THE MOSELY COMMISSION'S REPORT.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11562, 20 April 1903, Page 4

THE MOSELY COMMISSION'S REPORT.

(A. brief outline of the report of Mr Alfred Mnsely's Industrial Comission appears in our cable news this morning. The report, as our readers are aware, is the outcome of a tour of investigation into the Inbour conditions of the United States, undertaken at Mr Mosely> expense by a number of representative British operatives. Much has already been published regarding the work of the Commission and the impressions formed by various members during their visits to the factories on the other sido of the Atlantic; but tbe report which now makes its appearance is none the less interesting and important, representing, as it does, the collective opinion of the Commission upon certain leading points of difference in the industrial conditions of the two countries. In its main outlines the finding substantiates the opinions expressed in the able letters of the special correspondent of "The Times" who accompanied the Commission, to which reference has been made on several occasions in column*. While agreeing that iv come rrjspects England is in advance ol her rival, notably in regard to technical education, the visiting delegates are plainly of opinion that there are valuable lessons to be learned from America by employer and workman alike. The " inducements to "extra effort," referred to in the report as a feature of the American employer's treatment of his men, have been explained m former articles. The wages iv America, for instance, are said to be, on the whole, nearly double those paid in England to workmen performing similar •ervices. The eystem of encouraging the workman's initiative by rewarding him with bonuses or holidays for suggestions and improvement-*, is another feature of American industry from which tho Old Country might take a le-won. Then there is the cruestiort of the earning-power of laboursaving machinery. In England, according

to the Commission, tho employer too adopts the policy of "cutting" when ho finds that his men are eintiao'" more than before. The American «_n. \ ployer, on the other hand, viewa the j_j. crease in the earnings from a radically different standpoint. Instead of vlrtmiu. placing a tax on industry by cutting rate* he believes as a rule in fixing a f«i_ rate of pay, and allowing cacb vm to earn what he can above that atandfcNj.— policy which reaps its reward in t&_ i__. crease of the output and ti»e gireate* «$. ciency of the men. In short, although be pays higher wages than the Englishnu, ho gets more work out of bin employeand thus secures his labour as cheap** jj_ the end. As for the British workmaa t_* report, of the Commiwion supped tin familiar contention that the America.__, on the whole, a more efficient iastnmij.l of production, although on the ot_w W_ tho conditions under which the latter wort aro more severe, and the strain on l__ physique ia consequently greater. TheoV servations of the Commission illustrate t&» value of a study of methods and condhioju of labour in other lands, and Mr Alfred Mosely is certainly entitled to high pniu for his enterprise and public spirit ia pro. moting an enquiry which ought to of material benefit to British industry.