There were some four thousand men in the plant, I believe, at the time we were there, but excepting when a shift changed, and a great army passed out through the gates, we never saw a crowd; indeed I hardly think we saw a group of any size.  Here and there two or three men would be doing something—­something which, probably, we did not understand; in the window of a locomotive cab, or that of a traveling crane, we would see a man; we kept passing men as we went along; and sometimes as we looked from a high perch over the interior of one of the great sheds, we would be vaguely conscious of men scattered about the place.  But they were very small and gray and inconspicuous dots upon the surface of great things going on—­going on, seemingly by themselves, with a sort of mad, mechanical, majestic, molten sweep.

* * * * *

At this time, when the great efficient organization started by Bismarck is being devoted entirely to destruction, it is interesting to recall that the idea of industrial welfare work originated in Germany during the period of Bismarckian reorganization.  So, paradoxically, the very forces which, on one hand, were building towards the new records for the extinction of life established in the present war, were, upon the other hand, developing plans for the safeguarding of life and for making it worth living—­plans which have enormously affected the industrial existence of the civilized world.

The broad theory of industrial welfare work was brought to this country by engineers, chemists, and workmen who had resided in Germany; but, where this work developed over there along cooeperative lines, it has remained for Great Britain and the United States to work it out in a more individualistic way.

In this country welfare work has come as a logical part of the general industrial development.  The first step in this development was the assembling of small, weak industrial units into large, powerful, effective units—­that is to say, the formation of great corporations and trusts.  The second step was the cooerdination of these great industrial alliances for “efficiency.”  The third step was the achievement of material success.

When our great corporations were in their formative period, effort was concentrated on making them successful, but with success came thoughts of other things.  It began to be seen, for example, that whereas the old small employer of labor came into personal contact with his handful of workmen, and could himself supervise their welfare, some plan must now be devised for doing this work in a large, corporate way.

Thus welfare work developed in the United States, and it is interesting to observe, now, that many of our great corporations are finding time and funds to expend upon purely aesthetic improvements, and that, in the construction of the most modern American industrial plants, architects, landscape gardeners, and engineering men work in cooeperation, so that, instead of being lopsided, the developments are harmonious and oftentimes beautiful.