speed and effort which workers bring to bear
on their individual and collective tasks. All
the knowledge and skill they possess are
thrown into the scale; their quickened intelligences
reach out for new methods and short
cuts; when the crisis has passed, there may be
a temporary reaction, but there is likely to be
a permanent advance both in individual efficiency
and organization spirit.
On the employer's side, this feeling is expressed
in the surrender of profits to provide
work in dull seasons; in the retention of
aged mechanics, laborers, or clerks on the
payroll after their usefulness has passed;
in pensions; in a score of neighborly and
friendly offices to those who are sick, injured,
or in trouble. A reputation for ``taking care
of his men'' has frequently been a bulwark of
defense to the small manufacturer or trader
assailed by a greedy larger rival.
Personality is, beyond doubt, the primitive
wellspring of loyalty. Most men are capable
of devotion to a worthy leader; few are
ever zealots for the sake of a cause, a principle,
a party, or a firm. All these are too abstract
to win the affection of the average man. It is
only when they become embodied in an individual,