186 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES 
of union members in better standards of work and higher 
incomes. It has also been the policy of the Amalgamated 
to develop among its officers a large number skilled in the 
technical and business problems of the clothing industry, 
who apply this knowledge to specific problems in plants in 
their territories. In a number of cases, due to their sug- 
gestions and activities, methods have been revised and 
processes changed, with the result that costs of production 
were reduced and wages increased. On three occasions, 
firms which were threatened with forced liquidation have 
been given financial and other assistance by the union. At 
least two of these companies would have been compelled to 
discontinue business had it not been for the assistance of 
the Amalgamated. Together they now give employment to 
4,000 workers. In general, it may be said that it has been 
the steady and successful policy of this enlightened labor 
organization to cooperate with management to realize in- 
creased productivity of and higher rates of pay for its 
members, and this policy has been practically applied as 
far as possible in various working agreements and arrange- 
ments. 
TaE “B. & O. PLAN” 
In a more specific way, one of the noteworthy achieve- 
ments by organized labor is to be found in the definite 
agreement for union-management cooperation adopted by 
the Federated Shop Crafts and the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad in 1922, popularly known as “The B. & O. Plan.” 
It is based on an agreement that employees shall participate 
in the gains arising from their cooperation with manage- 
ment. Since it was developed on the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad, the same plan has also been put into effect on 
three other railway systems—the Chesapeake and Ohio, 
the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Canadian National