A SURVEY OF AMERICA

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6807, 10 January 1929, Page 4

A SURVEY OF AMERICA

Eeviewing economic conditions in the - United States, in an address in Man- * Chester, Dr. Alberto Pirelli, president * of the International Chamber of Comi merce, said the picture was full of : light, hut there were shadows which the Americans themselves recognised. During and since the war the develop- ' ment of American manufacture and banking had been unprecedentedly rapid. Two-thirds of the banking resources of the world were now hold by tho United States. While the population had advanced 60 per cent, in 25 years, the industrial production had increased 300 per cent. During the last seven years, while the production had gone up one-third, the number of persons employed had dropped by S 4 per cent. It had been calculated that owing to rationalisation there had been a decrease of about 2,000,000 in the number of employed in industry, farming and railways, but during the same period there had been a slightly larger increase in the number of peo--1 pie employed on telephone services, as automobile drivers, as hotel and restaurant attendants and also as barbers The cost of production had been reduced in industries where mass methods and rationalisation had been introduced, but high wages prevailed and heavy cost was involved in all ..services of a special character. Tho cost of distribution was very high, in spite of the attempts made by mail order houses and departmental and chain stores to reduce it. Agriculture was a source of serious concern. Labour sought the attractions of town life. A leader in American life had lately predicated that the day was not far distant when the United States would cease to export food stuffs. When that day arrived there would be vast repercussions on the rest of the world.