1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:23,610 Speaker 1: Pushkin. One late afternoon in June nineteen twenty eight, the 2 00:00:23,730 --> 00:00:27,650 Speaker 1: sixty two year old man from Kansas, Paul Starrett, was 3 00:00:27,770 --> 00:00:32,650 Speaker 1: leaving an elegant private office high up in Manhattan's built 4 00:00:32,770 --> 00:00:37,490 Speaker 1: Moore Hotel. He ran a construction company with his brothers 5 00:00:37,850 --> 00:00:42,010 Speaker 1: and had just pitched for their largest contract yet. It 6 00:00:42,090 --> 00:00:44,290 Speaker 1: was a building on a site just a few blocks 7 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:50,370 Speaker 1: away that would make or break their company's fortunes. Starrett 8 00:00:50,450 --> 00:00:54,290 Speaker 1: was a handsome man, always dressed in the latest trim suits, 9 00:00:54,730 --> 00:00:58,690 Speaker 1: but he didn't smile much. He had suffered from periods 10 00:00:58,730 --> 00:01:04,570 Speaker 1: of depression for years, and on this day was especially acute. 11 00:01:04,770 --> 00:01:07,690 Speaker 1: That wasn't because he had lost out on the contract. 12 00:01:08,530 --> 00:01:12,130 Speaker 1: It was because he had a sinking feeling he was 13 00:01:12,170 --> 00:01:17,010 Speaker 1: going to win it. Starrett was embarrassed by his depression, 14 00:01:17,530 --> 00:01:22,010 Speaker 1: this sadness that came over him in overwhelming waves. What 15 00:01:22,130 --> 00:01:25,890 Speaker 1: he loved was, as he put it, the practical machinery 16 00:01:26,130 --> 00:01:32,250 Speaker 1: of architecture, turning drawings and plans into reality. As a 17 00:01:32,250 --> 00:01:36,010 Speaker 1: young man in Chicago, he'd use his lunch breaks to 18 00:01:36,090 --> 00:01:40,490 Speaker 1: watch the world's first skyscrapers going up. In the years 19 00:01:40,490 --> 00:01:43,570 Speaker 1: since then, he and his brothers had created their own 20 00:01:43,610 --> 00:01:50,090 Speaker 1: company building ever larger hotels and office buildings. This, however, 21 00:01:50,490 --> 00:01:55,890 Speaker 1: would surpass them all. If everything went according to plan, 22 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:59,570 Speaker 1: it would be the tallest building on the fast changing 23 00:01:59,690 --> 00:02:03,610 Speaker 1: Manhattan skyline, and that meant it would be the tallest 24 00:02:03,610 --> 00:02:09,250 Speaker 1: building in the world, with all the associated money and prestige. 25 00:02:09,850 --> 00:02:15,130 Speaker 1: But would everything go according to plan, That could hardly 26 00:02:15,170 --> 00:02:19,530 Speaker 1: be guaranteed. Starrett's new project would have a bigger workforce 27 00:02:19,610 --> 00:02:23,250 Speaker 1: than any he and his brothers had ever run. He 28 00:02:23,290 --> 00:02:26,850 Speaker 1: couldn't know them all, and if the workers were obstreperous 29 00:02:27,330 --> 00:02:32,010 Speaker 1: or the four men weren't committed, he'd be sunk. It 30 00:02:32,130 --> 00:02:36,450 Speaker 1: wasn't just the complexities of the workforce that were bothering him. 31 00:02:36,610 --> 00:02:42,250 Speaker 1: There was something else too. Enormous steel framed buildings generally 32 00:02:42,290 --> 00:02:46,170 Speaker 1: took three or four years to complete, and they always 33 00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:51,130 Speaker 1: had to be able to handle last minute changes. The 34 00:02:51,130 --> 00:02:59,090 Speaker 1: deadline on this one just thirteen months. I'm Tim Harford, 35 00:02:59,570 --> 00:03:29,690 Speaker 1: and you're listening to cautionary tales. Paul Starrett was worried 36 00:03:29,730 --> 00:03:32,970 Speaker 1: by the same thing that would worry any construction manager. 37 00:03:33,010 --> 00:03:37,850 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties, across the United States, labor relations 38 00:03:38,370 --> 00:03:42,250 Speaker 1: were rough. There had been tens of thousands of strikes 39 00:03:42,290 --> 00:03:45,290 Speaker 1: in the decades when he was establishing his business in 40 00:03:45,410 --> 00:03:53,170 Speaker 1: oil construction, steel coal. Some ended peacefully, but many did not. 41 00:03:53,970 --> 00:03:58,490 Speaker 1: Owners hired strike breakers and often armed thugs. There were 42 00:03:58,530 --> 00:04:03,690 Speaker 1: shootings and arbitrary mass arrests in coal mines in Virginia, 43 00:04:03,770 --> 00:04:08,250 Speaker 1: in Rockefeller's oil fields in Pennsylvania and further west. Troops 44 00:04:08,450 --> 00:04:12,170 Speaker 1: and those are armed thugs would use their superior weaponry 45 00:04:12,370 --> 00:04:17,730 Speaker 1: to fire into crowds tame. Governors and judges would support them. 46 00:04:17,930 --> 00:04:23,890 Speaker 1: Workers where possible, fought back. The underlying issue was one 47 00:04:23,930 --> 00:04:28,410 Speaker 1: of fairness. Who got to determine what fairness is and how, 48 00:04:28,570 --> 00:04:32,930 Speaker 1: if at all, it could be used to help organizations operate. 49 00:04:34,370 --> 00:04:37,730 Speaker 1: This episode is the second in our four part series 50 00:04:37,770 --> 00:04:41,170 Speaker 1: on that topic, following my friend David Badana's his excellent 51 00:04:41,210 --> 00:04:45,690 Speaker 1: book The Art of Fairness, The Power of Decency in 52 00:04:45,730 --> 00:04:51,970 Speaker 1: a World Turned Mean. The most important labour struggle Paul 53 00:04:52,050 --> 00:04:56,290 Speaker 1: Starrett had experienced, the one that seemed to loom largest 54 00:04:56,330 --> 00:04:59,330 Speaker 1: in memory, had come when he was a young man, 55 00:04:59,850 --> 00:05:04,130 Speaker 1: still just in his twenties. This was the famous Pullman 56 00:05:04,290 --> 00:05:10,090 Speaker 1: Strike of eighteen ninety four. Up until that year, George S. 57 00:05:10,130 --> 00:05:14,730 Speaker 1: Pullman was revered in high circles across America for building 58 00:05:14,770 --> 00:05:20,370 Speaker 1: one of the nation's largest corporations. The Pullman Company dominated 59 00:05:20,410 --> 00:05:24,330 Speaker 1: the market for luxury train compartments in America and was 60 00:05:24,370 --> 00:05:28,810 Speaker 1: as powerful as Apple or Google today. It made Pullman 61 00:05:29,050 --> 00:05:32,890 Speaker 1: one of the wealthiest men in the United States, mansions 62 00:05:32,930 --> 00:05:37,090 Speaker 1: in Chicago and elsewhere, a regular guest at the White House. 63 00:05:38,090 --> 00:05:42,690 Speaker 1: He'd also created an entire city for his employees on 64 00:05:43,170 --> 00:05:46,970 Speaker 1: four thousand acres of land a few miles south of Chicago. 65 00:05:47,650 --> 00:05:52,090 Speaker 1: His publicists said he'd done this out of benevolence, but 66 00:05:52,250 --> 00:05:56,610 Speaker 1: he instructed his accountants to squeeze money from the residents. 67 00:05:57,210 --> 00:06:01,770 Speaker 1: They couldn't buy their homes, only rent, and Pullman was 68 00:06:01,850 --> 00:06:06,610 Speaker 1: the only landlord in town. Food could only be bought 69 00:06:06,650 --> 00:06:10,610 Speaker 1: from the company stores, water and gas from the company 70 00:06:10,730 --> 00:06:15,170 Speaker 1: pipes at a hefty markup. It was a complete monopoly, 71 00:06:15,450 --> 00:06:19,330 Speaker 1: which he abused for financial gain as much as possible. 72 00:06:20,450 --> 00:06:24,850 Speaker 1: The city had street after street of small apartments designed 73 00:06:24,970 --> 00:06:28,930 Speaker 1: for social control. Children had to go to the company schools, 74 00:06:29,370 --> 00:06:32,250 Speaker 1: and when Pullman didn't like the theology of the main 75 00:06:32,410 --> 00:06:37,970 Speaker 1: local church, he closed it down. No newspapers were allowed, 76 00:06:38,330 --> 00:06:43,770 Speaker 1: or public speeches or town meetings of any sort. Company 77 00:06:43,850 --> 00:06:47,850 Speaker 1: representatives could enter any of these homes Pullman rented at 78 00:06:47,890 --> 00:06:53,970 Speaker 1: any time to inspect whatever they saw fit with due modesty. 79 00:06:54,610 --> 00:07:02,010 Speaker 1: He named this utopia Pullman, Illinois. His own family would 80 00:07:02,010 --> 00:07:05,490 Speaker 1: never spend time in such a place. His twin boys, 81 00:07:05,810 --> 00:07:10,210 Speaker 1: age nineteen, showed no signs of any greater social consideration 82 00:07:10,490 --> 00:07:14,210 Speaker 1: than their father. They were known for mockingly riding around 83 00:07:14,290 --> 00:07:19,010 Speaker 1: Chicago in cabs filled with champagne bottles. At one point, 84 00:07:19,370 --> 00:07:22,770 Speaker 1: one of them nearly killed a newsborer hurtling along fast 85 00:07:22,810 --> 00:07:26,690 Speaker 1: when drunk. Paul Starrett was in his twenties then and 86 00:07:26,770 --> 00:07:30,690 Speaker 1: living in Chicago, just a few miles up from Pullman, Illinois. 87 00:07:31,410 --> 00:07:38,010 Speaker 1: He knew about Pullman's twin sons. Everyone did. One person 88 00:07:38,050 --> 00:07:41,490 Speaker 1: who did live in Pullman City was a young seamstress 89 00:07:41,650 --> 00:07:46,450 Speaker 1: named Jenny Curtis. Curtis had a friendly look and round face, 90 00:07:47,050 --> 00:07:50,490 Speaker 1: shortish hair, which she tied back in a bun. With 91 00:07:50,570 --> 00:07:55,330 Speaker 1: her low income, she could only afford simple, dark cotton blouses, 92 00:07:55,650 --> 00:07:59,130 Speaker 1: but she liked ones with neat pin tuck folds running 93 00:07:59,170 --> 00:08:03,290 Speaker 1: down the front. Jenny Curtis would play an important part 94 00:08:03,370 --> 00:08:07,290 Speaker 1: in the strike that Starret would still ponder decades later, 95 00:08:07,730 --> 00:08:11,530 Speaker 1: as he tried to reshape the Manhattan Skyline. She was 96 00:08:11,570 --> 00:08:16,170 Speaker 1: the same age as Pullman's boys, just nineteen, but she 97 00:08:16,290 --> 00:08:20,130 Speaker 1: had been working full time since fourteen, trying to pay 98 00:08:20,130 --> 00:08:23,850 Speaker 1: off debts her father had incurred in his years working 99 00:08:23,890 --> 00:08:28,010 Speaker 1: for Pullman when forced to buy everything at extortionate rates 100 00:08:28,050 --> 00:08:34,170 Speaker 1: in Pullman's stores. In eighteen ninety three, an economic panic 101 00:08:34,410 --> 00:08:37,690 Speaker 1: began to spread across the country. There were runs on 102 00:08:37,730 --> 00:08:43,130 Speaker 1: the banks and industrial orders slowed. Since the railways were 103 00:08:43,170 --> 00:08:46,770 Speaker 1: losing traffic, they began to cut down their orders, and 104 00:08:46,810 --> 00:08:52,290 Speaker 1: now Pullman's own sales began to suffer. George Pullman realized 105 00:08:52,730 --> 00:08:57,370 Speaker 1: he had to make some savings instead of cutting profits. However, 106 00:08:57,650 --> 00:09:02,330 Speaker 1: he announced he was cutting wages by a third, and 107 00:09:02,370 --> 00:09:05,490 Speaker 1: he was also going to keep rents and food prices 108 00:09:05,570 --> 00:09:09,690 Speaker 1: the same. This meant his income stayed as high as ever, 109 00:09:10,130 --> 00:09:13,170 Speaker 1: and it was his workers who took the hit. He 110 00:09:13,210 --> 00:09:17,890 Speaker 1: didn't need their good will because he controlled everything they did. 111 00:09:18,730 --> 00:09:23,090 Speaker 1: For those workers. This finally was a step too far. 112 00:09:23,770 --> 00:09:27,330 Speaker 1: Her delegation got up the nerve to meet mister Pullman himself. 113 00:09:28,090 --> 00:09:31,410 Speaker 1: Jenny Curtis was with them. She was getting a reputation 114 00:09:31,450 --> 00:09:35,370 Speaker 1: as a great activist holding impromptu secret meetings among the 115 00:09:35,370 --> 00:09:39,090 Speaker 1: girls in the stitching workshops. No need for secrecy now, 116 00:09:39,530 --> 00:09:43,090 Speaker 1: Pullman said he was open to listening, that anyone who 117 00:09:43,170 --> 00:09:49,090 Speaker 1: spoke up would be safe. Curtis used that opportunity. Later, 118 00:09:49,210 --> 00:09:52,570 Speaker 1: she recalled what she'd told mister Pullman. We worked as 119 00:09:52,610 --> 00:09:55,410 Speaker 1: hard as we possibly could, but the most experienced of 120 00:09:55,490 --> 00:09:59,170 Speaker 1: us could only make eighty cents a day. Many a time, 121 00:09:59,210 --> 00:10:02,450 Speaker 1: I've drawn nine or ten dollars for two weeks work, 122 00:10:02,930 --> 00:10:06,170 Speaker 1: paid seven dollars for board, and given the company the 123 00:10:06,210 --> 00:10:09,810 Speaker 1: remaining two or three on the rent. Wherever I didn't, 124 00:10:09,930 --> 00:10:13,290 Speaker 1: I was insulted and almost put out by the clerk. That, 125 00:10:13,690 --> 00:10:17,690 Speaker 1: she explained is what was so unjust. He was giving 126 00:10:17,730 --> 00:10:23,650 Speaker 1: them less, but still paying full dividends to shareholders. Pullman 127 00:10:24,050 --> 00:10:30,690 Speaker 1: listened quietly and again promised the group they'd be safe. Then, 128 00:10:31,290 --> 00:10:34,610 Speaker 1: immediately after they had left, he had a quiet word 129 00:10:34,690 --> 00:10:39,130 Speaker 1: with his foreman. The three most senior workers, along with 130 00:10:39,170 --> 00:10:43,770 Speaker 1: miss Curtis, were to be fired the next day. With 131 00:10:43,810 --> 00:10:46,530 Speaker 1: that done, he got on the train to New York, 132 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:54,730 Speaker 1: confidence that everything would return to normal soon, but nothing 133 00:10:54,810 --> 00:10:58,530 Speaker 1: went as he assumed. Instead of giving in the rest 134 00:10:58,530 --> 00:11:03,250 Speaker 1: of his factory hands went on strike. Jenny Curtis, still 135 00:11:03,410 --> 00:11:08,930 Speaker 1: just nineteen, became their leader. Pullman still wasn't too worried. 136 00:11:09,370 --> 00:11:12,810 Speaker 1: He was rich and his workers were poor. He could 137 00:11:12,810 --> 00:11:18,130 Speaker 1: simply wait and starve them out. Curtis and the others 138 00:11:18,690 --> 00:11:21,450 Speaker 1: knew they had to get the strike to spread, for 139 00:11:21,570 --> 00:11:25,010 Speaker 1: other workers across the country to back them. She told 140 00:11:25,010 --> 00:11:29,050 Speaker 1: the story to journalists and visiting politicians, and then a 141 00:11:29,090 --> 00:11:34,490 Speaker 1: few weeks later had her biggest opportunity. The American Railway 142 00:11:34,570 --> 00:11:38,970 Speaker 1: Union was having its convention and she was invited to speak. 143 00:11:40,090 --> 00:11:43,730 Speaker 1: Get them on her side and the pullman workers would 144 00:11:43,730 --> 00:11:47,570 Speaker 1: have a chance. But how to pull this off? She 145 00:11:47,690 --> 00:11:52,090 Speaker 1: was a teenager, She'd had little schooling, she was physically slight, 146 00:11:52,410 --> 00:11:56,970 Speaker 1: and her voice wasn't loud at all. Soon, though, it 147 00:11:57,090 --> 00:12:00,050 Speaker 1: was time to get up on the wooden platform. A 148 00:12:00,170 --> 00:12:04,690 Speaker 1: crowd of hundreds was before her, almost all men, almost 149 00:12:04,810 --> 00:12:08,410 Speaker 1: all older. She knew they didn't know much about her 150 00:12:09,170 --> 00:12:14,730 Speaker 1: and just saw an unexpected, diminutive figure on their stage. 151 00:12:14,890 --> 00:12:19,370 Speaker 1: This would be daunting even for an experienced speaker. Yet 152 00:12:20,050 --> 00:12:24,450 Speaker 1: everything depended on this moment, on getting the nationwide Railway 153 00:12:24,530 --> 00:12:28,650 Speaker 1: Union on her side. There was only one thing to do. 154 00:12:32,450 --> 00:12:40,330 Speaker 1: Cautionary tales will return alone on stage in front of 155 00:12:40,530 --> 00:12:45,170 Speaker 1: hundreds of men, Young Jenny Curtis had a powerful weapon, 156 00:12:46,330 --> 00:12:51,210 Speaker 1: the truth. She started by describing how Pullman ran the factories. 157 00:12:51,250 --> 00:12:55,450 Speaker 1: She'd worked him since she was fourteen. Cotton thread handles 158 00:12:55,530 --> 00:13:00,090 Speaker 1: best when moist, so windows in their workrooms were nailed 159 00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:04,130 Speaker 1: shut to raise the humidity. In the one hundred degree 160 00:13:04,210 --> 00:13:08,290 Speaker 1: fahrenheit's Chicago summers, it was awful when there were a 161 00:13:08,330 --> 00:13:14,250 Speaker 1: lot of orders. Pullman pumped in extra scheme. Girl workers 162 00:13:14,410 --> 00:13:18,650 Speaker 1: had been receiving seventeen cents an hour in the sewing units, 163 00:13:19,010 --> 00:13:22,890 Speaker 1: now it was down to eleven cents. There was a 164 00:13:22,930 --> 00:13:27,290 Speaker 1: constant danger from the massive industrial sewing machines used for 165 00:13:27,330 --> 00:13:32,210 Speaker 1: the heavy carpets and drapes, and the Pullman cars. Supervisors 166 00:13:32,250 --> 00:13:35,650 Speaker 1: had complete control over how they spoke to the young girls, 167 00:13:35,930 --> 00:13:39,650 Speaker 1: or threatened them or punished them. The working day was 168 00:13:39,730 --> 00:13:49,970 Speaker 1: eleven hours. She ended, Pullman owns the houses, the schoolhouse, 169 00:13:50,890 --> 00:13:54,130 Speaker 1: and the churches of God in the town. He gave 170 00:13:54,210 --> 00:13:59,290 Speaker 1: his wance humble name. This Mary war goes on and 171 00:13:59,410 --> 00:14:05,250 Speaker 1: it will go on forever unless you stop it, end it, 172 00:14:06,290 --> 00:14:11,570 Speaker 1: crush it. The convention delegates voted to back Jenny Curtis's 173 00:14:11,610 --> 00:14:17,250 Speaker 1: Pullman workers almost immediately after her speech. All rail traffic 174 00:14:17,370 --> 00:14:21,370 Speaker 1: out of Chicago stopped a few days more, and over 175 00:14:21,490 --> 00:14:26,330 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand rail workers nationwide had stopped work as well. 176 00:14:27,050 --> 00:14:33,650 Speaker 1: It was the largest strike America had seen in this era, 177 00:14:33,770 --> 00:14:37,970 Speaker 1: before lorries and airplanes. It almost closed the country down. 178 00:14:40,490 --> 00:14:44,090 Speaker 1: Paul Starrett had a junior role in an architect's office then, 179 00:14:45,010 --> 00:14:49,170 Speaker 1: watching the catastrophic impact of harsh labor practices on the 180 00:14:49,210 --> 00:14:53,970 Speaker 1: world around him. Years later, as he pondered his skyscraper, 181 00:14:54,730 --> 00:15:00,850 Speaker 1: he wouldn't forget George Pullman was watching two monitoring everything 182 00:15:00,930 --> 00:15:05,490 Speaker 1: from his New York office. He didn't have popular opinion 183 00:15:05,530 --> 00:15:09,130 Speaker 1: on his side, nor the local government, but he he 184 00:15:09,210 --> 00:15:15,530 Speaker 1: had friends in high places, specifically the Supreme Court and 185 00:15:15,610 --> 00:15:21,090 Speaker 1: the Justice Department. Under Pullman's guidance, the Attorney General delivered 186 00:15:21,130 --> 00:15:27,490 Speaker 1: injunctions that declared the strikes illegal. Seven thousand troops were 187 00:15:27,530 --> 00:15:31,770 Speaker 1: sent to Chicago, along with three thousand private enforces from 188 00:15:31,770 --> 00:15:36,770 Speaker 1: the rail companies. Several dozen workers were shot dead there 189 00:15:36,810 --> 00:15:41,370 Speaker 1: and at the other supporting strikes. No one could resist that, 190 00:15:42,130 --> 00:15:46,170 Speaker 1: and the strike quickly ended. Everyone had to go back 191 00:15:46,210 --> 00:15:49,010 Speaker 1: to work with the conditions he had decided on before 192 00:15:49,610 --> 00:15:53,130 Speaker 1: their salaries would stay low, on their rents would be 193 00:15:53,210 --> 00:16:03,610 Speaker 1: kept high. George Pullman had won, but the city of Pullman, Illinois, 194 00:16:03,650 --> 00:16:08,850 Speaker 1: full of sullen, aggrieved workers, was never quite the same 195 00:16:10,170 --> 00:16:13,370 Speaker 1: All that had happened when Paul Starrett was a young 196 00:16:13,410 --> 00:16:17,490 Speaker 1: man in Chicago. His father had been a farmer and carpenter. 197 00:16:17,810 --> 00:16:20,330 Speaker 1: When young Paul had worked on a ranch and as 198 00:16:20,370 --> 00:16:23,970 Speaker 1: a stock boy in a hardware store. His empathy was 199 00:16:24,010 --> 00:16:28,570 Speaker 1: with Jenny Curtis, not Pullman. He founded a construction company 200 00:16:28,570 --> 00:16:32,130 Speaker 1: with his brothers, always keeping in mind the lesson of 201 00:16:32,170 --> 00:16:38,810 Speaker 1: the strikes. Human beings shouldn't be treated as slaves. Others 202 00:16:39,050 --> 00:16:43,050 Speaker 1: had drawn a different conclusion. Business leaders in steel and 203 00:16:43,170 --> 00:16:46,410 Speaker 1: coal and other fields, even now in nineteen twenty eight, 204 00:16:46,970 --> 00:16:50,370 Speaker 1: had concluded from that huge strike that they had to 205 00:16:50,410 --> 00:16:55,410 Speaker 1: be even harder than Pullman, stifling unions, keeping workers too 206 00:16:55,570 --> 00:17:00,050 Speaker 1: humiliated or poorly paid to rise up. And with the 207 00:17:00,090 --> 00:17:04,290 Speaker 1: task at hand building a big skyscraper, how else could 208 00:17:04,290 --> 00:17:07,610 Speaker 1: the Starret brothers meet their tight deadline. There were big 209 00:17:07,650 --> 00:17:11,410 Speaker 1: loans to be paid off, penalty clauses for failure. It 210 00:17:11,530 --> 00:17:14,410 Speaker 1: was a lot of pressure. Starrett wrote that he felt 211 00:17:15,130 --> 00:17:20,210 Speaker 1: lost and unhappy, detached from the activities that satisfy me, 212 00:17:22,090 --> 00:17:24,730 Speaker 1: and yet none of the Starrett brothers wanted to go 213 00:17:24,810 --> 00:17:28,770 Speaker 1: about the challenge the pullman way. Paul took the lead. 214 00:17:29,370 --> 00:17:32,210 Speaker 1: He was gruff and short tempered on the outside, but 215 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:35,490 Speaker 1: there was more to him than that. Paul Starrett and 216 00:17:35,570 --> 00:17:38,490 Speaker 1: his brothers spent a lot of time working out how 217 00:17:38,530 --> 00:17:41,210 Speaker 1: to go forward, and what they finally resolved to do 218 00:17:41,650 --> 00:17:46,650 Speaker 1: was what's called providing efficiency wages. The idea is that 219 00:17:46,690 --> 00:17:49,850 Speaker 1: if you pay more and treat your workers better, then 220 00:17:49,970 --> 00:17:53,530 Speaker 1: you'll get better, more motivated staff. And if they were 221 00:17:53,530 --> 00:17:57,050 Speaker 1: going to get everything done in thirteen months, their need 222 00:17:57,450 --> 00:18:02,490 Speaker 1: motivated staff. Other construction sites in New York tended to 223 00:18:02,530 --> 00:18:06,450 Speaker 1: treat their workers awfully. Lots of high rise buildings were 224 00:18:06,490 --> 00:18:09,930 Speaker 1: being constructed and workers were one hundred feet up from 225 00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:13,370 Speaker 1: the ground for hours on end. Yet there were almost 226 00:18:13,410 --> 00:18:19,010 Speaker 1: no safety laws, and sudden gusting winds were fatal. Workers 227 00:18:19,010 --> 00:18:22,770 Speaker 1: were blown off or skidded on slippery wet beams in 228 00:18:22,810 --> 00:18:27,290 Speaker 1: the rain. There were dozens hundreds of deaths, yet if 229 00:18:27,370 --> 00:18:32,770 Speaker 1: workers refused to go up, they were fired. Wages throughout 230 00:18:33,250 --> 00:18:36,930 Speaker 1: were low, and if anyone wanted a hot meal, they'd 231 00:18:36,930 --> 00:18:39,770 Speaker 1: have to climb all the way down, find a diner, 232 00:18:40,370 --> 00:18:45,450 Speaker 1: then climb all the way up again. Starrett was going 233 00:18:45,490 --> 00:18:48,730 Speaker 1: to be different. He knew his wealth now gave him 234 00:18:48,850 --> 00:18:52,770 Speaker 1: power over others, but he also knew it wasn't fair 235 00:18:52,810 --> 00:18:55,970 Speaker 1: to treat them badly. His doctors had never been able 236 00:18:56,010 --> 00:18:59,850 Speaker 1: to cure his depression, but his decency was one thing 237 00:18:59,930 --> 00:19:02,890 Speaker 1: he could hold onto. So long as a project like 238 00:19:02,970 --> 00:19:06,210 Speaker 1: this one was underway, it would help keep his inner 239 00:19:06,330 --> 00:19:11,050 Speaker 1: darkness from getting worse. He and his brothers set out 240 00:19:11,090 --> 00:19:14,290 Speaker 1: their new approach. From the beginning. There'd be at least 241 00:19:14,370 --> 00:19:18,090 Speaker 1: one restaurant inside the structure as it was getting started, 242 00:19:18,370 --> 00:19:22,290 Speaker 1: with schnitzels and tangy sauerkraut and fresh French fries and 243 00:19:22,330 --> 00:19:26,570 Speaker 1: other good things. There were also smaller subsidized food stands 244 00:19:26,690 --> 00:19:31,130 Speaker 1: every few floors higher up sandwiches and hot coffee, and 245 00:19:31,410 --> 00:19:35,130 Speaker 1: this being the prohibition era, a pretty gruesome liquid called 246 00:19:35,450 --> 00:19:39,410 Speaker 1: near beer. For gaps in the floor where lifts or 247 00:19:39,410 --> 00:19:43,770 Speaker 1: hoists were being built. Starret had dedicated safety teams to 248 00:19:43,850 --> 00:19:48,050 Speaker 1: keep barriers up to date, and most importantly, no one 249 00:19:48,490 --> 00:19:51,410 Speaker 1: ever would have to go out when the wind was 250 00:19:51,450 --> 00:19:55,810 Speaker 1: too high. Instead, they'd get the day off on full 251 00:19:56,130 --> 00:20:00,210 Speaker 1: pay and full pay was twice what it was at 252 00:20:00,210 --> 00:20:05,690 Speaker 1: other sites. Everyone would see that the Starrets kept their word, 253 00:20:08,050 --> 00:20:13,410 Speaker 1: But there was one big problem. Efficiency wages sound so sensible, 254 00:20:13,530 --> 00:20:17,410 Speaker 1: so kind. Progressive business schools talk about them all the time, 255 00:20:18,130 --> 00:20:22,570 Speaker 1: but it's worth remembering what the physicist Enrico Fermi said 256 00:20:22,730 --> 00:20:25,330 Speaker 1: when he was told there were likely to be hundreds 257 00:20:25,410 --> 00:20:31,690 Speaker 1: of complex civilizations existing across our galaxy. Well where is everybody? 258 00:20:32,290 --> 00:20:37,370 Speaker 1: He asked? The same question applies to efficiency wages. If 259 00:20:37,410 --> 00:20:40,930 Speaker 1: there were such a good idea in theory, why didn't 260 00:20:41,050 --> 00:20:46,050 Speaker 1: everyone pay efficiency wages to their staff? After all, Pullman 261 00:20:46,450 --> 00:20:49,290 Speaker 1: did the opposite, and he was one of the richest 262 00:20:49,290 --> 00:20:55,530 Speaker 1: men in America. Sheer force can work, at least for 263 00:20:55,650 --> 00:21:01,770 Speaker 1: a while. If efficiency wages and kindness to all were 264 00:21:01,770 --> 00:21:05,970 Speaker 1: the only things Starret knew, it wouldn't have worked. He 265 00:21:06,050 --> 00:21:10,130 Speaker 1: had enough experience to recognize that along with the carrot 266 00:21:10,210 --> 00:21:19,570 Speaker 1: the efficiency wages, Starret also needed a stick. Enter John Bowser, 267 00:21:20,330 --> 00:21:25,490 Speaker 1: a world weary engineer originally from Canada. Bowser had left 268 00:21:25,530 --> 00:21:29,210 Speaker 1: home when he was young, traveled and worked around the world. 269 00:21:29,690 --> 00:21:33,130 Speaker 1: Had been on construction sites in Japan and across the 270 00:21:33,250 --> 00:21:39,050 Speaker 1: United States. He knew every scam imaginable, and while he 271 00:21:39,170 --> 00:21:43,130 Speaker 1: could be patient and tactful, he also had, as one 272 00:21:43,330 --> 00:21:50,490 Speaker 1: historian delicately put it, a forceful personality. That's the mix 273 00:21:50,570 --> 00:21:54,610 Speaker 1: you need to make generosity work on a complex new project. 274 00:21:55,410 --> 00:21:58,250 Speaker 1: It's always tempting for a foreman to say they have 275 00:21:58,530 --> 00:22:02,130 Speaker 1: one hundred people working away, while in fact they've only 276 00:22:02,170 --> 00:22:05,970 Speaker 1: brought in ninety. They get to pocket the extra salary. 277 00:22:06,450 --> 00:22:10,090 Speaker 1: To thwart such scams, Bowser high they had staff to 278 00:22:10,130 --> 00:22:13,450 Speaker 1: physically visit each man on the site twice in the 279 00:22:13,490 --> 00:22:17,210 Speaker 1: morning and twice in the afternoon. And since many of 280 00:22:17,210 --> 00:22:20,410 Speaker 1: the workers were on beams dangling high above the ground, 281 00:22:21,170 --> 00:22:24,650 Speaker 1: that was not an easy job. To keep inventory from 282 00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:29,290 Speaker 1: walking away, Bowser created another department of accountants who'd also 283 00:22:29,450 --> 00:22:32,490 Speaker 1: clamber through the building, keeping track of all the equipment 284 00:22:32,570 --> 00:22:36,570 Speaker 1: that was scooting around the site on monorails, trolley cars, 285 00:22:36,610 --> 00:22:42,170 Speaker 1: and steam engines. With all these inspections, cheating seemed unlikely 286 00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:46,210 Speaker 1: to succeed. The workers realized this, but they also saw 287 00:22:46,250 --> 00:22:49,970 Speaker 1: that they were still being treated respectfully, with nourishing food, 288 00:22:50,370 --> 00:22:55,770 Speaker 1: safety aids and high pay. With Bowser's help, Starrett had 289 00:22:55,770 --> 00:23:00,330 Speaker 1: created a site where it didn't pay to cheat, and importantly, 290 00:23:00,770 --> 00:23:04,170 Speaker 1: where it did pay to put in an honest day's work. 291 00:23:05,090 --> 00:23:10,250 Speaker 1: Thus reciprocity, the idea at the heart of paying efficiency wages, 292 00:23:10,650 --> 00:23:15,690 Speaker 1: began to flourish. Everyone was with Starret, not against him. 293 00:23:16,010 --> 00:23:20,490 Speaker 1: The first positive result was simple efficiency. When four men 294 00:23:20,530 --> 00:23:23,490 Speaker 1: didn't fudge their numbers, you had more workers on site. 295 00:23:23,690 --> 00:23:26,970 Speaker 1: And when inventry didn't get pilfered and stayed on site, 296 00:23:27,170 --> 00:23:29,330 Speaker 1: no one had to wait around for the tools and 297 00:23:29,410 --> 00:23:34,170 Speaker 1: materials they needed. Even better was the creativity. If you 298 00:23:34,370 --> 00:23:37,570 Speaker 1: hate your boss, you're going to be sullen and resentful, 299 00:23:38,090 --> 00:23:41,250 Speaker 1: but if you know, you're trusted and treated with respect. 300 00:23:42,850 --> 00:23:46,650 Speaker 1: On most other sites, bricks were stacked on wheelbarrows, then 301 00:23:46,970 --> 00:23:50,490 Speaker 1: pushed along robbling wooden gang plants to where they were needed. 302 00:23:51,210 --> 00:23:54,610 Speaker 1: Workers on Starret site came up with a creative solution. 303 00:23:55,290 --> 00:23:59,450 Speaker 1: They spontaneously suggested building a miniature railway line into the 304 00:23:59,490 --> 00:24:03,850 Speaker 1: site instead, and then smaller railway lines on the actual 305 00:24:03,930 --> 00:24:08,330 Speaker 1: floors under construction. Because thousands of bricks arrived in a 306 00:24:08,370 --> 00:24:13,250 Speaker 1: single AI eight hour shift, this miniature railway sped construction 307 00:24:13,370 --> 00:24:19,730 Speaker 1: along considerably. Building sites also tended to have high turnover rates, 308 00:24:20,170 --> 00:24:24,970 Speaker 1: and as a result, they incurred hefty retraining costs too, 309 00:24:25,130 --> 00:24:28,570 Speaker 1: But on Starret site, the workers didn't want to walk out, 310 00:24:28,930 --> 00:24:31,650 Speaker 1: not with these wages and with the respect they felt 311 00:24:31,650 --> 00:24:37,290 Speaker 1: from their employers. At its peak, the Starret Brothers Building 312 00:24:37,570 --> 00:24:41,330 Speaker 1: was rising up at four and a half floors. Each week, 313 00:24:42,250 --> 00:24:46,090 Speaker 1: five hundred trucks were arriving with materials at the site 314 00:24:46,210 --> 00:24:50,010 Speaker 1: each day. Some of the steel beams that arrived were 315 00:24:50,050 --> 00:24:56,050 Speaker 1: still warm, having been fabricated just days before. One innovation 316 00:24:56,370 --> 00:25:01,890 Speaker 1: was especially noticeable from Afar. In most big construction projects, 317 00:25:02,050 --> 00:25:04,610 Speaker 1: when large stones were placed on the outside for an 318 00:25:04,650 --> 00:25:08,810 Speaker 1: attractive surface, expert craftsmen had to spend a long time 319 00:25:09,170 --> 00:25:13,810 Speaker 1: moving the edges. Starrett's teams came up with a new idea. 320 00:25:14,730 --> 00:25:18,810 Speaker 1: Why not just bolt thin metal panels over the joins. 321 00:25:19,570 --> 00:25:22,650 Speaker 1: Then you could use stones still rough from the quarries. 322 00:25:23,330 --> 00:25:28,410 Speaker 1: The result was an attractive exterior of shining stainless steel 323 00:25:28,490 --> 00:25:33,690 Speaker 1: strips standing out from the gray limestone around them. But 324 00:25:33,730 --> 00:25:37,290 Speaker 1: while the project seemed to be going well, Starrett was 325 00:25:37,370 --> 00:25:42,290 Speaker 1: gazing watchfully across town to forty second Street, where a 326 00:25:42,450 --> 00:25:48,170 Speaker 1: rival skyscraper was rising over the Manhattan skyline. Starrett, remember 327 00:25:48,610 --> 00:25:53,450 Speaker 1: was aiming to build Manhattan's tallest skyscraper with all the 328 00:25:53,530 --> 00:25:57,170 Speaker 1: prestige and money that meant for his clients. As far 329 00:25:57,210 --> 00:26:00,210 Speaker 1: as he knew, his rival's building was going to be 330 00:26:00,210 --> 00:26:05,210 Speaker 1: smaller than his. Nothing to worry about there, or was there. 331 00:26:06,770 --> 00:26:11,610 Speaker 1: The competing skyscraper on forty Seconds was nearly complete while 332 00:26:11,650 --> 00:26:16,050 Speaker 1: Starret's was still underway. He had assumed he'd surpass it, 333 00:26:16,330 --> 00:26:18,730 Speaker 1: just like all the others when he was finally finished. 334 00:26:19,490 --> 00:26:25,530 Speaker 1: But then something happened that meant this competitor's building was 335 00:26:25,570 --> 00:26:30,330 Speaker 1: going to be taller. All Starrett's work compared to that 336 00:26:31,250 --> 00:26:53,570 Speaker 1: would seem a failure. Cautionary tales would return. Paul Starrett 337 00:26:53,570 --> 00:26:57,290 Speaker 1: had known a lot about this competitor, the automobile magnet 338 00:26:57,570 --> 00:27:01,290 Speaker 1: Walter P. Chrysler, who was funding a building in his name. 339 00:27:02,210 --> 00:27:05,570 Speaker 1: Mister Chrysler was a good Kansas boy, like Paul Starrett. 340 00:27:06,090 --> 00:27:10,250 Speaker 1: After making his fortune in Detroit, he was not used 341 00:27:10,490 --> 00:27:14,570 Speaker 1: to coming second. When he found out that Starrett's building, 342 00:27:14,770 --> 00:27:18,570 Speaker 1: which had started construction after his, was going to be taller, 343 00:27:19,090 --> 00:27:22,890 Speaker 1: he couldn't bear it, and so he concocted a scheme 344 00:27:22,970 --> 00:27:28,130 Speaker 1: with his architects and construction chiefs. While everyone on the 345 00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:34,690 Speaker 1: outside thought the Chrysler building was nearly done quietly secretly 346 00:27:35,690 --> 00:27:39,850 Speaker 1: inside the empty top floors of their own building, where 347 00:27:39,850 --> 00:27:43,690 Speaker 1: no one could see it. Chrysler's team had been constructing 348 00:27:43,850 --> 00:27:47,810 Speaker 1: an enormous one one hundred and eighty five foot tall 349 00:27:48,170 --> 00:27:53,250 Speaker 1: glass and metal structure. On one tremendous day, to the 350 00:27:53,290 --> 00:27:58,410 Speaker 1: city's astonishment, they had it hoisted up through the top 351 00:27:58,450 --> 00:28:02,490 Speaker 1: of the building to perch on top, making it taller 352 00:28:02,530 --> 00:28:08,010 Speaker 1: than anything Starret had planned. That's when Starrett, John Bowser, 353 00:28:08,090 --> 00:28:11,170 Speaker 1: and the rest of their team realized that their rival 354 00:28:11,770 --> 00:28:16,650 Speaker 1: had stolen a march on them. Walter Chrysler relished his victory. 355 00:28:17,650 --> 00:28:22,330 Speaker 1: He prepared ad campaigns which showed his majestic Chrysler building 356 00:28:22,770 --> 00:28:26,570 Speaker 1: at the end of a long chain of world dominant buildings, 357 00:28:27,090 --> 00:28:30,530 Speaker 1: at the start where the Pyramids of Egypt, then came 358 00:28:30,650 --> 00:28:36,450 Speaker 1: Europe's great medieval cathedrals, then Paris's Eiffel Tower, and finally, 359 00:28:36,970 --> 00:28:41,250 Speaker 1: tallest to them all, his great Chrysler Building in Manhattan. 360 00:28:42,090 --> 00:28:48,930 Speaker 1: Starrett's work in progress didn't even figure. The world press 361 00:28:49,570 --> 00:28:53,690 Speaker 1: lapped the Chrysler building up, and the fact that Starret's 362 00:28:53,850 --> 00:28:57,530 Speaker 1: enlightened management methods had made the project fast and efficient 363 00:28:58,050 --> 00:29:02,930 Speaker 1: didn't seem to count for much. Starrett and his financiers 364 00:29:03,410 --> 00:29:08,050 Speaker 1: didn't want to accept defeat. But what to do. You 365 00:29:08,090 --> 00:29:13,170 Speaker 1: can't really start redesigning a giant skyscraper once everything is underway, 366 00:29:13,810 --> 00:29:17,770 Speaker 1: The steel had already been ordered, the detailed construction schedule 367 00:29:17,850 --> 00:29:21,370 Speaker 1: laid out. Changing one part of the building would mean 368 00:29:21,490 --> 00:29:25,930 Speaker 1: changing a multitude of other connected parts, from the architect's 369 00:29:26,010 --> 00:29:30,050 Speaker 1: plans and steel fabricators to truck deliveries and the schedules 370 00:29:30,090 --> 00:29:34,890 Speaker 1: of thousands of workers. But they also couldn't really settle 371 00:29:35,090 --> 00:29:39,370 Speaker 1: for being second. Winning in terms of speed meant nothing 372 00:29:39,650 --> 00:29:43,410 Speaker 1: if they didn't also win in height. If they tried 373 00:29:43,490 --> 00:29:47,130 Speaker 1: some little trick, the Chrysler building might just add a 374 00:29:47,170 --> 00:29:51,850 Speaker 1: bigger spire. What Starret needed was a modification to their 375 00:29:51,930 --> 00:29:55,290 Speaker 1: plans that was not only achievable, but was also so 376 00:29:55,650 --> 00:30:01,810 Speaker 1: huge and so impressive that it would be untouchable. The 377 00:30:01,890 --> 00:30:04,890 Speaker 1: records don't show who first came up with the answer. 378 00:30:05,170 --> 00:30:08,330 Speaker 1: It probably emerged when all the top staff were convened 379 00:30:08,370 --> 00:30:12,690 Speaker 1: in one of their frantic planning meetings, but it was 380 00:30:12,730 --> 00:30:19,970 Speaker 1: an idea of genius. A mooring mast. In the nineteen twenties, 381 00:30:20,490 --> 00:30:25,330 Speaker 1: aviation technology wasn't just propeller driven aeroplanes. It was also 382 00:30:25,530 --> 00:30:30,930 Speaker 1: enormous lighter than air dridgibles zeppelins. These beer moths were 383 00:30:31,170 --> 00:30:36,050 Speaker 1: hundreds of feet long, with elegant gondolas suspended beneath, where 384 00:30:36,130 --> 00:30:40,370 Speaker 1: passengers could travel in the greatest of comfort. At the time, 385 00:30:40,890 --> 00:30:44,050 Speaker 1: the zeppelins that arrived in New York had to dock 386 00:30:44,250 --> 00:30:48,370 Speaker 1: out in Lakehurst, New Jersey, seventy five miles from the city. 387 00:30:49,010 --> 00:30:52,130 Speaker 1: But what if they could be tethered to a majestic 388 00:30:52,290 --> 00:30:56,650 Speaker 1: structure right in the center of Manhattan. It would be 389 00:30:56,690 --> 00:31:02,490 Speaker 1: a boon for mankind and very nicely stick it to 390 00:31:02,570 --> 00:31:06,610 Speaker 1: Chrysler too. Best of all, the architects could design it 391 00:31:06,650 --> 00:31:08,850 Speaker 1: to be big enough that there was no way any 392 00:31:08,930 --> 00:31:13,930 Speaker 1: future stunt by Chrysler could outdo them. They settled on 393 00:31:14,130 --> 00:31:18,970 Speaker 1: two hundred feet. It was here that Starret and his 394 00:31:19,130 --> 00:31:24,130 Speaker 1: team reaped the benefits of his workforce's high morale. There 395 00:31:24,170 --> 00:31:27,930 Speaker 1: was much to do. Although construction had only just started 396 00:31:27,970 --> 00:31:31,010 Speaker 1: on the building and the foundations were still being prepared, 397 00:31:31,490 --> 00:31:34,570 Speaker 1: all the design and orders and work schedules had been 398 00:31:34,610 --> 00:31:38,610 Speaker 1: set up. This meant that from the moment of Christless surprise, 399 00:31:39,130 --> 00:31:42,650 Speaker 1: a very great deal had to change. Even while work 400 00:31:42,770 --> 00:31:46,370 Speaker 1: continued on getting the site properly cleared and the equipment 401 00:31:46,410 --> 00:31:48,970 Speaker 1: for the lower floors in place. For the new mast 402 00:31:49,050 --> 00:31:51,170 Speaker 1: to be fitted, the top of the building needed to 403 00:31:51,210 --> 00:31:54,890 Speaker 1: be altered. New structural steel had to be ordered, and 404 00:31:54,930 --> 00:31:59,370 Speaker 1: the mast itself, complete with internal walkways, had to be designed, 405 00:31:59,490 --> 00:32:03,690 Speaker 1: and the parts ordered, delivered and assembled. All of this 406 00:32:03,770 --> 00:32:07,330 Speaker 1: would start at one thousand feet in the air and 407 00:32:07,570 --> 00:32:17,730 Speaker 1: rise ever higher. Imagine if George Pullman had tried such 408 00:32:17,730 --> 00:32:22,170 Speaker 1: an ambitious swerve in strategy after his oppressive tactics and 409 00:32:22,410 --> 00:32:27,130 Speaker 1: murderous strike breaking, his company had lost nearly half a 410 00:32:27,330 --> 00:32:32,170 Speaker 1: year of output. Skilled workers had quit, those who remained 411 00:32:32,370 --> 00:32:36,650 Speaker 1: were sulking at best, mutinous at worst, especially as their 412 00:32:36,770 --> 00:32:41,810 Speaker 1: working conditions deteriorated. Imagine if Pullman showed up at work 413 00:32:41,850 --> 00:32:46,410 Speaker 1: and addressed his workforce asking for a big, creative, collaborative 414 00:32:46,450 --> 00:32:49,690 Speaker 1: push together, they would have laughed him out of the 415 00:32:49,770 --> 00:32:55,170 Speaker 1: factory or worse. After the strike and for the rest 416 00:32:55,170 --> 00:32:59,810 Speaker 1: of his life, whenever George Pullman ventured out in Chicago, 417 00:33:00,370 --> 00:33:04,610 Speaker 1: he had to be guarded by detectives armed with shotguns. 418 00:33:05,370 --> 00:33:08,890 Speaker 1: When he died, his family were so afraid that former 419 00:33:09,170 --> 00:33:13,890 Speaker 1: employees might desecrate his grave that his coffin was sealed 420 00:33:13,930 --> 00:33:20,330 Speaker 1: into a triple reinforced block of steel and concrete. George 421 00:33:20,330 --> 00:33:25,890 Speaker 1: Pullman had made a lot of enemies, No such problems 422 00:33:25,890 --> 00:33:29,570 Speaker 1: for Paul Starrett. His workers were right behind him. He 423 00:33:29,610 --> 00:33:32,850 Speaker 1: had been fair to them. There'd be fair to him. 424 00:33:33,050 --> 00:33:35,970 Speaker 1: Not that Starrett was an angel. There was a slight 425 00:33:36,130 --> 00:33:40,170 Speaker 1: bending of the truth involved in that airship mast. It 426 00:33:40,290 --> 00:33:45,170 Speaker 1: was obviously impractical, more ornaments than utility. If a mighty 427 00:33:45,290 --> 00:33:50,570 Speaker 1: airship filled with champagne and cocktail parties and piano music 428 00:33:50,970 --> 00:33:54,090 Speaker 1: had actually tried to dock more than a thousand feet 429 00:33:54,130 --> 00:33:57,730 Speaker 1: above the streets of Manhattan, there would be a few problems. 430 00:33:58,850 --> 00:34:01,410 Speaker 1: First of all, the passengers would be a little less 431 00:34:01,490 --> 00:34:05,490 Speaker 1: welcome than they might have imagined. Airships adjusted their height 432 00:34:05,650 --> 00:34:11,010 Speaker 1: by letting out water, large volumes of it. Several hundred 433 00:34:11,130 --> 00:34:14,450 Speaker 1: gallons would have to be splashed onto the Manhattan crowds 434 00:34:14,490 --> 00:34:18,130 Speaker 1: watching them from below to get the height exactly right. 435 00:34:19,890 --> 00:34:22,730 Speaker 1: Attaching the mooring ropes would also be difficult because of 436 00:34:22,770 --> 00:34:26,250 Speaker 1: the winds at that height, all boosted by the skyscraper 437 00:34:26,370 --> 00:34:31,250 Speaker 1: canyons across Manhattan. Then, if the bucking airship did get 438 00:34:31,330 --> 00:34:34,890 Speaker 1: in position, the passengers, once they got off, wouldn't find 439 00:34:34,930 --> 00:34:38,130 Speaker 1: a convenient lift waiting for them. The mast was too 440 00:34:38,250 --> 00:34:41,610 Speaker 1: narrow for that. Instead, they'd had to climb down a 441 00:34:41,690 --> 00:34:44,210 Speaker 1: ladder to get to the main floors of the building, 442 00:34:44,570 --> 00:34:47,930 Speaker 1: where they could then take an elevator. It was in 443 00:34:47,970 --> 00:34:55,330 Speaker 1: fact never used for passenger airship docking. At one point 444 00:34:55,330 --> 00:34:59,450 Speaker 1: a government contact arranged for a smaller airship carrying post 445 00:34:59,930 --> 00:35:03,210 Speaker 1: to offload a few leather packages of letters that way, 446 00:35:04,130 --> 00:35:08,930 Speaker 1: but aside from a brief later visit by King Kong, 447 00:35:11,290 --> 00:35:16,210 Speaker 1: that was it. New Yorkers didn't care. The building site's 448 00:35:16,290 --> 00:35:20,810 Speaker 1: ethos meant everything got done, and within the thirteen month target, 449 00:35:21,250 --> 00:35:24,610 Speaker 1: the journey from the luxurious offices in the Biltmore Hotel 450 00:35:24,930 --> 00:35:28,130 Speaker 1: to the roar and welding and bolting on the building 451 00:35:28,170 --> 00:35:33,570 Speaker 1: site was over. That unprecedented speed was just what their 452 00:35:33,610 --> 00:35:36,690 Speaker 1: funders had wanted to get rents coming in so that 453 00:35:36,730 --> 00:35:40,250 Speaker 1: the enormous loans for construction could be paid off quickly. 454 00:35:40,770 --> 00:35:45,250 Speaker 1: This was something Pullman's resentful workers would never have pushed 455 00:35:45,290 --> 00:35:49,690 Speaker 1: to succeed at. The good wages and conditions mixed with 456 00:35:49,850 --> 00:35:54,890 Speaker 1: sensible auditing, had led to energetic work teams, far less cheating, 457 00:35:55,210 --> 00:36:00,410 Speaker 1: greater innovation, and the ability to adapt fast when mister 458 00:36:00,490 --> 00:36:04,970 Speaker 1: Chrysler's efforts to outscale were sprung on them even when 459 00:36:04,970 --> 00:36:10,810 Speaker 1: they were underway. The result made star At famous because 460 00:36:10,810 --> 00:36:15,290 Speaker 1: of his skill, his benevolence, and his hard nosed Canadian 461 00:36:15,370 --> 00:36:21,610 Speaker 1: construction superintendent. When Starret declared his vast skyscraper complete, it 462 00:36:21,890 --> 00:36:28,370 Speaker 1: was indeed the tallest building in the world, and it 463 00:36:28,450 --> 00:36:34,170 Speaker 1: had a name to match, the Empire State Building. Starret 464 00:36:34,210 --> 00:36:38,130 Speaker 1: still didn't smile much and always looked pretty grumpy when 465 00:36:38,130 --> 00:36:42,730 Speaker 1: he snapped out his decisions. But that didn't matter. You 466 00:36:42,770 --> 00:36:46,330 Speaker 1: don't have to love someone to respect them. You don't 467 00:36:46,370 --> 00:36:49,850 Speaker 1: even have to like them. If someone's fair and you 468 00:36:49,930 --> 00:36:54,970 Speaker 1: realize they're competent, that's enough. That's how to make efficiency 469 00:36:55,010 --> 00:37:10,370 Speaker 1: wages work. Be fair, be generous, but audit. As I mentioned, 470 00:37:10,570 --> 00:37:13,850 Speaker 1: this episode is based on my friend David Badonnas's book 471 00:37:14,130 --> 00:37:17,530 Speaker 1: The Art of Fairness. That's where I learned about Paul's 472 00:37:17,530 --> 00:37:22,170 Speaker 1: Tarrett and the Empire State story. As David himself put. 473 00:37:22,010 --> 00:37:26,050 Speaker 2: It, the ancient sage Hillel had a nice insight about 474 00:37:26,050 --> 00:37:29,530 Speaker 2: all this. He was writing two thousand years ago. But 475 00:37:29,650 --> 00:37:33,370 Speaker 2: he raised in essence were two linked questions. If I'm 476 00:37:33,370 --> 00:37:36,050 Speaker 2: not for myself? Who is for me? But if I'm 477 00:37:36,210 --> 00:37:40,810 Speaker 2: only for myself, what am I? The answer is that 478 00:37:40,930 --> 00:37:43,770 Speaker 2: neither extreme will do. You will have to stand up 479 00:37:43,770 --> 00:37:47,810 Speaker 2: for yourself. Otherwise in the real world you'll never get far. 480 00:37:48,650 --> 00:37:50,930 Speaker 2: But if that's the only thing you do, if you're 481 00:37:51,010 --> 00:37:54,530 Speaker 2: only for yourself, what kind of person are you? Staret 482 00:37:54,650 --> 00:37:58,250 Speaker 2: Empire State Building shows what the middle path can achieve. 483 00:38:00,010 --> 00:38:03,730 Speaker 1: You need the smarts to guard against cheats, but when 484 00:38:03,770 --> 00:38:29,770 Speaker 1: you offer generosity, creative gratitude can come pouring back. Cautionary 485 00:38:29,810 --> 00:38:33,090 Speaker 1: Tales is written by me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright. 486 00:38:33,610 --> 00:38:37,370 Speaker 1: This mini series is based on David Bardanas's book The 487 00:38:37,530 --> 00:38:40,730 Speaker 1: Art of Fairness, The Power of Decency in a World 488 00:38:40,850 --> 00:38:44,290 Speaker 1: Turned Mean, and it was written with David Bandanas himself. 489 00:38:45,090 --> 00:38:47,250 Speaker 1: For a full list of our sources, see the show 490 00:38:47,250 --> 00:38:51,450 Speaker 1: notes at Timharford dot com. The show is produced by 491 00:38:51,490 --> 00:38:55,170 Speaker 1: Alice Fines, with Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original 492 00:38:55,250 --> 00:38:59,250 Speaker 1: music for the work of Pascal Wise. Sarah Nix edited 493 00:38:59,290 --> 00:39:03,610 Speaker 1: the script. Cautionary Tales features the voice talents of Ben Crowe, 494 00:39:03,930 --> 00:39:09,250 Speaker 1: Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Gemma Saunders, and Rufus Wright. The 495 00:39:09,290 --> 00:39:12,850 Speaker 1: show Wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, 496 00:39:13,130 --> 00:39:18,170 Speaker 1: Ryan Dilly, Greta Cohen, Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, 497 00:39:18,490 --> 00:39:23,050 Speaker 1: Kira Posey and Owen Miller. Cautionary Tales is a production 498 00:39:23,170 --> 00:39:27,090 Speaker 1: of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at ward Or Studios in 499 00:39:27,130 --> 00:39:31,130 Speaker 1: London by Tom Gary. If you like the show, please 500 00:39:31,170 --> 00:39:34,690 Speaker 1: remember to share, rate and review. It doesn't really make 501 00:39:34,730 --> 00:39:37,370 Speaker 1: a difference to us and if you want to hear 502 00:39:37,410 --> 00:39:41,050 Speaker 1: the show ad free, sign up to Pushkin Plus on 503 00:39:41,130 --> 00:39:45,810 Speaker 1: the show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot Fm, 504 00:39:45,930 --> 00:39:55,530 Speaker 1: slash plus