EAST VERSUS WEST AT WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 July 1936, Page 9

EAST VERSUS WEST AT WORK

SIR S. DEMETRIADI’S VIEW

LONDON, June 11

Problems of the machine age were discussed yesterday by Sir Stephen Demetriadi before the London Chamber of Commerce, of which he is president. „ , “As men cease to earn wages, he said, “they become unable to consume, so that the machines which have displaced them will also presently cease to work, because goods are not for long produced if people have not the money to buy them. It is a vicious circle.” The world, added Sir Stephen, was faced with a second problem. In the past the advanced Western nations had been able to compete with the East because of their, better machinery and transport and the importance of hereditary skill in workmanship. To-day the mechanical improvements with which, the West had equipped the East, were rendering human skill a diminishingly important factor. The time was not far distant, if it had not already arrived, when competitive ability between nations in many industries would depend on wages, hours and conditions of labour, a basis on which the advanced Western nations were at a great disadvantage. These two problems demanded a drastic revision of old ideas and the adoption of new methods to meet them. “I am convinced,” Sir Stephen said, “that it is within the power of this country still to lead the world into calm waters.”