TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13332, 26 January 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A writer in the American The "World's _ Work" 'contejids Safe that travelling by sea is Ocean, now safer than travelling by

land. The captain of tho huge White Star liner Adriatic is quoted as saying that while his boat may not be absolutely tin_inka"__o, he cannot imagine "any condition that would cause her to founder," and is confident that if such a condition did' arise, there would' be __jple time to save tilie life of every person on board. Another "great steamship captain" has said that the passenger is fifty per cent, safer on sea. than en shore, if the captain observes four golden rules: '-Look to your wireless; don't speed' in To_g_ weather; run your own ship; go slowin fog." Danger from a broken shaft no longer threatens the twin and triple screw liner, and the captain of the Atlantic leviathan has no fear of tbe fiercest gale or the highest seas-. His I vessel may lose a boat or a few yards of nailing, but that is __1. Disasters have resulted in the development of a system of water-tigiht compartments that seems to be independent even of human error. At first it was left to the crew to close the doors in case of collision, but when the La Bourgoyne was rammed' by the Crccnartyshdre in an Atlantic fog. tho sailors became __mio_tr_cken and' forgot to db this, with the result that the ship went dwwxt with a loss of over 500 lives. A system was designed "by which a~_ officer on tbe bridge could operate every door in the ship by tunning a. lever. Then it occurred to someone that tlie man on tho bridge might forget to turn the lever, so a contrivance was --signed by whioh tho doors were closed/ a,_to_aa_i-_-_y when there was two feet cf water in amy <__nipar___en_. Fires on tbe great Atlantio liners aro no longer to be dreaded. The division of t'ae ocean into lanes, so that in-' going and out-going vessels, passenger ' sliJpß and ■•tra.mips," follow different tracks, has greatly lessened the danger of trans-Atlantic travel. Of course it must be remembered thait the writer is dealing principally with the transAtl_ntio traffic, in which shipbuilding has reached its highest point. Such a disaster as is recorded in our cables this morning would be a severe test of tho shipbuilder's most elaborate safeguards.

When Mr John

Tho Poster Fra_er, noSuperannuated tioing the youth of Man. factory hands in _

town in the United States, asked what became of the old men, he was referred to the cemetery. It is seven years since Mr Fraser noted down this grim joke, and in that time much has been done to solve tho problem of the old American workman. According to a writer in "McClure's," pensions are the solution. Numbers of great industrial concerns now insist on their employees, from presidents to en-gine-drivers and factory hands, retiring at certain ages, and give them pensions. Corporations whoso reputations are distinctly unsavoury, behave generously towards their old employees. The Powder Trust, which is so unpopular that its president was obliged to drop out of the Republican National Campaign, retires it« u_ed-up men on fair wages. Eighteen railway companies pension off their hands. Pension systems are regarded as good business. It is a. simple matter to discharge a man who wrecks a train through negligence, or promote a an'an whose work puts thousands of dollars into the till, but it is difficult to put the proper spirit into a hundred

, thousand men and moke each one feel a personal responsibility for the com- • pany's welfare. The company that can assure its employees a. reasonable perj manency of employment, a good chance of promotion, and provision for their I old age, will attract good men and obj tain efficient work. Alen aro being ! compelled more and more to stick to ono company, and competition is so keen that promotion by merit is the general rule. --To get a. job on almost i any one of our grea-t railroads after one | is thirty-five requires a special vote of j the board of directors. A few grey j hairs almost certainly destroy a new ; applicant's chances at any well-con- • ducted factory. A man who has not ■ established himself definitely in some j line at forty is destined almost invari- : ablv to bo a wanderer for life. If you apply for work at forty-five you will usually be sent away with the remark that you ar» 'too old.' For a man of forty-five or fifty to give up his job in the hope of placing himself more fortuna-tely in some other line is new generally recognised as economic suicide." The knowledge that a pension, awaits one in the future has the effect of an anchor. When so muoh is written about the fierceness of American competition, it is pleasajit to read that fen- of the large cori>ora,tions turn their worn-out men adrift. Most of those that do not givo pensions provide light em p 1 oyme nit.

Ho_- the .public is affectVanishing od by the increasing Wood. scarcity of timber is, de-

monstrated in clever and startling style in "Success." The -writer not only tells Americans how wastoful their own and other countries have been with timber, and how near at hand is a famine, but by making enquiries at furnishing establishments shows how the cost of household articles has increased and will increase. "The chair you are sitting in is marked at 135 dollars,"' says ono supplier of information. "'Ten years ago you could have bought it for 75." Another chair priced now at ten dollars will cost twelve nest year, and over fourteen the following year. One expert estimates that for the next thirty years the raw material for his factory will increase in prioe by at least ten to fifteen per cent, every year. As, -wood becomes dearer tho poor person will be hit hard, unless come adequate substitute is. found for it in the manufacture of the articles of common domestic use. A wooden rollingpin costs 18 cents, a glass one 50 cents, a china one at least a dollar, -"either of tbe last two .Pill last as long as wood. A mirror in a hardwood frame and the samo thing with a metal frame wero pointed out. Ono was priced at three dollars and a half, the other at eleven and a half. "To sum it up in _ word," says an expert, "where there is a possible substitute, as in a mirror frame, a metal spoon in place of a wooden one, _ tin box in placo of a firkin, you can count on a, minimum increase of 300 per cent, in the cost. But no real substitute has been fonnd. My oninion is that none will be." A house that cost 5000 dollars today, exclusive of labour, cost only 4000 yesterday, and will cost 6000 to-mor-row, and perhaps 12,000 ten years hence. Kindling wood in New York is dearer by two dollars a cord than it waa a year ago. "In parts of Greece, even iv Thessaly," says tho writer, "I have tramped for hours without finding enough wood to start a camp-fire. The trees are gone. To-day Greece is practically bankrupt. Is this our future in America?"