AMERICAN HONOUR AT STAKE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16035, 21 January 1918, Page 3

AMERICAN HONOUR AT STAKE.

PREPAREDNESS PLAITS ' PERFECTED. The,other day a “Colonist” representative had an interesting interview with Mr.'Andrew Deer, of Sydney, who is visiting Nelson in connection, with the Sheldon Institute of Business Science, of which he is governing director, on the subject of ‘‘America; and, * the War.” Mr- Deer has a 'first.-ha,n.d knowledge of his subject, having lived in the United States for seven years, during which time-he waa in charge, of two large organisations there, and, in consequence of his position was enabled to get in touch with the leaders in.different lines of effort. In J 1916 Mr. Deer made a special trip to America, in the interests of Australian financiers with a view to reporting' on certain manufacturing propositions, and on that • occasion h'e visited manufacturing concerns in thirty-one of the leading -.cities of the States. Even-at that early 'date, America’s plans were, laid, and , factories throughout the. States, even to the smallest: man ,hr the, country,, were, thoroughly organised, so that tto. moment the occasion demanded, as it did early last year, America could en,ter the war. i “I am convinced,” said Mr. Deer, “that-America, will he one: of the. de* termining factors in the present, war issue, and the reason for my belief, in this connection is that America evidently only went into it- when she found 1 that the interests of the States particularly. were imenaced to an extent, too great to permit of her submitting, and once having put her hand to the, plough there need not be the'slightest. fear on the part of England or her Allies.tua> America will be content with anything short of a complete peace—a peace . which will make possible the ehmmar tion of war for many decades, if not * for over. From, interviews X nsd wltix » representative Americans in 1916, X am convinced,” continued Mr, Deer, that the preparedness plans which they had even at that early .date..perfected, will make it possible for America to exercise greater power, lier population considered, in a much shorter space of time than any other of the belligerent, nations. The so-called Prussian efficient cy will be entirely outclassed by. the; American efficiency. Americans are almost past masters in the matter of eiiioient production, and to anyone who has read that interesting book, ‘Eclipse or Empire,’ it will not be necessary;for me to quote figures. However, it. is a, notorious fact that in America the, American workman produces from Ji to 3 times the output, of the British workman. This factor is hugely the result of the application of scientific man- ' agement plus 2i to 3 times the horse power per 1000 employees, and the very great willingness to scrap equipment in favour of something new. It is in this last connection that I believe will play a very great part in the war, for the reason that they- will not, hesitate to .scrap the incompetent. No red tape will ho allowed to interfere with - the completeness of the efficiency of the war machine. This,” said _Mr. Deer, “was recently exemplified by the prompt cashiering of the. man primarily responsible for the loss of a transport on its return to America. Without a single exception, business men are as. sisting iu and in many cases actually controlling large departments engaged in the war. They have realised that American honour is at more, ways than one, in the mere winning, of the war. The American official is very proud of his ability to achieve, and will leave no stone unturned the turn of which Fill jirove his case to the-world.