Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1926 WHY AMERICA PROSPERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 108, 7 April 1926, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 1926 WHY AMERICA PROSPERS.

There is a marked difference between tbe methods adopted by American and British. workmen, partly, we believe, as the result of tke leadership accepted by the respective unions and of the advice they take at the dictation of the officials of their unions. The American Federation of Labour, under the many years presidency of the late Mr Samuel Gompers, and now under his successor, has all along proved a stabilising force in the relationships between workmen and their employers, adopting sane and reasonable methods when industrial disputes have arisen in •which its members were concerned, and presenting a solid force to the revolutionary forces at work among other American labour organisations. It has been claimed, and the facts go far towards proving the truth of the statement, that the American tradesman is the best paid, the best housed, the best cared for, and the most prosperous of the world’s workers —the skilled tradesman that is—the greater number of them possessing their own motor cars and living under easier and more comfortable conditions than their fellows in other countries. The reason is that the average American tradesman is not afraid' to accept the true test of his worth —payment by results—nor is he afraid of increasing production. The American Eederation of Labour recently passed a resolution approving of the policy of the maximum production of goods by the maximum use of machinery, and with the least possible use of hand labour. America is, of course, the country, par excellence, of massed production. Its industrial magnates hold that the greater the production the greater the prosperity of the country and the greater the contentment of its people. The Labour Socialists of Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, on the contrary, seem to be aiming at the minimum output for the highest possible payment. In this way they actually restrict employment by the heavier demands they make upon industry, the increased cost of which has to be borne by the public purchasing tlieir wares, or paying for their labour. Organised labour in America stands fully committed to the principle which imposes no limitation on individual output. It encourages the largest output by each man, on the theory that the greater the production the more there will be to go round amongst the people. The extraordinary period of prosperity which the United States of America is enjoying is in part, no doubt, due to the fact that she is holding quite two-thirds of the world’s gold supply as the outcome of the war; that she has consequently large sums of

money available for investment. She is thus able to extend her trading operations, both internal and external, to an unprecedented extent. But America’s prosperity is also due, and to a very large extent also, to the accepttance, by the American trade operative, of the principle of payment by results—that is payment on piecework, no limitation being thus placed on the workman’s earning capacity. Contrary to the idea accepted in many quarters outside of America that the American employer is not mindful of the interests and safety of his workmen, he is, so far as the more highly skilled workers are concerned, fully alive to their value, and British experts who have visited the American establishments have expressed agreeable surprise “at the cleanliness of the factories, the congenial conditions, the lockers for every employee, the cheap and satisfying meals provided, the safety devices for the prevention of accident and the efficient first-aid and hospital service available in case of Providing he receives the value equivalent the American employer does not cavil at the payment he makes to his employees, and so far from high wages increasing the cost of production, he finds that with massed production it is possible to cheapen the cost of his manufactures, while the increased pay adds to the purchasing power of his employees, and the surplus wages paid add to the prosperity of the country by increasing the volume of its internal trade, the manufacturer himself benefiting by the increase. ,