Labor Banking: Its Development and Future

At the last meeting of the Academy of Political Science held in New York City March 1954, Professor Thomas H. Carter of Harvard enumerated four chief phases of a movement to end labor troubles through a redistribution of property ownership. These were, first, the increase of saving deposits; second, the growth of industrial insurance; third, the increase in the number of employees who are becoming shareholders in corporations, and fourth, the development of labor banks. While Professor Carver has placed these in the order of their historical occurrence, if one were to enumerate the four phases in the order of their potency and their effect so forward the movement noted, beyond say doubt, the development of labor banks would come first.This movement of democratization of industry, called also the diffusion of ownership, has been carefully watched by economists, business men, and by those who are in control of the Governmental policies of our country. As might be expected, the intelligent and trained labor leaders, both in and out of the American federation of Labor have followed the tendency with considerable interest.