AMERICA AND ENGLAND

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 16

AMERICA AND ENGLAND

INDUSTRIAL CONTRASTS. MR CHARLES TODD’S TOUR. WELLINGTON, February 3. A striking contrast between the conditions in America and England was presented to-day by Mr Charles Todd, a prominent Dunedin business man and manag-ing-director of the Todd Motor Company, who returned a few days ago from an extended tour abroad. Throughout the United States, he said, there was evidence of prosperity everywhere, .while in Great Britain unemployment was rife and the country generally was in a bad way. Mr Todd considered England would gain her place in the forefront of industry and that British brains, pertinacity ano experience would win through. “In America,” said Mr Todd, “everywhere there is wonderful evidence of prosperity,. and the people are well dressed. This is particularly so in the older settled parts of the country—that is to say, towards the West and Middle West where there is not such a mixture of recent European arrivals, emigrants from Europe having not attained the same high standard of living as existed in America. In New York there are 1,750,000 Jews, a great number of whom are Russian Jews. In the city 32 newspapers in different languages are published. Some idea of the cosmopolitan nature of America may be gleaned from the fact that on the boundary of Chicago there is a city of Italians

bigger in population than either Romo or Naples. In regard to the growth of America, 12 years ago Detroit hail a population of 300,000 while to-day it is 1,600,000, 42 per cent, of which are employed in the automobile industry.” Mr _ Todd stated that the causes of America's prosperity were the result of many factors, the chief of which was the thorough understanding between the employer and employee. The latter did his best to produce as good a quality an article as possible, and the employer by apply-, ing scientific methods and the latest automatic machinery enabled the working man to attain big production under tne best possible conditions. Wages were on a high scale, this being possible because of- the factory production per capita, which, in turn, enabled goods to be sold at compara. tively small prices, and together with the fact that everybody received high wages, created big purchasing power, and finally resulted in a tremendous domestic demand for their own goods, only a 10 per cent, surplus being left for export. The wages received by the .American workmen, allowing for the difference in value in the exchange of the dollar, increased 36 per cent, between July, 1914 and January, 1925. : “As an instance of the increasing efficiency of automatic machinery,” added Mr Todd /‘one man’s labour 10 years ago had produced two cars in a year; whereas the-labour of one man to-day produced 10 cars in the year. An example of the alertness and efficiency of the people :is provided by he fact that .when ■ I left New York on August 6 of last year the excavations and the foundations/ .were being laid for a building in Broadway, while bn my return on December 22—four months and a/half,later— a 42-storey building had been erected and. completed on*

the site, and part of it was tenanted. Then, agaiit, in Detroit the additions to a factory, ■which were to cover 10 acres, with machinery and~equipment installed, had been carried out in 90 days.” The application of science to industry was in evidence in the States to a wonderful extent, and every factory of note had its chemical analysts and scientific and technical engineers testing the materials used in manufacture from every conceivable angle. Mr Todd said he had the opportunity of seeing steel under the microscope with the fibres running in a certain direction. These fibres by an improved process had been made to run in a slightly different direction, with the result that the same weight of steel had been made to give 15 per cent, greater durability. No unemployment difficulties were apparent in America. Everyone was willing to work, and everyone found employment readily. _ “Of course,” Mr Todd went on to say, “in America, as in other countries, there are some unemployed and a small proportion of idle rich, but a great percentage of tlie very rich men work very hard in their particular businesses. An instance of the prosperity of the United States is that most of the European immigration quotas are filled two years ahead, while the population of Canada has been at a standstill for the past eight years, the surplus from immigration and natural increase drifting across the border to America, where the wages are higher and conditions better; “On reaching England,” he said, “I was struck by the great contrast between the two countries. The coal strike had caused unemployment all over the country, ■while factories all over • the place were closed 1 down or forking ■ short time. 'The '■English'' industrialist is ■ rather' 1 conserva-

tive in adopting up-to-date methods, and the fault, in my judgment, is not so much with the working man as with the leaders of industry. These men have not kept in line with the American industrialists in employing automatic machinery as an aid to the human machine. Nearly every mechanic in America has four horse-power to aid him in production, whereas the Britisher has to depend too much on human exertion.” Mr Todd thought that now the coal strike was over England would wake up, and still find in a few years that British brains, experience and pertinacity would win out and place the Homeland again in the forefront of industry. Mr Todd spent six weeks in Europe and Northern Africa. “Europe,” he remarked, “is suffering from the after-effects of the war in common with Great Britain, but gradually the former’s trade and industry are being built up. Germany is following in the footsteps of America. Switzerland and Italy have great natural water resources which they are harnessing, and they are producing an abundance of hydroelectric power, while nearly all the railway services are propelled by electricity. The standard of living in Europe, as compared with _ Great Britain and the United Staets is much lower. In the Rhine Valley farming operations are conducted by women driving cows in the ploughs and other implements, while in the south of Italy the conditions are appalling. In Naples and the poorer districts the people are huddled together, there being a mixture of humanity, goats, insect pests and bad sanitation, which all went towards making a picture that was most depressing.” Mr Todd concluded by remarking that it was very pleasant to be back in the Dominion among its fine sturdy British

stock, and where the climatic conditions wei’e most favourable and congenial.