Department of Commerce
Office of the Secretary
Washington
September 15, 1915.
My dear Miss Mitchell:
In response to communication from Mr. Kempton Taylor of August 10, received by me on my return to the city on the 13th instant, let me say that while I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Frederick W. Taylor on many occasions and of corresponding with him, I saw him most in connecdtion with the investigation on the part of a committee of Congress into scientific management. He was a witness before the committee and was present at many of the hearings. The impression I formed of him then and which every touch I had with him confirmed was that he was sincerely devoted to the square deal between employer and workman and between the factory supervising staff and the workmen themselves. More than once he said to me that unless his plans worked out with equity toward all he would himself disapprove them.
He was a true critic of his own work, enthusiastic indeed about it but not blind to the fact that like all things human it was open to improvement. He had an open mind. He was strong with the insistence of a man that saw clearly and far. It was not his fault if some upon the one hand mistook his system to be chiefly the means of greater profit or if some upon the other hand failed to comprehend his equitable spirit and thought of his purpose only as one that demanded more while possibly giving less. He felt that time and the normal progress of truth would develop all these things and that if there was error it would disappear, and where there was truth it would be established.
My personal relations with him were not close but were friendly and delightful, and I am glad to pay this trifling tribute to the memory of useful a man.
Yours very truly,
William C. Redfield
Secretary.
Miss Frances Mitchell,
Secretary Frederick W. Taylor Co-operators,
Boxly, Highland Station, Chestnut Hill,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
