THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21668, 11 June 1932, Page 18

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

NEWS AND NOTES By J. T. Paul. Collective human wisdom will not control the inexorable march of events in the period immediately ahead. Many, perhaps most, of the adjustments that must he made before recovery can come, which might earlier have been made by deliberate policy, with so much less waste and cost, will now come from the pressure of hard facts and the collision of brute forces. —Sir - Arthur Salter, MR LANG’S RECORD. There are a few ill-informed Labour leaders in New Zealand who appear favourably disposed towards the Lang Plan and its author. Piece by piece his record is now being laid very bare and the Plan unclothed is even less inviting than when embellished by Mr Lang’s contradictory interpretations. In the electorate of Auburn Mr Lang is being opposed by Mr P. E. Coleman (Australian Labour Party) and the two Labour factions are fighting with the gloves off. The decision of the electors will be made to-day. Speaking a few evenings ago at Auburn, Mr Coleman said that although £7,000,000 per annum was raised by. the unemployment tax, there were far fewer men receiving unemployment relief work when Mr Lang went out than when he went in, although the tax had been increased fourfold.. It had been definitely proved, too, that even this limited amount of relief work had been distributed-amongst supporters of the Lang Plan, and the system of receiving jobs in the order of their registration at the Labour Bureau hid been absolutely disregarded, Hangers-bn of Langism, having found that the Lang Plan had worn itself out, had, said Mr Coleman, invented a new slogan, “ Lang is Right.” Was Lang right in splitting the Labour Party, in promising work, hut aggravating unemployment, demoralising industry, driving seven millions of money and hundreds of factories out of the Stdte, and bringing New South Wales to the verge of bankruptcy? Was he right in dancing to the piping of Garden and defaulting on his pledge to the workers; in paying his politicians in cash and allowing widows and children to receive bad cheques as liis Government tottered to its fall; in devoting the time of Parliament to debate on tin hare licenses; in finding rich jobs for his political friends, but no jobs for the great multitude of the unemployed? MR FORD’S PLAN. Some weeks ago Mr Ford intimated that every man with a family employed at the plant would he required to have a garden of sufficient size to supply his family with at least portion of its winter vegetables. Those who do not comply with the rule will be discharged. "The man too lazy to work in a garden during his leisure time does not deserve a job, says Mr Ford. “When the people of pur country learn to help themselves they will be benefited far greater than they would be by employment insurance. If our agricultural plan is adopted throughout the country the dole need never be thought of." According to an American paper, Mr Ford has informed President Hoover of “his considered scheme for lifting the country out of the doldrums. Industry is combined with agriculture in the plan explained at the White House and now being proved out in experience at the Ford Dearborn .plant. Men in factories would spend part of their time in smallscale, scientific farming, producing foodstuffs needed for the family table. A worker could thuii save 500 dollars a year on his cost of living. Mr Ford withholds details, hut indicates that the day of the dual worker is on its sure way—when the man with the monkey wrench will he also the man with the hoe.” BIG DOLE FRAUDS. Suspicious that impostors were operating on a widespread scale in connection with the distribution of the dole allowances in New South Wales were confirmed recently (says the Australian Worker), when officials of the Central Relief Depot at Sydney discovered that large-scale dole frauds had been perpetrated by men who professed to reside at various hostels and other institutions housing the unemployed. Recipients supposedly residing at these places were informed that there would be a check-up at the addresses given by them and that they were expected to be at home ” at a certain time one Friday afternoon, otherwise their relief would be stopped. Fifty dole inspectors were balled in from various depots to make the At one hostel only 24 out of a total of 90 recipients could be located. At another hostel only 58 out of DO could be found. Those who did not answer the call at the various hostels will be questioned with a view to action by the authoritiesr—that is, if they put in an appearance at the depot for dole relief. In connection with this matter (says the Worker of June 1). the Labour Daily last Saturday stated that “hundreds of, men who are drawing Government relief were * turned down 9 at the depot yes terday.” The Labour Daily did not state why thev had been “ turned down.’ Needless to sav. the Labour Daily made no mention of the check-up by the inspectors and what the check-up revealed. \ THE BEDAUX SYSTEM. The method of payment by results known as the Bedaux System oL Human Labour Measurement (inventecT by Mr Charles E. Bedaux, a Canadian engineer), was given prominence in Great Britain recently on account of a dispute between the management of the Wolsey Mills in Leicester and the trade union negotiating for the hosiery workers, , The company wished to introduce the Bedaux system, while the employees were against its introduction, and a lockout lasting several weeks was the immediate Bedaux measurement of labour is based on the principle that all human effort may he measured in terms of a common unit, that unit being made up of a. combination of work and rest, with the proportions dependent upon the nature of the effort and the subsequent relaxation required to compensate for it. As tasks vary, the ratio of work to rest within the unit varies,, but the unit itself remains constant. . In some respects the result of the dispute recently settled at the Leicester mills was a loss by the workers, but in other respects a distinct gain is recorded. The employees have secured a measure ot control in the fixing of the basic rate ot payment and of the standard output on wliich that rate is fixed. Following the lockout. the British General Federation of Trade Unions appointed a committee to inquire whether trade unions should welcome or oppose methods of measurement such as the Bedaux system. , , The committee’s report states that all such systems aim at labour intensification and that, in the interests of craftsmanship as well as health, trade union supervision of these systems and their effect should be admitted and "maintained. It says that whatever opposition this report may manifest is not against the Bedaux personnel nor against improvement in management or the introduction of machinery or the maximum use of machinery. The opposition arises from a definite and general belief that the methods adopted to stereotype liuninn capacities and to measure human effort are objectionable, while the provisions against immediate ami cumulative effects of the physical and mental strain imposed appear to be neither clearly outlined nor adequate. While, the report continues, it would be absurd to attempt resistance to all systematised methods of production, methods of arbitrary speeding-up produce dangers, not only to bodily and mental welfare, but also to the standards of human skill. / AS THE WORLD GOES BY. A writer in the Christian Science Monitor discusses the “ probable ultimate results of President Hoover’s urgent advocacy of a five-day week in the government service? He has himself offered it as an alternative to a flat cut in wages. It is generally known that the President is opposed to wage reduction as a remedy for financial and industrial depression.’* He says:—The President’s suggestion of a fiveday week is, roughly, equivalent to a wage reduction of 81 per cent., but with a compensatory provision of additional leisure. I think that he hopes that an example set by the Government of this sort may, in time, be followed by the business community generally. There is 1

no suggestion that the five-day week should be on the basis of six days’ pay. Indeed, were it established for the purpose of giving additional employment, and the employer put to an additional expense of one-sixth of hig labour cost weekly, there would be no justice in such a course. , But where employed to reduce production —being a recognition of the fact that the labour-saving machine has contributed so greatly to the enhanced efficiency of the employer’s plant that he can get the same gross product in five days and aL a cheaper cost per unit than under the old system in six—the working man should share in the saving. Henry Ford has recognised this fact—at least in his published utterances; whether it is quite so fully recognised in his pay rolls seems to be a matter of some doubt. At any rate, the Hoover advocacy of the five-day week, which seems likely to be_ accepted by Congress, plus the need for giving employment to more people by limiting the working hours of each, and plus, also, the necessity for curbing the tendency to over-production in a machine age, is almost certain to bring the fiveday week into general acceptance. And if, for the moment, it seems to bring commensurate reduction in the earnings of the workers, that may well be dismissed as a temporary hardship which, like the depression itself,_ is certain to disappear before the activity and ambition of the American people. Measured by decades, the tendency of wages is always upward—one need only study the/economic history of England fl ud the United States to he convinced of that. Wages to-day for the eighthour day and five and a-half-day week are well above what they were when 14 hours daily and six days a week were (he rule. And not only wages have increased, and _ the comfort and happiness or workers in normal times enhanced, but production and profits have likewise ii en multiplied. What helps one helps H ’ il ’ hat contributes to the well-being of the masses helps coincidently the classes and tends to bridge the gulf between them. Out of the efforts to heal the cruel hurt none by this prolonged depression it is wholly probable that there will come new social and industrial alignments that may make the year 1932 in future stand as the beginning of a widespread industrial regeneration.