WHAT AMERICA CAN TEACH US.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 20

WHAT AMERICA CAN TEACH US.

THE "DAILY MAIL" MISSION.; OUR EMIGRATING WORKMEN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 23. ! "American Prosperity." "High Wage.-.'' What are these unfamiliar terms floating acres? the Atlantic- -. Employers ana fin ployed pulling together, fewer strikes; wurkers driving theii own motor cars; tort of living going down—wages going up. Tho "Daily Mail." with it= charac-tori-tie enterprise, ili.-patc.-hed a party of working men. trade unionists, from our hard-hit engineering industries to tho United State- to inform themselves at tirst-hand regarding the desirable industrial attributes which play ?nch an im- j } (jriant part in America's prosperity. , The mission have just returned, have' made their reports, and the "Daily Mail | iias published a book of 111 pages giv- [ ing the story of tiie tour and the mem- • bois' individual reports. Iv reading this book three points stand out. Firstly, ■ the freedom with which the missioners '■ have made tiieir reports; secondly, the: true picture they have painted of work-i ing conditions in American engineering plant;: and lastly, tho value of the ijoi'k to their fellows and tiieir employers in this country. They have discussed frankly large and small questions with the highest and lowest in America, and, I to judge from what they gay, they have learned fundamental lessons and principles which, it i.- hoped, they will impart to t!iu-e who are fortunate enough to' , meet them. j Each member is to be congratulated; ! upon the result of his work. The mis- ! I signers have taken trouble to tell us the j exact wages paid to their counterparts in Briti.-h industry, tiie conditions of | living and of working, and more especially uf the spirit which prevails between ! those who are actually all worker?, but I who are called employers and employees, The Good Men We Lose. | It is an uncomfortable situation when iwe are faced, as on page 24. with the ! fact that a certain John Walker, for- : merly of a large engineering concern in I Newcastle, left there three years ago, ■ and \ s iniw a superintendent in a large American locomotive shop. John Walker says: "People were ready to see* what I could do.'' We ask the question: "Can Great Britain afford to allow its b*st men to leave its shores':" Or are we going to see what our men can do? Reading on, we rind that the head of these works also came from the Newcastle firm a few year? ago. He tells us: "Team work does it. There are no dark suspicions of employers in the minds of the men. If you don't believe-it, ask them:'' Small | wonder is it that so many of our good men have crossed the water. Can we read—without a shudder—that SO per cent of the pattern-makers in one plant were British, and 30 per cent of the machine shop-men, too? How is the high degree of co-operation Brought about? If you will search the book you will not find the words ••lowwages"—but what you will find is the conviction of employers that the policy to adopt is the policy of high wages, jof helping the working man to increase . his output and his wages by constant attention to new methods' and new machinery. | "Without Hostility." | "The introduction," the missioners j say. -of new methods and modern equipment in the United State? is met _V the workers without hostility.'' Winis this? They reply that the employers are very careful to find work for the men so displaced. There is. of course, a better explanation, and this is what | happens in a well-equipped and organised I plant. The employers are ahvavs out to get higher production—they have to do it —their sales constantly increasing. I they must get production 'increased. If a man is operating a machine and his output can be increased by giving him a better machine lie i? given it. and his output goes up—so does his pay. It is not the case of a machine being introduced to save one man's job; it ithat machinery is supplied to increase that man's productivity. The American employer cannot afford to dispense with men: he has enough difficulty in getting them. Why? Because "they are scarce. Some employers told Mr." Kay, quite frankly, that they depended on Great Britain for tiieir supply of moulders. _ That is the real situation, and we wish that the missioners had taken more care on this point, as it is one of the crucial points to be faced in this country—the attitude of workers to the introduction of time and troublesaving appliances. We maintain that it is the duty of the management to introduce these appliances gradually so as not to displace workers. The 'real object of all machinery is to save the effort of man in doing his job. If employers adopt appliances gradually there will be no need to displace men. Displacement of workers is brought about by a slack management, which quite suddenly decides to instal a block of new machines, having allowed years to elapse, during which time they paid no attention to new equipment. The Policy That Pays. Mr. Mosses telU us. and we quite agree with him. that in American industry '"there is no maximum wage." A man can earn as much as he likes. The more a man earns the better pleased is the firm which employs him. In this country rates of wages are largely standardised, and in practice there is a limit. Not only are wage* limited, but so is the remuneration of directors and officials. Only last week the shareholders of the Dunlop Company, while agreeing to remunerate their directors by a "percentage on profits" basis, limited the amount of remuneration to a fixed figure. If th.ere is a policy limiting anything, why stop at profits. Why not fix the profits and .rive the surplus to the Exchequer? Reading between the line>. an im.portant deduction can be drawn, America has proved that in industry an altruistic , policy vis-a-vis workers and consumers is also sound business. To increase workers' wages, the comfort of, their working conditions, to make provision for retirement, to reduce human effort in work, and to reduce prices to consumers have ail been found to pay.

The evidence submitted by the missioners is strictly in accordance with the true conditions obtaining in the plants they visited, as we ourselves had been over the majority of them some two months previously. They have realised the necessity of reporting those conditions accurately and faithfully, and we commend their work to every employer and employee in the country. I here is a question implied throughout the book, and it requires an answer— "Why ctinnot we in this country raise , wages and increase output?"