Early Dayton, Ohio Items, Including Photograph of NCR Employees & Depiction of the Court House 

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American History: Live Salesroom Auction

By Cowan's Auctions

Jul 21, 2014 - Jul 22, 2014

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• Lot Description
  Drawing of "Design for the Proposed New Court House, Dayton Ohio. Leon Beaver, Architect, Dayton, O." Matted, framed and glazed to 12 x 16 in. Plus a postcard with a very similar view, although photographed, not drawn, and shot from a bit higher altitude, "The Old and New Court House, Dayton, Ohio."
  
  Photo of NCR employees is 10 x 20 in. mounted on 14 x 23.75 in. board.  Comes with a 36-page pamphlet, obl. 8vo with embossed paper wraps with title The Human Side of a Large Manufacturing Plant. The booklet explains what NCR is doing regarding "Welfare Work." The first page of the booklet is a reproduction with color added of the large photo above, and states that there are 7600 workers at NCR. 
  
  Welfare work came in right about the turn of the 20th century and was pioneered by NCR in Dayton, Ohio, designed and promoted by John H. Patterson. The underlying idea was that a well-trained worker is the best investment a company could make. The plan has three "arms" - intellectual, physical, and social. By addressing these needs of its employees, many of whom were women, the company hoped to dramatically improve its work force.
  
  The company started with the grounds - buildings with a lot os space around them, vines and shrubs "...massed along the buildings to hide the foundations and to eliminated the abrupt angles...When looking out upon conditions like these and employee is silently urged to keep his work up to the standard of his surroundings." Several pages describe the entry ways, and bridges between buildings, which are also planted with flowers.
  
  The booklet shows a pile of returned cash registers that had shoddy workmanship. To remedy this, they started improving working conditions. They installed elevators, since they noticed how much time workers spent on stairs, and factory conditions were so poor that it was difficult to retain workers.
  
  So the company put in high-backed chairs with foot rests, and large windows provided light in clean work rooms; workers were given two breaks each day; a recreation room was set up where employees could socialize and rest at noon; release times were staggered so not everyone was crowding on the street cars at once.
  
  Page 7 states: "No employee is paid less than nine dollars a week. Factory welfare costs the Company six cents per day per employee. The returns are much greater. Welfare work pays."
  
  Clean drinking fountains and bottled water is available throughout the plant. Women and officers (and eventually everyone) was given a hot lunch, and men who handle food were shaved in the company barber shop each day. Facilities were available for exercise, men had 130 showers, women 14 bathtubs available, and were given time to bathe each week at work (once in winter, twice in summer). There was a playground in the shade of an old orchard, and various sports were part of the fun; evenings were spent in dancing at the company country club. There was also a 1100-acre playground with shelters,  trails and picnic areas.
  
  But the main focus was education. There was training for everyone - sales, advertising, repairmen, foremen, even schools for janitors and waiters. Women could take cooking and emergency aid and nursing classes. Field trips to venues such as the Cincinnati Art Museum were undertaken. The company even shut down and sent all of its employees to the St. Louis World's Expo (the Lewis & Clark centennial), paying the way for officers and women, and half of the costs for everyone else. Guest speakers were also a regular occurrence. The company also made it easy for workers to make suggestions, offering cash prizes for those that were adopted.
  
  Clean aprons and other protective clothing were issued to women (they figured it also cut down on style competition), as well as food workers, and janitors, etc. These were all washed in the company laundry.
  
  Clean air was pumped in everywhere and metal dust sucked out of the polishing area. Safety devices were installed on all types of machines. Two facing pages state: "Fear of Personal Injury is the Workingman's Greatest Dread." And "Safety Devices Increase Efficiency by Eliminating Danger." [Remember, Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, was published in 1906 - this was the era of exploitation of workers and no concern about safety.]
  
  The work areas and ground were kept clean, there was a small emergency hospital on site and first aid workers in each department. The company figured catching health issues early saved time and money. Umbrellas and overshoes were supplied during inclement weather, there were rooms with cots so women could rest during the day, a bootblack went around the offices polishing shoes as needed.
  
  There were clubs for men and women, and the N.C.R. Relief Association was "a voluntary organization which pays sick, accident and death benefits. Members have free services of a doctor."
  
  NCR also addressed the surrounding neighborhood, which was a typical urban industrial setting. The boys had nothing to do, and often broke windows or tore up NCR grounds. So the company set up gardens. They provided seeds and education (as usual) in gardening, and the boys could consume or sell as they chose anything they grew. In one year, the neighborhood boys earned $1600. Then the company offered classes to the neighborhood in landscape gardening, and soon the area looked green and clean.
  
  By addressing needs of its employees, NCR hoped to improve the lives of not only its people, but the surrounding neighborhood as well. 

  Condition

  Waterstain along right side of photo mount (image is untouched). Some scuffing of board.
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