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Put on a happy face.

A 1923 billboard advertisement for Endicott-Johnson shoes touted employee satisfaction as an important feature of the product. Company president George F. Johnson was a leading proponent of “welfare capitalism,” or providing generous benefits to employees as a way to forestall high turnover and labor unrest. As part of this philosophy, Johnson paid the highest wages in the shoe industry, instituted an eight-hour day, and provided medical care for employees and their families. Although he believed generally that trade unions were necessary for redressing unfair labor practices, Johnson opposed the organization of workers in his own factories.

Source: April 5, 1923—Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Who Built America? An Open Educational Resource has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and funding from The Ford Foundation, Digital Scholar, and the City University of New York Central Office of Library Services. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Open Educational Resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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