MR. EDISON ON LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 996, 10 December 1910, Page 3

MR. EDISON ON LABOUR

I THE UNION'S MISTAKE. CHAT WITH A NEW ZEALANDER. A CREAT PRINCIPLE. One of the incidents which most impressed Mr. W. D. Lysmar, Mayor of Gisb'orne, during-his visit to Eugland and the United States was a chat with Mr. Thomas Edison, tho great inventor. "Mr. Edison; talked in characteristic fashion about labour matters in New Zealand," said Mr. Lysnar in tho course of an interview. "He shook his head very gravely at some of the aspects of tho labour question, and when-1 asked Mm if ho would give mo liis ideas so that I could communicate them to tho folks : in Now Zealand, ho acquiesced, and added .that what appliod to ono colony or country equally applied to another. . "•'I do Dot pretend to know anything,' said he, 'about political economy ; but I do see- tho. ono little thing —that in Germany a man will sit on his stool and watch four planing machines turniug out work. Ho performs 110 physical labour. In England an Englishman sits on a stool, but, on account of the union, ha only watches' ono planer. ..The-products aro. sold in competitive markets. To me the end is clear.' , ■ ■ . " 'What would you suggest as a remedy?, I asked. , ~ . - . . The Labour Union's Mistake. "Ho replied: 'I would suggest that the. labour unions should ■ allow their men to get out as niuch work as possible, providing there wero no physical increase of labour in doing it, so that their country can compete with other countries. Tho trade union people, , ho continued, *-.vill not allow this, because i'hey think it will knock other workmen out ef a- job. JSow, this contention is contravened by tho history of every new invention-to cheapen .production. For instance, take- the sewing machine. It was supposed to throw out of.employment hundreds of thousands of seamstresses". On the contrary, it increased their numbers by 2000 per cent,'' ■ and it is the same with all analogous 1 things." ."•■:' "Mr. Edison also' instanced hia own inventions. Th?re were over 9,000,000 men employed in connection'with'them. He showed me. a model of a concrete house, which ho is endeavouring to have perfected, in order to assist the labouring man. ' He stated that he was trying -to make a house suitable'-for-tho poor, as well as the rich, by making 'a home out of coucrotc. Ho said: 'I am making a model, of a workman's home whioh will have all the appearance of a 30,000-tlollar" houso, cast in a solid mass of reinfcreed concrete' aiid very ornamental, designed by tho highost grado of architect, and within the reach of. tho day labourer to buyj.no repairs and-no insurances will-be required. It will last for, all time. It will bo painted with concrete paintv Tho best grade of workman's house, with nine rooms, will cost 1200 dollars, say, £2-10, and, for the labourer, with ■ five - rooms, 750 dollars, say, £100-!,'" . ' Awkward for Nsw Zealand. What Mr. Lysnar saw. of; industry, in America afforded plenty of -illustra-'-Won of the views expressed by tho famous inventor! Ho learnt on all sides that tho progress of the States, from a manufacturing point of view, was being seriously hampered and retarded by the labour agitation. Americans frankly admitted, "Our country cannot 'buiid ships,' ; .because of the labour.. troubles." ■ "And this-is said,',' continued Mr. Lysnar, "while the Legislature is endeavouring to foster the building of ships by enacting that no boat can fly American Hag unless it has been mainly or wholly constructed in tho United States; and that none but American ships can trade between tho different ports of the American continent. A foreign ship can como in from abroad to an American pqH with freight, but the law debars it from carrying American goods from one American port to another. This is an awkward provision for Now Zealand, if it were decided 1 to- run a lino of steamers from Now ■ Zealand to, say,' Sau Francisco, via Honolulu, the latter being an American port. It would bo impossible for tho New Zealand-'boat to pick up cargo or passengers at Honolulu and take them on to America. Notwithstanding all those provisions, I read an authoritative statement, made in an American magazine, that there wore only about eleven steamers owned by tho Americans at tho present time which came within the limits imposed by the States legislation. "Mr. Edison gave mo a letter of introduction to a largo manufacturing firm of electrical plant, whose head office was situate at New York, where I called and asked them- to quote mo to compare with English and other prices. The gentleman candidly stated that they were not able, owing to labour union troubles, to -give as fine a quotation as I could get from other. countries, consequently it was useless to go further in tho matter.

"It will bo seen from this condition ofJthirigs that it is not, in.the interest of the. workers,' as a whole, that the' manufacturing industries should ba driven out of their country—whether it is America or New Zealand or any of the labour'troubles. It must bo admitted that it is a. serious loss to the American worker for him ,to have succeeded, through the agency of his own union, in having,, for all 1 practical purposes, stopped the shipbuilding in his own country. It come 3 to this, that tho nation which has tho most willing workers must triumph and succeed in the end over the nation ; whoso workmen are always agitating on tho principle of 'less work and more pay.' I am. sure Mr. Edison was.profoundly right when ho said that 'the labour unions, should allow . their, men to.get out'as much work as.possible,' provided, there were no physical 'increase- of labour in doing it, so that their country could compete with other countries.'" ■ . '■ '