BRITISH VERSUS THE AMERICAN WORKMAN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4740, 23 August 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

BRITISH VERSUS THE AMERICAN WORKMAN

AN INTERVIEW WUi MR YERKES. I sat discussing English and American methods of business in a London office ■run nr C. T. Yerkes. who, having once controlled 600 miles of elevated railroads and streets trams in Chicago, is now in London, arranging lor the establishment of varied means of transit through our own great city. One window gave upon the silent and deserted highway of the Thames, in the Middle Ages the scene of so much bustle and animation, now basking sleepily beneath the spring sunshine. From another window we caught glimpses of a gang of British workingmen engaged upon an open drain, lazily dreaming away the day. with noses now and again buried within the vast recesses of a huge beer-can; and through the panes of a window opposite one saw a band of stalwart young clerks with idle pens in their hands and eager eyes fixed upon the slow-moving fingers of a largefaced clock. I looked at Mr Yerkes and he smiled. “Well/’ I said, “I have come to talk to you about the different methods of work in England and America.” And then he laughod.

"In days gone by," said he, “that river was full of craft. Now I don’t even see one of that penny fleet you are so proud of. In days gone, by the British manufacturer was ahead of the world; his goods held the market, and especially so in America, where our merchants bought it regardless of the heavy duty imposed, because they recognised its superiority to their owii. TABLES TURNED. "Now, however, with the great strides made in manufacturing machinery, and owing to the ingenuity, the industry, and the persevering work of the American workman, they have gone ahead of the British manufacturer, and instead of you sending goods to ns we send them to you.” "You mention the American workingmen,” said I, "but what about ours?” and I pointed out with pride to the drain beneath.

“I sympathise very mUch with the British workingman." replied my genial host, as a Snlile played round his expressive mouth, “but still I can't help thinking he stands in his own light. I don't believe in his idea that all men must be placed on an even keel, and that no premium should be placed on brains, ingenuity, and industry, which your trade Unions are deliberately trying to shut out; on the contrary, I believe there ought to be encouragement for every man to make a man of himself, and when I say ' hat ■I mean an important man. In America we see so many cases where a man, starting from a very’ low degree, by his industry', perseverance, and the fact that lie has a well-balanced brain has climbed to a very high estate. “And look hero, we have nothing of that beer-can business, even when lie's through with his day's work; except in exceptional cases, the American workingman has no use for tlie public house. I don't want to crack my own country'-up too much. But there is a genius and enthusiasm for work which I miss here. Perhaps it is our climate. BAD MANAGEMENT. “But, then, your workingmen are not all to blame. Their homes are not so good as wdrkingmen’s homes in America, and they don't have the same facilities for rearing, a family that OurS haVe. They are confined to too small a space in London.” “But your men take such an interest in their work, don’t they?” said X with another .glance at that inspiring drain. “Their great interest and their chief pride is in the success of the job on which they are employed,” was the immediate reply. “A man is not content with merely getting through with it and drawing his wages. And if his firm can create something that no other firm can create the workmen are as much interested in it as the head of the firm himself. "Mind you, I don’t say that all our men are perfect or that there are not hundreds of British workingmen as good as onrs. I am dealing only with broad cases."

"And what do you think about our clerks?" and I nodded towards the distant window.

"Well, there is much the same comparison there, too. But our men are better paid and we can afford to pay 50 per cent, more if they will do twice the work. “You have too many men doing only half the work they might. Ido not wish them to overwork themselves, but I would like them moderately industrious. It is just as hard to sit around and look over books and talk and wait for the hands of the clock as to be engaged in accomplishing something. It isn’t nearly so irksome indeed as waiting for the time to got one’s hat and Coat. FEWER TO SHARE WAGES. '

"In a certain company here I found on looking over the list of employees that all through they had at least three men doing two men’s work, and frequently two doing the work of one. Much better to increase the wages and out down the number of clerks.’’

“Yes,’’ I replied, “but that’s rather a gloomy lookout for the cut-down.” “.Not a bit of it. They’d soon find something else to do if they had it in them, and the consequence would be that more material would be created, and there would not be so much opportun for German* and American goods to pile into this country.” “Ah, but our clerks are such dogs for sport,” said I. "Fond of talking about it.” replied Mi Yerkes, “and of betting, too, I am afraid. Now, if a clerk bets with us he has to go, for no such clerk can afford to gamble; that’s a privilege only for the rich. The same with our workjngraen; they never even • think of it. But your love of sport pervades all your classes. For the sake of sport an Englishman will leave the most important business. Last year I was doing business with an Englishman of position, involving a sum of £240,000. Suddenly he said to me:—"You must excuse me. I have a most important appointment in Scotland to-morrow—-shooting, jl must be off.’ And his £240,000 vanished into thin air. • Now, that would be unknown in America, and yet it is only a sample case here.” I referred to the recent shipping deals and the possible political complications. “Well,” said M* Yerkes, “I have no thing to do with thorn. 1 want to bring things to England, not to take away, and if I can improve things I wish to do so. I bring American money and utilise English money for the benefit of your country and people. I think the English understood this, for they are waking up. There willbe a very different feeling when your war is over. You are going to clear the atmosphere, reckon up with some people, and great changes in politics and business will take place. The rising generation will be industrious. The English are waking up, and—” They were, indeed. Big Ben boomed solemnly down the river the hour of freedom. I glanced at the opposite window. If you’ll believe me, before the throbbing notes had died into silence, those young men were .hurrying gleefully down the street, one of them stopping to purchase the latest “winner.” As magic a chan , was visible in the fascinating drain, whence all but the watchman had flgd. "The Americans are—” began Mr Yerkes. But my coat was on, my band was 6n the door knob. "Forgive me,” I murmured, “hut I have to go to a matinee and if I don’t hurry I shall be late. Pleasure before business.” And I had vanished. —By Raymond Blathwayt, in "Daily Express."