do business on a more scientific basis than generally prevails, we hung the Golden Rule on the wall some three years ago, and have since endeavored to apply it in our shop; the testimony of those who have observed the experiment is to the effect that it has been a great success. We are simply trying to deal with men who work with their hands on a basis of brotherhood,—trying to LIVE instead of merely believing. We believe Christianity affords a scientific solution of all the vexed problems of society, from top to bottom. It only needs to be applied. The day when it will be universally applied, however, seems to be a long distance in the future, as even the church that professes to teach it is only apologetically 'Christian,' as I understand it.

"Our profit sharing has been limited to the payment of a percentage dividend on the wages paid during the year. This has been 5 per cent., and our wage scale for unskilled labor is 20 cents per hour; our average for mechanics has been 32 cents per hour. We are also engaged in the oil-producing business, and have adopted the eight-hour day on day and night work, employing three crews of men, where our competitors only employ two. In our factory we have the fifty-hour week, nine hours a day and five hours on Saturday. We have made some money and I am more than pleased to say that we have done what is of infinitely more importance,—we have HELPED TO MAKE MEN. "Very sincerely yours, S. M. JONES."

"M. C. Wilcox, Oakland, Cal., "Dictated."

Jesus Christ died for men. In his sight one soul was worth more than all the riches of earth. Would that employers like the above were more numerous. But Christianity will never be applied by those who do not possess it; but those who possess it will show they possess it by applying it.