VALUE OF ORGANISATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 67, 18 February 1932, Page 7

VALUE OF ORGANISATION.

LESSONS FROM HISTORY. ADDRESS TO BAKERS’ CONFERENCE. “Apart from the possession of intellect, man is inferior to many of the animals and even to a number of the insects,” stated Mr Frank B. Withers, of Coburg, Victoria, in an interesting paper read at the annual conference of the New Zealand Master Bakers’ Association in Palmerston North to-day. “Man is outclassed in strength by the elephant, in speed by the greyhound, in agility by the flea, in aquatic ability by all the fishes and in power to travel unequipped through the air by birds, flies and bees. Although sadly.handicapped physically, he has outdistanced all competitors, for by the use of brains he has developed machinery which makes the strongth of the elephant shrink into significance, which enables him to travel under and over the water in speed and comfort, and through the air with celerity. He has annihilated distance, minimised the ravages due to famines and pestilences, and parried the jp tacks of old Father Hme by lengthening the span of life. “Century, however, followed century before 1 man shed sufficient of the nature of the beast to value peace at its true value, and even in this year of grace 1932 the world is, as a result of a swing back to the savagery of war, staggering under such stupendous loads of debts that experts declare that civilisation itself is threatened, and that disintegration of ;-ociety will ensue unless some form of cancellation is adopted. The history of the nation is in some respects a duplication of the record of the individual. Can we draw any lessons from the life of the nations—the history of the development of our race—which will benefit us as traders? We are the heirs of the ages. The haughtiness of youth conveys the impression that all the advances have been made in this generation, but nothing is further from the truth. Science is experience codified, and we are the beneficiaries of our progenitors, and should pront alike by their achievements and their errors. During the cave man era, competition was keen and uncurbed, but, as the benefits of organisation were recognised and acted upon, advances were achieved. History proves conclusively that, in the main, combination led to improvement of the human race. If war is detrimental _to the nations and to the race, so also is unbridled competition to the trading units. Price cutting is commercial suicide. Suicide in the eyes of the law is reprehensible. When nations attain the age of reason, price cutting also will be legally prohibited, and scheduled as a lapse from sanity. Records of the baking industry prove beyond cavil that, when competition was uncurbed, wages were nothing more than a mere pittance, and the term slave was actually applicable. Also, that when cheapness is the only criterion, hygienic production is an ideal only in the minds of the few, but not an achievement by any. Quite correctly,' legislators have curbed competition among the workers, and agreements in the form of awards govern hours of labour and rates of payment. Enactments are applicable to methods of manufacture and quality of ingredients, but there is a lack when it comes to maintenance of a fair price for the finished article. The first commandment in the Decalogue of the doughboy should be: “Thou shalt charge a fair price for thy product.”'