ARE THESE BAD TIMES?

Otago Witness, Issue 4039, 11 August 1931, Page 8

ARE THESE BAD TIMES?

CO-OPERATION TONIC By W. G. N. I was a guest at a Rotary lunch, one of the most representative of gatherings. At my table sat five members, each with his disc showing his club name and his occupation. On my left was Bunny, a well-known medical practitioner; on my right Ned, a furniture factory manager; while opposite were John and Charles, contractor and editor respectively. The address of the day had been on “ New Zealand-made Goods,” and naturally the over-the-pipe discussion turned to the hard times. The contractor, having dealt with his sweet satisfactorily, contemplated the clean plate with a dejected air, shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a terrible old briar. “ Times aren’t what they were,” he sighed. “And just as well,” puffed the medical. “ I prefer anaesthesia to agony. Don’t you, John?” “You’re right, Bunny. It’s just as well. You know, people talk about times being bad and the loss to trade caused by a slump in the prices of primary products. But when you come to think of it all, is this depression going to cripple industry permanently. Why, I reckon not.” < ' ■ “ Now, Ned, don’t interrupt. ’ I know you have been forced to run a big sale to secure ready cash, but just you look at it from this point. Take my line for instance. Four years ago 1 could land any number of good contracts. People had money to spe»d,

and we helped them. But everything wasn’t rosy. No, the trade unions are always causing trouble and needles holdups meant waste time and money. Then unions would’nt work in with each other. Bricklayers would puli down a scaffold rather than let carpenters use it a week later. Co-operation was lacking. Now, just last week we had a job and the bricklayers left their scaffold for the carpenters realising that the carpenters would do the same in their turn.' Co-operation. Now prices are fine and the men know it. Result? Why, everyone does his best, knowing that his work may spell the difference between profit and loss. Besides, there is a much better feeling in the trade. Everything is keen and no job too small. I reckon that this slump will improve the outlook of the building trade in the long run, I do.” “ Now that you speak of it that way,” growled Ned, “ things mayn’t be as bad as they look. I know that now, since the slump, we are able to turn out furniture at a lower rate than ever before. Of course timber is down, but even that does not tally with our reduced working costs. We’re economising right and left, everyone. The men are working better, too, I think. Before we were •more or less conservative in our methods of running the factory. Now, if any workman suggests an improvement, the matter is gone into carefully, and if it is at all practical, it is put into practice immediately. Surprising the number of improvements lately. They all lead to cheaper production costs in the long run.”

“ But those would surely have come without the slump?” asserted the medical. - “ May be, Bunny, but mighty slow in coining,” Ned grunted. “ You’re right, Ned. Quite right,” sighed the editor as he had to strike one of his own matches to light his cigarette. “We need mutual support and although profits are lean at present, I think we will all benefit in the long run. Bunny, you can wag your pipe very wisely, but let me tell you of something that you independent professionals cannot experience. To-day there is a new spirit of co-operation. Yes, new. Believe me, co-operation is the only thing that will pull us through these lean times.” He had spoken in short, sharp phrases at a great rate, like a machine gun rattling out a decisive message. There was a short silence. The doctor pulled at his pipe, found it was out, and put it in his pocket. “ My dear Charles,” he smiled, “ I’m afraid that you are like most others who think that co-operation between medicals is practically non-existent. If so, you are very much mistaken. I must admit these hard times have strengthened that co-operation, but, alas, our overhead expenses have altered very little. Yet we reduce our bills in times like these. Why? Well, a doctor is pretty low if he takes up his profession merely for pecuniary gains to be derived from it. Yes, I think during the last six months I have become more of the old family doctor and less of the commercialised specialist. You know, in a job like mine, I meet may different classes of people, and its a funny thing, yet I’ve found that the more difficulties there are to face, the keener people are to face them. So, apart from the commercial aspect altogether, I think that this depression has done some good, if only in waking the old fighting spirit in the lethargic and self-contented.” “ You’re becoming a philosopher, Bunny.” “ Can't help it in my profession.” “ And what do you think of it all! ” Ned asked me. “ I’m afraid I can’t speak from the point of view of a factory manager or a medical or anything big, but let me speak of a shopper, one of those petty customers who weary ambitious salesmen. I find that nowadays I have 10 per cent, less to spend, but certainly things are cheaper than in the full pay days. I find that, instead of a nonentity, I have become an important potential buyer. Whether I would buy a pound of sausages or a cheap seat at the theatre, my patronage is eagerlysought. lam constantly assured that no order is too small for immediate attention. lam flattered at first, but later expect such courtesies. Before 1 was delighted with reduced prices, but now, again, I expect them. The unemployed? Well, I may be a foolish optimist, but I think that after the slump more men than ever before will be employed in manufacture. Prices of luxuries have fallen, and that means, when wages recover, an increased demand and more men employed to meet that demand. But, speaking as a petty shopper, I ahi a man of new importance, thanks to lean times, and I appreciate it.” ’■ Scores of chairs scraped. The lunch was over. ■ I strolled into the bustling thoroughfare that seemed to roar of prosperity. I thought, of the leaders of commerce with whonf I had lunched, of their great Rotary Club and its motto, “ Service Before Self,” just another way of expressing co-operation. Would all the world was one vast Rotary Club!