Inaugural address of James Hartness As it appears in the Journal of the JOINT ASSEMBLY BIENNIAL SESSION 1921 Friday, January 7, 1921 Inaugural Address Mr. President and Members of the General Assembly: Inasmuch as this is the first assembly in which woman has been a member, it seems most fitting to begin by welcoming woman into active participation in representing our people. Women’s coming into full equality in suffrage bodes well for humanity. Women are the most natural representatives of the home, for they come with the first-hand knowledge of the home. Man’s work outside has so absorbed his attention that his keenness of sense of home conditions has been dulled. It goes without saying that nothing less than the keenest sense can render the best service. In addition to woman’s superiority in this respect we have a thousand other reasons for being glad that woman has been granted equality in controlling arid shaping the destiny of our State and Nation. It will not be possible at this time to refer to all the major subjects that must be considered during the session. I recognize that agriculture, forestry and the live stock interests of the state comprise a great industrial group and I commend the most thoughtful attention to these and other matters that I have set forth in my campaign for the nomination. I shall avail myself of the opportunity to present to the Joint Assembly special messages on special subjects as the occasion requires. My message today deals primarily with introductory matter. This occasion should be dedicated to keynote expressions that will lead to the maintenance of the best spirit of fellowship and cooperation. This spirit will be the greatest aid to us as we formulate our policies and shape our laws to fit conditions of today. We are all keenly aware of the great honor that is ours as representatives of the state. We know that we are intrusted with matters of great import to our people. We know we have assumed a grave responsibility to the children, women and men of our state, and that their interests must be given prime consideration. We know that large interests are always ably represented, but the vast majority of our people are those who take the world as they find it and try to make the “best of it”. The majority of workers are in that class. They never can have adequate representation because their proficiency is in action and not in the artful use of words. Just now there is a world wide awakening of the toilers; there is also an awakening of the wordmen – those who talk and write. Both now see that this has been a onesided affair and that now the interests of the workers, in the home as well as elsewhere, must be studiously considered in order to obtain a better basis for understanding so that there will be a government for the people who work with their hands as well as those who talk and write. The spirit of the day has always been in the hearts of every true lover of democracy. It has been weakened in the routine of life in times of peace and brought into full potency during the world war. It suffered a setback with the beginning of our reconstruction period. Now, it must be brought back to its fullest strength. At the crisis of the war, when our men and women in the service and their families were bearing the heroic burden of sacrifice, the public acquired the full spirit of fellowship that went beyond the bounds of race, creed and state. The termination of the war and the celebrations over the heroism of our service men and women and finally the homecoming, all seemed to be a signal for these service people to put on civilian garb and, unfortunately, for all the others to lapse back into pre-war indifference. This lapse must not be permanent; the hearts of our people have been stirred to a true spirit of fellowship and co-work. GOOD FELLOWSHIP AND STATE SPIRIT A general survey of the state reveals that it is impossible to fully set forth any one of our big problems. There is not enough time to consider thoroughly any one of these subjects. Further more, it takes special knowledge of each branch, and that can only be acquired by long experience. We are here to do all in our power, first to determine in what way we can most favorably affect the destiny of our state, and second to courageously follow that way. There is a definite and imperative obligation that holds us to making the best use of our energies. We can accomplish this by team work, cordial relationship, state spirit, faith in each other, tolerance of the views of those with whom we cannot agree and recognition that every member has some definite knowledge of some one branch that may be of greatest value. We must recognize that we are here to use our combined wisdom for the benefit of the people, and that our supreme duty is to the homes on which our real Vermont is founded; that we are not here to be swayed by particular interests and we are not here to obtain special favors for our own section or for several sections at the expense of the homes in other sections. The members composing this Assembly embrace men bringing to it a knowledge of various needs of the state. Each one, by reason of his own experience, has his own unique angle of view, and, naturally enough, each one comes with his home section most clearly in mind. Our greatest achievement for our home section is to be attained by joining with others to accomplish the best results for the whole state and in the submergence of sectional interests. A NATION OF SPECIALISTS At the present time we are a nation of specialists. The principle function of legislature is to provide ways and means by which we can make use of these specialized energies to carry forward the interests of the state, to equalize the opportunities within the state and make it possible for us to compete in the broadest sense with other states; or, to put it in another way, to give to the people of the state the best chance to share in the most beneficial way in modern progress. Our watches are made and repaired by men especially skilled in that work. When we are ill we call in a physician. We should not depart from the general principle of depending on special ability when we are handling the affairs of the State. The trend of management of the state is in keeping with this policy, for there is no better way to insure good service for the whole state than by placing in office only those specially fitted by experience for the work in hand. With expenditures of departments running in six and seven figures, it is of utmost importance to get the ablest directors for these expenditures and after having obtained men of best qualification based on natural ability, training and experience, the next thing to do is to retain them in office. EVERY DOLLAR WASTED IS NEEDLESSLY TAKEN FROM THE PEOPLE In expending state funds we must keep ever in mind the actual burden that always rests on the people to raise this money. We must know how hard it is for our people to pay the tax levied, and that every dollar wasted is taken from the people who would have otherwise spent it for family needs. With this conception of our state revenues and our supreme obligation to get the best results for the money expended, we will do well to maintain the plan of having specialists in control of each branch of work and see to it that all of our work is wisely and efficiently directed. The farther removed the executive is from actual contracts with the manual work, the more difficult it is for him to understand the worker, hence the greater liability of misunderstanding. Unfortunately a change of work seems to automatically change the viewpoint, otherwise many executives who have been in the ranks of the worker would be able to hold the manual workers’ view. This separation has made it very difficult to maintain a cooperative relationship. GROUP EXPRESSION This is one of the real problems we have before us, especially the effect of the group action of these various interests bringing pressure to bear in legislative matters, not so much in our own state as in the federal government and in the states in which exist very large groups of workers in each of the divisions. We find that more and more is governmental action being swayed by the expression of these various groups through their official representatives. While this seems to be a drifting away from our form of a Republic, it is nevertheless an existing condition that seems essential to protection of those workers who have developed great skill of hand but have not acquired a special ability in the art of bargaining for themselves. I believe one of the imperative needs of the present time is a spirit of cooperation of the leaders of each of these groups. In Vermont we should build up a stronger cooperate spirit in our grange and farm bureaus. We should build up a strong cooperation of the people in each of our towns, and to bring it specifically to this legislative body, we must see to it first, last and all the time that we, the representatives of the people, cooperate, having in mind the home interest, and at the same time realize, as group leaders, that we must legislate for the welfare of the whole state. This loyalty to the state has an important bearing on many of the questions that will come before us at this session. In the same way we must, for the state’s interest, see that each group presents its views through selected representatives. It is our duty to see to it that we maintain the freedom of all people, whether in the groups or outside of them. We must take no action that will infringe the right of Vermonters and American citizens not embraced in these groups. MAXIMUM HOURS FOR MINORS In the Republican State Platform, under the subject of Labor, there is a paragraph favoring a forty-eight hour week for women and minors employed in industrial establishments. This of course expresses a commendable purpose, especially for minors, but it may not be favorable for women. In times of prosperity and in large organizations, either industrial or mercantile, the question of hours of labor, minimum wage, etc. are less difficult to adjust; but in dull times and in small establishments, whether industrial, agricultural or mercantile, the placing of a limit of hours on the woman’s work may actually be against women’s interests. I believe this legislative body will find some way of expressing this matter in definite terms that will not run contrary to the women’s welfare and to economic law. I have no doubt that a careful consideration of this matter will result in some improvement, especially that relating to minors. WORKERS COMPENSATION Another article in the Republican Platform relates to an equitable increase in death and accident benefits under workmen’s Compensation. This I am sure will receive most generous consideration, as will also the third article favoring an appointment of a woman inspector for factories. Under the consideration of Workmen’s Compensation the question will undoubtedly be brought up as to what extent this compensation can be made to cover occupational diseases. The manufacturers as a rule have endeavored to eliminate causes of occupational diseases, nevertheless, the enactment of a measure of this kind would undoubtedly spur all manufacturers to use the most healthful methods and means, and this will bring about a great improvement in the working conditions in Vermont. INTELLIGENT ADMINISTRATION In the interests of the workers we must take a firm stand for intelligence in administration not only of laws that affect labor but any administration of businesses employing labor. One of the greatest handicaps is the incompetence of those who are directors of work. The workers’ interest and the welfare of the country rest on the wise guidance and administration of the affairs of the country, whether it relates to so called labor problems or the more general problems; for, in the last analysis, the workers engaged in essential work constitute the real backbone of the country and must be considered second only to the fighters who defend our homes against hostile nations. FITNESS FOR SERVICE One of the finest slogans for the workers is “Fitness for Service”. This would insure railways being managed by railway men, and other activities being administered by men of experience in the work. In the consideration of labor we must maintain the spirit of hearty cooperation so that the net result of our advancement will be an advance of all conditions affecting labor, not only labor in one branch of work, but all the way through, whether it applies to the man whose interest and talents have carried him to a certain point past which he finds it difficult to go, or to those who have gone on from position to position by natural steps through the executive offices. Organized labor has an opportunity to stabilize social unrest by cooperating in the establishment of the correct relationship between the employee and the employer. In the true sense both are workers and when this is understood by both there will be a better basis for bargaining. The employer must know that his position is one of great responsibility to the worker and those whose savings are invested in the plant. He is a manager and must keep in close touch with those whose work he is directing. This is an age of machinery, an age when the advance of machinery has been to facilitate man’s effort to necessities and comforts of life. As machinery advances man is enabled to turn out a greater product for a given expenditure of energy. With the development of machinery there has come an absolute necessity for coordination of the workers. Anything that in any way interferes with the most congenial and effective coordination is contrary to the country’s interest and to the workers’ interest. The most common type of wastefulness is the disregard of fitness for office and its natural product – mismanagement in the disbursement of funds and in the misdirection of our state activities. CONTINUITY OF SERVICE The state has a number of its departments already turned over to commissions or boards the personnel of which is never abruptly changed--one slight change being made by each administration. This insures an overlapping of service carrying forward a uniform policy of organization and removes these bodies from the vicissitudes of political disturbance. I can see no greater chance for obtaining higher efficiency in the administration of business affairs of the state than in fostering and extending this policy of administration. It leaves each commission and board free to give its undivided attention to the service of the State and draw plans that in some cases require long continuity of service to carry into effect. Such plans and such service are of supreme importance to the welfare of our people. In view of the value of special experience in each line of work and special knowledge that has been acquired by each commission and board, I commend for your most careful consideration the reports and recommendations made by such bodies. FUNCTION OF MESSAGE AND PURPOSE I am fully aware that the General Assembly is distinctly a legislative body and that the governor’s message should lay before this body such business as may appear to him to be necessary. I have a firm conviction however, that we have all reached a point where we feel that there is even a higher service to render than the mere technical meeting of the obligations of office. That higher service in legislation is one that considers the hopes and ambitions of our people as well as their physical needs. It is a service that recognizes the fact that our people have hearts and souls as well as bodies and that our homes are the real centers of government. MAINTAIN OUR WAR-BORN COOPERATIVE SPIRIT Notwithstanding the great resources we have discovered and developed, and the great resources that are still within our own state ready for development, the one outstandingly supreme opportunity lies in that fine spirit of cooperation that was born of the war, it is now our rightful heritage. With it we can rise to the demands of the days that lie in the immediate future. We may be facing grave danger or we may soon find ourselves in peaceful and prosperous times, but, in either case, we must hold fast to that war-created spirit of fellowship and cooperation. It is for us to enlist this same heart interest in carrying forward a work of state development. This must come about by a spirit of industry as well as cooperation in each individual, and then as group leaders we must devote our energies to the best modes of coordination of all activities. All of this activity demands the most careful consideration, for we must make it possible for each one to achieve the greatest results in personal development and in betterment of conditions of home and family. On the part of the individual it calls for continuity of work, of sticking to it when there is apparently no bright future. It demands first, an intelligent judgment of the best course to take, and then a spirit of carrying on. Mistakes will be made. Combinations of circumstances will arise that will disturb our faith in the plan. Mental depressions will come, but through it all there must be a predominance of the faith in the efficacy of devotion to work after the plan of procedure has been carefully selected. PRESENT POSSIBLE PROGRESS We must not be disturbed in our desire for progress by the fact that we are unable to achieve complete elimination of undesirable conditions. The inequalities, for instance, of taxation may not be eliminated in many years, but we must take the world as we find it and move forward as far as possible each session, and through it all maintain a good will and abiding faith in our ultimate success. SOCIAL UNREST The conflicting reports that come to us from the outer world, notably Europe, would leave us very uncertain as to the extent Americanism is threatened. Our best defense and our best line of action, regardless of whether or not it is threatened, is to set our house in order by eliminating the unjust inequalities. For instance, there are many whose work is of a character that they have neither time nor special ability for presenting their cause or for enforcing an adequate consideration of their interests. We must give their interests first place in our deliberations. LEADERS MUST REPRESENT THE WORKERS In order, as leaders, to retain the confidence of our people, we must give consideration to the welfare of all those who are working in our homes and elsewhere. Let us remember that it is not primarily wealth that we are to protect. We are here to protect the right spirit between people. We are here to protect the interests of those who are doing essential work, whether manual or mental. We are here to encourage the heartiest cooperation and the firmest faith in our government. In this way we will render the best service for all workers, in the home or outside of the home; and, last but not least, we will furnish the strongest possible protection for wealth that is properly administrated. LAW AND ORDER ESSENTIAL TO LIFE With a leadership representing the workers we will build up the strongest spirit for the protection of organizations of men in those industries in which the efforts of men are most effectively employed and rewarded. In this way we will make our best defense against any menace that may be creeping towards us, particularly that spirit of anarchy that would break down our organized life upon which we must depend for food, clothing and shelter. FAITH IN OUR OWN PEOPLE For our state, we must build up a faith in our capabilities to win success in this world of science and industry. This is necessary to enlist a genuine interest in the active work of rounding out our state’s development. PRESENT CONDITIONS Let us recognize the plain fact that, notwithstanding Vermont’s activities in dairying, agriculture, lumber, marble, granite, machinery building, textile and other branches of industry, the state has not gone ahead in other possible and desirable developments. This is no criticism of those who have been active in the existing establishments. The fact must be acknowledged that there has not been sufficient attention given to other branches of industry such as are needed to increase desirable opportunities for the work and such as are necessary to augment the revenues of the state and the earning power of the people. Vermont, in common with nearly all of New Hampshire and Northeastern New York, as well as large areas of other states, has been asleep industrially. While it has been asleep as a state, there has been a sporadic growth of a number of splendid examples of desirable industries. These industries can be multiplied indefinitely. VERMONT’S INDUSTRIAL FUTURE A study of the opportunities of this age reveals that Vermont is most favorably situated in its nearness to the great centers of industrial and scientific developments of this country, and is most favorably conditioned by the general aptitude of our people. The great resources of our fertile valleys, our mineral wealth, our water power possibilities are actually secondary to the possibilities in other directions. These other activities will round out the opportunities for our people and will greatly enhance the values of our more material resources. The upbuilding of the knowledge of these opportunities will inspire faith and confidence in ourselves that will release the most potent energies of our people; namely, the industrious spirit inspired by confidence and heart interest. A study of the elements that are essential to progress will show what have been our stumbling blocks in the past and what must be our course in the future. It will bring out the cardinal principles that must be mastered and from which we must plot our sailing course. AGE OF SCIENCE AND MECHANISM We now know the significance of the age of machinery – of the science of mechanism and industrial opportunities for Vermonters in the various professions, offices and trades that are embraced in these modern organizations – that these industries greatly augment the income of the people and the state. We know that the fertility of the soil of the valleys of Switzerland, Massachusetts and Illinois did not prevent the people of those places from making the best watches. We know that any one of all the desirable industries might have been started in Vermont, so far as any physical limitation exists here, and that this is true of many that are now starting elsewhere. We must recognize that industrial development is still in its infancy – that the science of engineering is bringing forth myriads of elements that are continually changing the conditions, so that there is now, and will probably continue for many years, a flow and ebb with many eddies of opportunities in this fascinating world of applied science. WE MUST USE BEST IMPLEMENTS The history of the human race may be divided into epochs that have been created by the discovery and utilization of new resources. When we speak of the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the age of steam and the present age of machinery, we mean the epochs in which man discovered and used these things in providing for his needs. The discovery and use of each new means for aiding man in his work have resulted in giving the first users a marked advantage. The man who lagged behind found himself inadequately equipped in his contest with the more progressive man. In this machinery age the intricacies of mechanism have gone far beyond the simple structures of the preceding ages, but, nevertheless, all machinery may be classed as implements. We used these implements to aid us in agriculture, harvesting of food, transportation, production of clothing and shelter and so on through the entire list of human requirements. The greater complexity of these machine implements has taxed the human mind to its capacity in each branch, and has resulted in so many branches that the human mind is not big enough to comprehend the whole. This resulted in a failure of some men and some states in their attempt to keep pace with the progress. Those who have failed to keep in the forefront of this progress have labored at a marked disadvantage and such is our present systems of manufacture and business that having once lost a position in the column of progress it is well nigh impossible to regain it. In this Assembly everyone comes under the head of specialist. It may be agriculture, law, medicine, banking, taxation, economies, and a thousand other heads and subdivisions of these sciences, but as an Assembly, we act as laymen when we consider some branch in which we are not specialists. Therefore the main stress of my message is to commend the most careful and considerate attention to each man and each department in presenting its views, reserving for ourselves the task and responsibility as laymen of coordinating the work of all. CENTRALIZATON AND DECENTRALIZATION In these days of extreme views on the question of centralization and decentralization, it will be well for us to review for a moment some of the elements of these two extremes. The extreme views of each preassumes the maintenance of an all-wise control at the head or heads that will devise a system of co-ordination in which all the workers become specialists in the truest and best sense – specialists whose minds are not deadened by the routine of work, but, on the contrary, whose work is so handled that each one preserves that supreme quality of initiative that brings about a continuous evolution toward greater efficiency and higher spirit throughout. Such is the ideal, but, unfortunately such ideal is never fully attained. The advocates of decentralization do not go to the extreme of Bolshevism, but they see that the farther removed a man is from the actual contact to the work the more naturally he gravitates to an indifference to the opinions expressed by those who have gained their knowledge by actual experience in the real world – the working world. They see the great need of a more intimate relationship between the worker and the director of work. Some of our ablest workers in this country are desk workers. They are able to formulate and present in words, plans for the actual workers in each branch of the work, but the tendency in many cases is to lapse into the routine of the work to an extent that the spirit of initiative – that greatest of all progressive qualities – is lost. In our own state and in our industries we must get away from the deadening effect of this type of desk director or manager. When one reaches the point of bureaucracy that considers it possible to create the skill of an artist or workman, or the technique in invention or industrial development by the mere use of words, then bureaucracy has gone word, formula and plan-mad. The object of these statements is to emphasize the need of our steering clear of this deadening effect of mere “office holding”. It is a disease common to both centralized and decentralized control, but the advocates of each assume it is wholly a disease of the opposite plan. I know of no way by which our country’s progress can be more effectively blocked than through office-holding desk-type of control that kills the spirit of initiative. The heads of the departments must be in thorough touch with the actual work. The personal observation and contact with the functioning of a department in the field is of supreme importance. It is there that work is directed. All the words in the dictionary, grouped in all possible combination of orders, cannot take the place of personal direction in effective work. There is just one place to acquire a true conception of the work, and that place is in the work, not merely near it, although that is better than stationed at a desk in a remote office at Washington or Montpelier. It is not my purpose to suggest any radical or abrupt changes in the administration of our state. A true engineer always builds on habit, cooperating and contributing his mite to the great and valuable working knowledge that is possessed by the people. I am presenting at this time some reference to the Workers, Industry, and Air Transportation. Other matters will be taken up later, after considering the forth coming reports of departments. I commend to your most earnest consideration the reports of the various commissions, boards and offices. I believe we can do no better than to give greatest weight to the views and recommendations of these bodies and men who, as a result of close and long application to their problems, are now presenting their reports and recommendations. It is not my purpose to separate out any one of these for more specific commendation than accorded to others, but, in view of the special interest that may now be centered on the bulwark of our homes – the school system, – I especially commend and urge a careful reading of the State Board’s report giving the story of the working of the present law and the proposed climax of its endeavors for the boys and girls of Vermont. BUSINESS DEPRESSION Before closing this I find it my duty to impress on this body the seriousness of our present depression in business. At the present writing there should be no appropriation recommended that would not be in keeping with the conditions of prolonged and most unfortunate depression. If the depression continues, some definite action should be taken to meet the exigencies, but, regardless of the outcome, let us guard well our resources. Let us be free from the charge of spending one single dollar needlessly, or of forgetting for one moment that each dollar has been taken from our homes either directly or indirectly. CONCLUSION In conclusion of this introductory portion of the message, I wish to assure you of my warm, cordial attitude towards each member of the assembly. While I am fully cognizant that I am a new member of the great political family of the state, and undoubtedly a transient in office, there has been no incident in the whole year’s experience in politics that has produced ill feeling towards a single member of the family. On the contrary, the net result has been a heart interest in the work and the workers, and while functions of the executive and legislative branches of the government are distinct, there is a need, and at the same time the strongest purpose and desire on my part, to create and maintain the finest spirit of fellowship and cooperation. CHAPTER II THE WORKERS The title of workers is a broad one that includes all people who are performing some essential mental or manual work. In a narrow sense the public now makes a distinction between the mental and manual. The “labor” problem is one that relates primarily to organized manual workers, or in other words, labor that is organized into trade unions. In a general consideration of the subject we must adhere to the broader aspect, for there is no sharp distinction between the two groups. The manual worker in these days must use his brain as well as his hands, and is therefore both a manual and a mental worker. Furthermore there is a natural drift of the worker toward the executive positions in which the mental work predominates. Nevertheless we must recognize there is a division of work in the skilled trades as well as the unskilled in which it is very natural for men to organize into groups made up of men having a common interest. We have such groups in all professions as well as trades. These men in such groups see their own side much more clearly than the other side. Now the great problem of statecraft is to bring together men of all factions so that all may get the broader view. This broader view is of greatest value in determining our attitude and action. Two extreme views that are the hardest to harmonize are the views held by the manual workers in an industry and the views of the executives. We must establish a better connection between the management and the workers if we are to obtain the highest result in coordination. Let us remember just what we mean when we say the highest result. We mean the protection of this country against enemies in and outside of the country, for it is the industrial strength that makes our military strength – that protects us against foreign enemies – and it is the industrial harmony and good relationship between man and man that will free us from the spirit of radicalism. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ERA Vermont is entering a new era, and that entrance will be facilitated by the intelligent action on the part of the leaders. Labor, for instance, is coming to see that it has a right to demand and obtain special fitness for all men who direct industrial, state or national activities. So-called capital has always demanded that a workman should have special fitness for his job but now the worker as well as all other citizens will demand fitness in its leaders. The people are entitled to have such leaders for only such leaders can lead forward, and only under such leadership can men accomplish the most for a given expenditure of energy, and hence it is such leadership that will make possible the largest pay and progress. This demand for competent leaders is the very best basis for labor and the public in general from which to get other objectives. It may be considered of supreme importance for its attainment brings all other desirable results. Mismanagement of state and country plays directly into the hands of competing states and competing countries. Our freedom as individuals, as towns and states can be gained and maintained only by conforming to the economic requirements of our day. The great intricacy of the affairs of the world at the present time is fully illustrated in the bigness of the problems that confront the state, not only the size of each problem, but the diversity and number of problems. The reports of the heads of the various departments combined with their recommendations form the best basis in considering legislative action. One of the functions of the executive and legislature is to take the broad and necessary superficial view of each one of these activities and determine the measure of our funds and energies that may be expended in each one of the developments. CHAPTER III INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT The general plan of increasing the industrial activity in Vermont must proceed from the truest conception of the fundamental principles governing industrial life. Of the distinctly engineering phases of the question I have said nothing. That there is required the highest type of engineer goes without saying, but those engineers are now in our state and many more are growing up in our industries, schools and colleges. I have said nothing of the science of machine design – of the technique of invention and of the thousand and one problems of mechanical engineering; not that these are not absolutely essential, but that such knowledge must be gained by long study and long experience. I have emphasized the supreme need of experience as a basis of success as a worker and an executive. The general principles set forth have been those that are most commonly disregarded by our technical engineers, industrial managers and employers. In all plans that fit this day of most complex mechanism and social life, we must start with the assumption that a certain degree of knowledge already exists; then proceed to set forth those elements that are most commonly disregarded, undervalued or misunderstood. Such has been my plan in setting forth these elements of industrial and human life. The object of a plan is to get an action that would not otherwise come, hence it is natural that the full significance of the plan may not be understood, but nevertheless it must be accepted tentatively and followed. Hence, since all progressive work must be taken on faith by those who are not in closest touch with the art, I bespeak your confidence and cooperation. Publicity is necessary. The general principles of industrial development of the individual and the group must reach the workers, the boys and girls in schools, the men and women in all Vermont. This can be attained by the pamphlet publications of the state. The distribution should be according to the subject matter and the field. The postage could be saved in many cases by local distribution under the cooperation of local chambers of commerce or other civil volunteer bodies. Corporations should cooperate even in their own interests. SOME PRINCIPLES OF INDUSTIRAL LIFE In setting forth some of these principles I have selected those that are specially applicable to Vermont. We are more interested in the betterment of the opportunities for progress for the worker than we are in the mere plan for enriching the few. We must strive to establish desirable industries. The most desirable industries are those in which there is a natural development of all the workers and a chance for the greatest number to find the best opportunity to acquire special skill and special ability. In such industries there should be the open door of progress so that those who are qualified for advancement can go forward from position to position with no barrier other than their own mental or physical limitations. Our plan should be to inculcate a knowledge of the ways by which man works most effectively – How groups of men achieve the highest results in expenditure of given energy. What is necessary to establish such conditions. What are the most desirable opportunities. Why the need of building up habit-action. How a group of men, through team work, acquires a group habit action by which their product greatly exceeds the product of the same number of men working without cooperation. How the individual ability and skill, as well as the group ability and skill, is only to be acquired by repetition that establishes habit-action. Why words cannot make industries. Why books cannot teach skill. Why legislation cannot create invention and initiative. Why industrial managers should know the cardinal principles of invention, of industrial engineering, industrial management, industrial relations and the human factor in engineering and in the industries. Why a plant may be growing and paying dividends and still be dead so far as the spirit of enterprise is concerned. Why some men try to manage industrial plants regardless of many of the cardinal principles of progress of workers and the state. Industrial organizations must compete with the world, and their management must conform to natural laws of engineering, industrial life, individual welfare and economics. They go forward on the fitness of men for service and the congenial nature of each man’s profession of work. Each man’s energies, both mental and physical, must be employed constructively with the minimum disturbance. His energies must be concentrated on his own particular work. This concentration applies to all workers and executives. This plan is based on the fact that, through continuity of attention and application to a given work, man acquires a special aptitude. It also recognizes that each man on the face of the earth, from the tramp along the railroad to the most highly developed scientist and executive, has a special knowledge and special ability that he has acquired by experience. HUMAN FACTOR In the industries every well managed organization takes into consideration the human factor. The consideration of the human factor shows the heart as well as the brain of each man. This interest must be satisfied, for it is from that source we get the inner urge that controls all energies. It is the basis of the best relation between men. It is back of the desire for gain. The heart interest is nurtured when men are organized in work in which there can be a mutual regard and respect and in which there is a minimum conflict of interests. It is needless to say that in competition with the whole world there must be alertness every day in the guidance of details of mechanism and business, and that it is not by gathering together a group of men at the end of the year or even once a month or once a week that business can be effectively managed. It is a continued application to the work every day and every hour that counts. EVERY MAN IMPORTANT It is also well known that while one man can wreck an industry, one man cannot make one. A successful industry is one in which the whole organization consists of men the fittest for their respective jobs. This fitness for the work is essential, whether it is the work of management, or handling the finances; looking after the sales or any of the other various divisions of present industrial work. This special ability is acquired by experience, and that experience must be obtained in the work itself, and it relates to something more than just skill and ability of its workers into one coordinated whole, and it is the coordination of all those things that makes it successful, so that, while men are fitted into an industry, and while it is growing under the gradual building up of the individual and coordinated ability, the men are developing in many beneficial ways. In the first place there is a minimum strife, a minimum competition among workers. Each as an individual has his own kind of work to engage all of his energies, and each has the satisfaction of knowing the degree of success he has attained. DISORGANIZING AGENCIES We have said that one man can wreck an industry, and it is a painful fact that many industries have been wrecked by well intentioned but incompetent managers. Very little has been written about the supreme necessity of special ability of each man and the complete coordination of all the workers in an industry, and the fact that this special ability and this complete coordination cannot be established except by those experienced in the work itself. It takes years to build up this special ability and skill to its highest point and a long time to get the cooperative action of the group. The mere change from one building to another is disturbing. The mere change in the slightest feature of details of design is disturbing. And, while there must be progress both for design of machinery and for the men in the work, in order to keep the organization progressing and the men moving forward, it must always be recognized that these changes and progressive methods must be made with full knowledge of the disturbing effect. Our success will be due to our getting these facts so deeply impressed that there is a definite action produced. It is not unusual to get a verbal acceptance of these statements of principles from some one who in action goes directly contrary. TYPICAL EXAMPLE Henry Ford is one who practiced specialization. He would not change the bonnet of his machine for many years, when every one demanded a little different style. It undoubtedly cost millions of dollars when he did make the change. It was Henry Ford who applied the practice of specialization with the full knowledge that the human being was a creature of habit, and whether he was in an executive position or one of the workers he must be given a chance to develop his highest abilities by being permitted to give continued service without disturbance. By practicing these principles we all know what Henry Ford has done towards giving the country the “Chariot of Democracy” frequently called the “Flivver,” and by giving a host of workers the highest remuneration. ECONOMIC NEED OF INDUSTRIES The betterment of the physical condition of the state requires the expenditure of large funds that are not available under the present conditions, Taxes are always burdensome, but especially so where the income is small. The taxes have already been increased until they have become a very great burden on the people. What is needed is to greatly augment the income of the people, and increase the amount received by taxation without increasing the tax rate. That this is now possible is of greatest import to our state and people, for it makes it possible to carry forward all good work. It is an all-embracing scheme that meets all the issues that have been mentioned. The true plan of progress is one that not only provides larger incomes for Vermonters, but also makes better homes and more congenial opportunities. Some of our problems are made difficult by our failure to go directly to the basic causes. Many of our largest business interests and greatest activities can be conducted by adhering to certain simple yet fundamental principles, and it is to those fundamental principles we must now look, and we must act true to them if we are to avoid the criticism of having mismanaged the interests of the people. SEEDLINGS AND CUTTINGS Volumes have been written, advising us how to manage industries, but Vermont should take thought and a rational action that will fit the needs of her people. The scheme for the state would be one by which seedlings and cuttings would be taken from desirable industries in order to start new units. The handicap that usually prevents the growth of small industries to larger ones has been the lack of understanding of some of the fundamental principles of industrial plant growth. Men who invest their money in such things fail to realize that through the early years an industrial plant needs most careful nurturing, It is a very common experience to see a plant that is growing naturally into a successful organization, yanked out by the roots by a board of directors who wish to examine the thing to see when it will begin to bear fruit. First of all let us recognize that notwithstanding the complexity of the industrial and the human-industrial problems that there are a few simple rules that settle nearly every fundamental question of industrial development. Failures in the past in attempts to increase the industrial activities of the state have been due in a large measure to our going contrary to one or more of certain basic rules governing plant creation. Vermont’s best way to create more industries and to speed up the growth of present plants is to give widest publicity to information regarding industrial plant life — how it starts, what helps and what hinders, who are the men who do such things and what has each Vermonter to do to carry forward this plan that increases the welfare of all. PRESENT ACTION These things start from the ideas that come into a man’s head when he reads about them. The man helps if he passes along hope and faith. He hinders if he sows seeds of distrust. The men who do things are men who have gained experience in successful industries, who have faith in other fellow-men and boost them, and cooperate year in and year out, glad to see everyone gaining ground. They are the ones who start and carry on. There are many such men. There are also many men without much experience but with a vision, an inventive genius, perhaps crude, but yet of latent value, who can become powers for progress by cooperation or who may become discouraged by ridicule and distrust. The grandest scheme for the development of the desirable industries embraces directing the energies of young men towards the acquisition of that special knowledge essential to leadership in the industrial line. The most immediate means for establishing new industries is to start with those men who are already in position to understand such responsibilities. WHAT IS NOT AN INDUSTRY Perhaps it will be well to state first what does not constitute an industry. Power, transportation facilities, fine buildings, fine machinery and a group of skilled workmen, a complete office staff and an elaborate system of fad management do not constitute an industry. Such an aggregation might be likened to a cargo ship all ready for service excepting that it lacks a captain and navigating officer—some one to determine what kind of a cargo to take, where to go and how to get there. The greatest value of an industrial plant that has everything but a work to do and a leader to determine its major policies, lies in the skilled workers and able executives in work and office. The buildings and machinery come next in value, but the whole thing is still worthless without the idea, or the occasional vision. SOME ESSENTIALS First of all, an industry is an organization having a definite thing to do, like the manufacture, we will say, of a machine of some kind. It must have a stable policy by which all the energies of the entire organization are effectively employed. It must have good leadership to carry forward the object of aiding in the favorable growth of the industry. This includes leaders for each of its departments or branches of its activities. The branches embrace everything from invention and finance to every essential department all the way through to the final department which observes the functioning of the product in the hands of the ultimate user. An organization of this kind is in one sense an educational institution. It is continually instructing the public in the use of its product as well as instructing its own workers all the way through the plant. In one sense, the instructors are the men who are the heads of the various departments; they may in that respect be considered teachers. It is an educational institution of the kind that teaches swimming with the pupils in the water rather than in the class room. It teaches men in the organization how to work under the actual working conditions, and it depends, in a larger degree than other educational institutions; on the progress that is worked out by the men themselves each in his respective position. Each man acquires special ability in the work itself. A successful organization in these days must be one in which specialization of effort is the constant watchword. The whole organization must be kept closely to a scheme of manufacture that calls for a limited line of action, so that there is a larger repetition of thought and action on the part of the workers than may be found in any competing organization. This repetition establishes the habit action which makes the most effective use of the human energies of mind or body, and it is the basis of the greatest progress in the various divisions of science. VERMONT IS NOT HANDICAPPED With proper leadership a new industry may be created, either by using existing buildings and machinery of an industrial organization that has gone out of business, or it may be created in some garage building or work shop in any remote part of Vermont. The first thing to recognize is that transportation handicap of the most inaccessible part of Vermont is not necessarily a barrier to success. Let us assume that a plant is to be started for the manufacture of some article and that its competitors are to be found, one or two in England, one or two on the continent of Europe and two or three spread over America at remote distances. The slight handicap of transportation could be more than offset by the many other elements. As a matter of fact, our state is so small that transportation over its length constitutes a very small fraction of the average total travel of many of the articles or machines that might be selected for manufacture. The location of the state is exceptionally fortunate for industrial opportunities. Vermont is very close to the great center of America’s industrial activity—the forefront of advance of industrial engineering. The cost of power in many machinery building institutions is insignificant. Frequently it does not cost more than the cost of sweeping the floors of the plant, but in these days of high tension transmission, power can be taken almost anywhere, and if an industry grows in almost any part of Vermont it may be assured of electric service. The competition with other companies is of a kind that would bring a certain amount of business to a Vermont company if its product was distinctly superior for certain services. Under such conditions it would cost less for transportation of material in and product out of the plant located on top of some one of our Vermont hills than it would for transportation, we will say, from a company in our middle west to a customer in England. ENCOURAGE LEADERS One of the first things then to realize is the need of the right spirit on the part of the leaders of such things, and a better knowledge of what is essential for success. The leaders who grow up at the present time are men who have forced themselves forward even against advice of well intentioned friends. Their inventive schemes were ridiculed and their ideas of management generally discredited. It is time now, however, to begin to realize that many men who are competent to carry forward such projects are kept back from such work by this obstructive and discouraging attitude of public opinion. There are many of these natural leaders now in our desirable industries. Some of them will not go forward against ridicule. Any organizations that they might start would surely go under if not protected from the natural action of the uninformed stock holders. Building up of the proper attitude toward such things will stimulate the men to concentrate their attention along certain lines of invention and thought that will result in the creation of more of these industrial establishments and will start us in the right direction. It is the natural way to go. CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE Thus far our activities for increasing our industrial establishments have been promoted mostly by our chambers of commerce. Our chambers of commerce are made up of merchants more than of industrialists and even industrialists frequently forget that industries cannot be moved and that large industries cannot be established in a minute. It is about as easy to transplant a large pine tree as it is to move a “going” industry. The natural way for these industries to get into existence is through the process of transplanting of seedlings or setting out of cuttings. Chambers of commerce, as a rule, do not understand the elements of industrial plant growth. They think that a lay board of directors can intelligently dictate the policies of an industrial organization. They forget that an industrial organization is founded on engineering principles that embrace the fullest understanding of the laws of mechanism in relation to its use by the human being. Every machine, whether it is a machine used in the industries or in connection with them, whether a locomotive, an automobile, a watch, a mowing machine, washing machine or whatever it is, is merely something to aid the human being. The engineer’s inventions must fit the human being, and the industry goes forward first by having the best available implements, second by the best coordination of all such implements and human energies. These statements seem to cover very obvious points, but nevertheless these points are not fully considered in the various attempts that have been made to create industries and to properly value the growing industries within our own borders. In the growth of fruit trees we do not expect to get fruit the first year, in fact we have the vision that makes it possible for us to understand that a young orchard has a value even before it bears fruit. With the proper conception of the elements of industrial plant growth we must reach the point where we will be able to place a value on young industries. This will keep the stockholders quiet and satisfied and will permit the natural evolution of the plant and at the same time prevent discouragement of many of those men who are competent to carry such things forward but who may lack in those qualities which are essential to work against opposition. An industry occasionally pays dividends in the first year of its existence. Some, on account of the intricacies of product, require a longer period in which to build up special skill and ability as well as to develop the invention. EXAMPLE OF IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCE One example of the greater length of time that is taken to produce an intricate machine may be cited by reference to the development of the Liberty airplane engine. The Liberty engine was not a great departure from previous designs. It looked very much like the existing engines on the other side of the water. It did embrace some notable inventions, particularly in structural changes that were essential for quantity production, but while such departures would have delayed the production, we would have been discouragingly slow even if we had copied an existing engine in every detail. We know that a pianist cannot acquire great ability in three weeks, nor in three years. Paderewski’s skill and art were the result of long years of work. The artist’s brush as well as the workman’s implements will not function to the highest standard excepting through practice. The special skill that is required in the development of a new model, especially of the higher tensioned machines, such as the airplane engine, cannot be acquired in a minute. The special knowledge of adjusting such engines, and the general character and inspection cannot be acquired in a day. It. can only he acquired by experience covering years of practice. Such matters may seem a far cry from Vermont’s industrial needs, but it clearly illustrates the conditions of public opinion that must be changed. This change can be brought about by full publicity. This will enlighten not only those most vitally interested but also the public. It is very essential that these facts should be fully understood by the bankers, small investors, directors, workers in the plant and, last but not least, the inventor and those who must be most closely associated with him in the upbuilding of the industry. GROUP SKILL In addition to the delay that is due to the working up of the individual skill and individual ability for the various members of the organizations, we have the delay of building up what may be called group skill or effective coordination of all the elements of the whole organization. Very elaborate systems have been worked up for controlling the flow of the work and the division of the various activities between the men and departments, but the real effective coordination must grow out of experience of the workers. This natural evolution of the groups’ effectiveness as a single organization is one of greatest importance. The average theorist coming into an old plant will start in at once to rearrange the order of things irrespective of the group habit-action as well as the individual habit-action. With the growth of an industry as a whole there is the development of the individuals. Managers, various executives and inventors will make serious blunders; but that is expected in any organization, especially in a new one. The greatest harm may result from a board of directors insisting on some important change in the management, not realizing that the new management will probably make its own mistakes. One essential thing that cannot be emphasized too much is that interference with the growth of habit-action is disastrous. Changes should be only for progress of men and the improvement of product. Changes in the design of the product must be most sparingly made, with the full knowledge that it is an interference with the habit action of the workers. All people concerned, whether as executives in an industry, or as investors, must remember that in a growing industry, individual skill as well as group skill of the whole organization greatly improves with continued action—that each individual as well as the whole unit acquires high special ability and skill. Under the process of continued action the average man can make a fair showing and with a reasonable degree of moral support will make good, while without it the ablest man will have a hard time and even fail if he is forced to accept changes that disturb continuity of action WORKERS INTERESTS The workers’ side of this policy is very clear, for by this process the natural leaders come from the workers, and all move forward according to the individuals’ ability. It is useless to ignore the fact that many men are happiest in work in which they acquire great skill, and they are not comfortable if harassed by mental problems. Some of the greatest achievements have been wrought by such men, who have been highly honored in the past and will have more recognition as time goes on, for we are more and more coming to understand the fact that special ability in the form of skill, whether it is in the surgeon, the instrument maker or any other branches intended to benefit mankind, depends on such men. Such men are not talkers and do not force themselves into spectacular positions. To the outsider it would seem that there was no progress for the surgeon if he cannot become manager of the hospital, nor for the skilled worker if he cannot become manager of the industrial plant, but we know that such men are of greatest importance and as time goes on they will be accorded higher and higher recognition. The working out of this whole plan keeps an open door from position to position all the way through the organization, so that the ultimate management, in fact the owners of these organizations, is largely in the hands of the worker. Not by unlawful seizure by the workers but through early investment of savings in the young plant. Through sale of patent rights for stock, or any other mode of procedure that is beneficial alike to all investors. MANUFACTURERS OPPOSE NEW INDUSTRIES One of the forces that operates against increase in the number of industrial establishments is the fact that manufacturers, as a class, do not realize that for the benefit of their institutions it is best to have a live organization in which men progress from job to job; from position to position and even graduate to join other organizations or to start new industries. The average manufacturer fails to see this fundamental law regarding the growth of the manufacturing organization, and he seldom realizes the prime necessity of the fundamental law relating to specialization. He overlooks that stagnation in place of progress of the men in the plant is deadly to the organization. He feels that if he gets an extra-efficient man in a certain position that he must be kept there regardless of his own opportunity for advancement. He fails to realize that progress all the way through the organization should be encouraged—that while man is distinctly a creature of habit, his mind as well as his body must be considered, and that only by changes of a progressive nature he develops most favorably. Many manufacturers are very much opposed to the creation of other organizations by men from his own organization. The average manufacturer is grasping and desires to embrace all the opportunities, when, as a matter of fact, it would be a great deal better for his own institution if he would encourage the growth of other plants that can be created by his own men. Without something to force us into the scheme of specialization we will automatically drift the way of the vast majority others. In the industrial work we have, unfortunately, many examples of what happens to the organization that is allowed to drift away from the policy of concentration to a limited line of work. “DEAD” ORGANIZATION In all cities we can see “dead’’ organizations. Many of these companies that are actually “dead” seem to have life in them because they continue to move, but in many instances the motion only due to the momentum of a push that was given years ago. A “dead” organization may show signs of life in its gradual growth in size, but its real character is to be seen in the extent to which it is departing from specialization or by the continued use of antiquated methods and buildings. The departure from specialization is generally due to either lack of courage to discard obsolete designs or to an inclination to consider the business from the selling end only. It takes courage to discard an old model and it also takes courage to refuse to build some new invention. The indifferent management carries the old and takes on the new. This policy covering many years creates a condition that is far removed from the specialization plan. The management that views everything from the selling side of the business also is inclined to go on indefinitely increasing the line of goods manufactured. The drift away from specialization may not be disastrous today or tomorrow, especially if there are no competitors who are specialists, but the inevitable result will be the burial of the “dead” organization when a real competitor comes into the field. The calamity of the existence of “dead” industrial organizations is something more than the ultimate loss to the stockholders, it is the deplorable stagnation in which the workers find themselves with their progress blocked by an unwise management. WAYS AND MEANS These facts must be stated to wake up our own industries and also to point out that the inventions coming from men in these organizations should not be buried in a catalog of many other things. Each invention should be the basis of a specializing organization. The essential work before this General Assembly is to consider ways and means of inculcating the fullest knowledge of best plans of industrial life so that everyone affected by such activity can know how to estimate an industry’s prospect and how to conduct their own course in them. Impressing these fundamental facts regarding the best modes of progress for man and groups of men will produce a far reaching result. These cardinal principles must be understood by all of our people in the home and in the state. It is supremely necessary for the workers and executives in our industries to get the fullest possible conception of principles governing life and engineering, so that they can see what must be done to promote their own success and also to know what is deadly to their own interests and the interest of the state. CHAPTER IV AIR TRANSPORTATION Air transportation is coming into extensive use, notwithstanding the first and very natural personal aversion to flying. There was the same aversion to the steamship and railway and. although most of us have forgotten it, our first automobile ride was taken with some misgivings as to its safety. But, whether we as individuals ever swim in the air, or continue to remain at the bottom of this atmospheric sea, the fact remains that an important part of our passenger, mail, parcel post and express will be carried by aircraft. Vermont was handicapped at each stage in the development of new means of transportation. There are practically no navigable rivers to reach its interior and only limited connection with its outer markets by our lake. The beginning of railway development was hampered by our rugged surface and even now railway connection between certain parts of our state is lamentably poor, due to our mountain ranges. Our cost of road construction and our ever increasing cost of maintenance will more and more force us to use the airway which is all ready for use and cost nothing for maintenance. There is just one thing necessary to make flying practical and safe and that one thing is the establishment of a chain of landing fields. Each town and city should try to get a field even if it must go five or ten miles to find a suitable flat. The safe flying courses through the state will follow closely to the established fields. The future growth of towns will depend in a large measure on the alertness of making provisions for safe landings of aircraft. The landing fields are actually air ports. Since flying goes directly from port to port, each town will have practically a direct road to any other port in New England and New York. By the establishment of facilities of this kind, and with the cooperation of our neighboring states, our flying service will begin without further expense. There are already fields partially developed at Burlington, Barre, White River Junction, Bellows Falls, Rutland and Springfield, and there are many fields suitable for such purposes in the western side of the state. Poultney, Bennington, Enosburg Falls (near Sheldon Junction), Windsor and Brattleboro have sites that might be developed at low cost to these towns. Many other towns have fields that may be converted into fairly satisfactory fields by clearing away fences, trees and grading over ditches and hollows. The airplane will come and bring business. The establishment of hangars, gasoline, supplies, etc., may be left to the enterprise of the merchants. A one hundredth part of the money expended for highway work will provide a state activity for selecting the most desirable locations and establishing a few emergency fields in localities where the population is too sparce to warrant the expense by the local interests. I recommend the investigation of the needs of amending present statutes or enacting new statutes for facilitating the acquisition of landing sites by town or under proper state or town control of private initiative. The Governor having concluded the reading of his message, withdraw, and the Joint Assembly dissolved. HARRY A. BLACK, Secretary of State, Clerk