Cuba Havana 2. YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION, 31 West 110th street, New York City, Mrs. Ray F. Schwartz, executive director. Leter, November 25, 1919: "We are at present conducting classes in English for our foreign neighbors. There are five classes in all that meet both morning, afternoon and evening. Women ranging from twenty to sixty years take advantage of this opportunity afforded them. With our many other activities in the building, we work very intimately with these women, giving them not only English, but the spirit of our American institutions. Our relation is a very neighborly one- always ready to help these women in the daily problems of living that confront them. Our lectures and concerts are another means of keeping them in touch with the best. "I should be very glad to co-operate in any way with your Committee and shall await your advice. We will be very glad to put our plant to use in any way that may best benefit this important service." CHAPTER XI 1. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATION SCHOOLS In an interview with a representative of this Committee, Mr. F. C. Henderschott, managing director and treasurer of the National Association of Corporation Schools (also in charge of the educational work of the New York Edison Company) said, in substance, as follows: "Great Britain is now organizing corporation schools, but it is the only other country that is doing anything similar. "There is nothing in the charters of industrial corporations permitting them or demanding them to do educational work. "Although the public schools are not adequate to meet the problem, it is not the fault of the public schools. Before they can be more adequate from the standpoint of the industries, the industries will have to be able to tell the public schools what they can do to help. It is a fine point for the corporations to try to tell the public schools what to do. The corporations will always have to do training, but the public schools should do the educating. It is only through training that you get efficiency. The corporation school movement has two functions: (1) Corrective or educational; (2) training. "We hope to escape the first some time. Boys who leave school too soon are included in the corrective. We had twenty-eight in the New York Edison Company five years ago who could not take our post graduate work because their fundamental education was deficient. We gave them a test to determine this, and the results were almost unbelievable. This is a public service and the public demands a high grade of service; therefore, it is a necessity that we correct the fundamentals of such education. The company decided that we owed something to these twenty-eight. Now we employ grammar school graduates only. Too many employers discharge for inefficiency and that is why we have certain conditions today. You can't give an employee all he deserves in his pay envelope. "The corporation school has come to stay. There is no philanthropy in the decision. It is good economies. This organization has existed for seven years. We have 142 large industrial companies representing sixty-eight major lines of industry. We probably have one-half of the total wealth invested in commercial pursuits in our membership. We are conducting work of Americanization in all the cor porations that have the problem. We have a citizenship program with it. We co-operate with the public schools and the Y. M. C. A. There are no representatives of the clothing industry where there are many foreigners who do not speak English. "All this education has no effect if the wage scale is wrong. I don't think that this educational work would have any effect on people afflicted with Bolshevism, but the chances of having Bolshevism would be decreased about 90 per cent. by having education in all corporations as a preventive measure. The educational work of the United States Steel Company will win them the strike. "Training in itself will not solve the personnel problem. It must be related to all the other personnel problems. You have got to employ scientifically. The United States Steel Company would have lost their strike hands down if they had not run their educational program from the start. "Americanization is much talked about and little praeticed. The actual developments have been weak. Personnel executives have not been trained. Industry has a cancer and is trying to cure it with a porous plaster. We expect to establish a commercial university which will train personnel executives and be a laboratory for a laboratory for industrial problems. Why Business Organizations Should Be Class "A" Members of the National Association of Corporation Schools Nation-Wide Co-operation The National Association of Corporation Schools represents the first successful attempt at nation-wide training of the workers of the United States on the part of the business interests. Its purpose is to increase the efficiency of the industries of the United States through industrial training and to supplement with training the educational efforts of the public schools. Our Object To bring into one cohesive organization all of the industrial institutions of the United States and through this organization prosecute vigorous activities to the end that the problems of waste, through unnecessary labor-turnover, waste through lack of proper training, waste through unnecessary sickness and accidents, may be minimized and, where possible, eradicated. Non-Partisan Service As an Association no endorsements are given. Over fifty dif ferent industries are represented in Class "A" membership and our members are located in all sections of the country. Such endorsements as are given to national movements come from the individual members and not from our Association. This leaves our organization free to prosecute its work without strife and without friction. Service to Members All Class "A" members upon joining the Association are for warded, without additional expenses, a complete set of bound volumes of the Proceedings covering all of the annual conventions which have been held. Class "A" members also receive a bound volume of the Proceedings of the current year without additional expense. Class "A" members are furnished twenty subscriptions to the bulletin published monthly by the Association which will be forwarded to addresses furnished by each member company. This service is included in membership, and there is no extra charge. Reports are also issued through the managing director's office covering such matters as profit-sharing plans, stock ownership on the part of employees, sick and death benefit plans, service annuities and retirement pension systems, savings and loan associations, etc. A report has also been issued in which the educational activities of our member companies are codified. Confidential and Special Reports This service is available only to Class "A" members. Such subjects as Labor turnover, the Present Status of Business Correspondence, Industrial Relation Problems of the Reconstruction Period, Plans which Can Be Utilized in Bringing into Closer Unison Employer and the Employee are treated. A special descriptive circular is issued regarding these reports. Class "B" members receive without additional expense a copy of the current bound volume of the Proceedings of the annual convention, also a subscription to the Association's monthly Bulletin. This class of membership is open only to employees of Class "A" members. Class "C" or Associate Membership is open to any individual interested in our Association and its work. These members are entitled to a bound volume of the current Proceedings of the annual convention, a subscription to the Association's monthly bulletin, to receive all regular reports and to all other rights and privileges except to vote and hold office. This class of membership, however, is intended only for individuals. Special Service The office of the Managing Director may be consulted on any problem concerning the educational activities of our member companies. Chairman of the sub-committees also act in an advisory capacity in furnishing information regarding their particular subjects. Special Bulletins From time to time the Managing Director's Office, through the Association's monthly Bulletin, reports the results of special studies of problems such as the replacement of men by women in the industries, due to war conditions; whether or not a corporation store may be successfully conducted and such benefits as may be expected; the value of company hospitals and rest rooms; the value of recreation activities on behalf of employees and their families; the value of company restaurants and similar subjects. Indirect Benefits While the direct benefits from membership yield a return many times greater than the membership fee, indirect benefits are equally valuable. The industries of the United States must progress and prosper as a whole. When the farmers are selling their produce at a profit they are purchasing the products of manufacturers and the railroads are busy. Individual industrial institutions cannot attain permanent success apart from the prosperity of the industries as a whole. Annual Conventions At the annual conventions delegates from our Class "A" members, also Class "B" and "C" members meet and discuss the vital questions affecting the training of the workers. A complete stenographic report is made and Proceedings are issued which contain the reports of the Association's committees and the discussions thereon. |