WHAT AMERICA CAN TEACH US

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 16 June 1926, Page 9

WHAT AMERICA CAN TEACH US

THE DAILY MAIL MISSION

OUR EMIGRATING' WORKRIKN

•. "American. I Prosperity." ' "High Wages." What are these unfamiliar terms floating across the Atlantic? Employers and employed pulling together, fewer .strikes; workers driving their own motor cars;-'cost of living going down-r-\vageS( going up. The Daily Mai], iwith its characteristic* enterprise, dispatched * a party of working men, trade unionists, from our hard • hit engineering industries to the United States to inform themselves at' first l, hand regarding the desirable industrial attributes which, play such air important part -in .American's'prosperity. 'Hie mission have -just returned, have mnde their reports, and the Daily Mail has published a book of 111'pages.giving the story of the-itour and,the on embers' individual reports. In reading this book three points stand qutj. Firstly, the freedom with which the missioners have made their reports; secondly, the true picture they have painted of working conditions in American engineering" plants; and lastly, the value of the boOk to their fellows and their employers ill this .country. They have discussed frankly large, and vsmall questions with the, highest and lowest, in America, and, to judge from what they say, they have learned fundamental lessons and principles which, it is hoped, they will impart to those who are fortunate enough to meet them. i--i; ~ •-.i-

Each member is to-be .congratulated upon the result, of his work. The ,misflioners have takenvtroublc- to tell us the exact wages paid'to their counterparts in British industry, the conditions of Jiving and of working, and more especially!of the.: spirit which -prevails between 'those Who arc' actually all workers, but who are called employers and employees.

THE GOOD MEN WE LOSE It is an uncomfortiihlc situation when we are faced, as on page. 24, with the fact that a certain John Walker, formerly of a large engineering concern in Newcastle, left there three years ago, and is now a superintendent in a large American locomotive shop. John Walker says:. "People were ready to see what I could do."

We ask the question- "Can Great Britain afford to allow its best men to leave its shores';" Or are we going to see what our.< men can do?,Beading on, we find that the head of these works also came from the Newcastle firm a few years ago. He tells us: "Team work'does it. There are no dark suspicions of employers in the minds of the men.--.Jfi .you .don't - believe it, ask them!" Small wonder is it that so many of our good men have crossed the water. Can we read—without a shudder—that 80 per cent of the pat-,tern-makers in one plant were British, and 30 per cent of the machine shopmen, tOO? ' - . • ia'lj ■•• fj'j, . ■-< ■■ i'.JJi: •

How is this high degree of co-opera-tion brought about? If you will search the book you will not find the words Mow wages"—but what you will find is the conviction of employers that the policy to adopt is the policy of high wages, of helping the working man to increase his output and his wages by constant attention to new methods and new machinery.

"WITHOUT HOSTILITY'" "The introduction," the raissioners say, "of new methods and modern equipment in the United States is met by the workers without hostility." Why is this? They reply that the employers are very careful to find work for'the men so displaced. There is, of course, a better explanation, and this is what happens in a well-equipped and organised plant. The employers are always out to get higher production—they have to do it—their sales constantly increasing, they must get production increased.. If a man is operating a machine and his output can be increased by giving hi.ti a better machine he is given it, and his output goes up—so does his pay. It is-not the case of a machine being introduced to save one man's job; it is that machinery is supplied to increase that man's productivity. The Am°rican employer cannot afford.'so dispense with men;- he has enough difficulty in getting them. Why? Because they are scarce. Some, employers-told Mr'itay, quite frankly, that' tIW depended on Great Britain for their' supply of moulders. That is the real situation, and we wish that the missioners had taken more care on this point, as it is one of the crucial points to be faced if. this country—the attitude of workers ,to the introduction of time and troublesaving appliances. We maintain thai it is the duty of the management to introduce these appliances gradually so as not to displace workers. The real object of all machinery is to save the effort of man in doing his jsjob. If employers adopt appliances gradually there will be no need to displace men. Displacement of workers' is brought about by a slack management, which quite suddenly decides to instal a block of new machines, having allowed years to elapse, during which time they' paid no attention to new equipment.

THE POLTC'Y THAT PAYS

Mr Moses tells us, and we quite agree with him, that .in American industry "there is no maximum wage." A man can earn as much as he likes. The more a man earns the better pleased is the firm .which employs him. In this country rates of wages are largely standardised, and in practice there is a limit. Not only are wages limited, but so is the remuneration of directors and officials. Only last week the shareholders of the Dnnlop Company, while agreeing to remunerate their directors by 1 "percentage on profits" basis, limited the amount of remuneration to a fixed: figure. If there is a policy limiting anything, why stop at profits. Why not fix the profits and give the surplus to the Exchequer? Beading between the lines, an important deduction can be drawn, America has proved that in industry an altruistic policy vis-avis workers and consumers is also sound business. To increase workers' wages, the comfort of their working conditions, to make provision for retirement, to reduce human effort in work, and to reduce prices to consumers have all been found to P«.Y-

The evidence submitted by the missioners is strictly in accordance with the true conditions obtaining in tinplants they visited, as we ourselves had been over the majority of them some two months previously. They have realised the necessitv of reporting those conditions aicicumtely and faithfully and we commend their work to every employer and employee in the country. There is a question implied throughout the book, and it requires an answer—- " Why cannot we in this country raise wages .and increase output?"