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William Brown Dickson (November 6, 1865 – January 28, 1942) was a business executive in the American steel industry. Starting his career as a common laborer in the Homestead Steel Works of Carnegie Steel at the age of 15, he rose to become vice president of Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel, and Midvale Steel. He was an outspoken advocate for the end of the seven-day week and the twelve-hour day in the steel industry and became a proponent of “industrial democracy” based on stock ownership by employees. Dickson was one of the last of Andrew Carnegie's “young geniuses” to rise through the ranks to become a junior partner in Carnegie Steel, where he designed America’s first corporate safety department and pension plan. When J.P. Morgan founded U.S. Steel in 1901, Dickson became assistant to the president of the new corporation and later first vice president. In 1915, he became vice president, treasurer, and director of Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company, which during World War I was the third largest steel company in the United States (after U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel). Dickson envisioned an equal partnership between labor and capital. Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company pioneered employee ownership and management and became one of America’s most progressive industrial companies. Dickson retired in 1923 at age fifty-eight. == Early life == William Brown Dickson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the ninth child of Mary Ann (née McConnell) and John Dickson (eventually there would be eleven). His mother was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland and had emigrated in 1850; his father was born in County Tyrone, Ireland and had emigrated in 1832. When he was one, his family moved to Swissvale where his father was a partner in Dickson, Stewart and Company, a successful coal mine and lime kiln operator. The firm had invested heavily in a Pittsburgh bank which failed after the Panic of 1873. Because of the double liability of stockholders (up to twice the amount of the investment), the business was ruined and his father lost everything, including his house. Dickson left school at age 11 and began working full time, first running errands for a lamp and glassware store in Pittsburgh for $3.00 per week. After several other jobs closer to home, he was attracted by the higher wages at Homestead and entered the steel mill on April, 28 1881 at 6pm for a 12-hour shift. His first job was in the blooming mill as a “spell hand” for the pulpit boys, who operated valves that controlled cranes. Later he worked in the converting and rail mills. In 1886, he was shifted to clerical work in the mills and, less exhausted at the end of the day, enrolled in Duff's Mercantile College in downtown Pittsburgh and studied bookkeeping and accounting. In August, 1889, he was called to the Pittsburgh office and his career took off. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「William B. Dickson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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