Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1926. PRODUCTION AND WAGES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 May 1926, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS] THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1926. PRODUCTION AND WAGES.

That in the manufacturing industries of the United States the standard of efficiency is high, the production enormous, and the rate of wages superior to that prevailing in any other part of the world, has long been admitted. But the causes which have effected this very desirable combination are very differently stated. One authority will assert that America owes her superiority in industrial matters to those immense natural advantages with which she has been so favourably equipped. Another will declare that her success is due to the possession of a home market so vast that the calls upon industry which it needs must make are never-ending. But are these the real reasons? Consider the case , of Great Britain, a. case indeed which is forced u]:)On our consideration by the very grave industrial crisis with which the Old Country is now faced. The British Empire produces two-thirds of the world’s wool and rubber, nearly three-fourths of its tea and gold, and to all intents and purposes the whole of its jute. Great Britain has had the whole world for her market for a century, and during that period she has built up an organisation based upon unrivalled experience and continuous activity. Yet, with these advantages, surely equal in value to those possessed by her American cousin, why is she dropping .behind An answer to the problem lias just been provided by two young English engineers who recently toured the United States, and who have now• published the result, of their travels in a small volume entitled “The Secret of High Wages.” .Messrs Austin and Lloyd, the young authors referred to, declare that the success and efficiency of American manufacturing industries may be reduced to nine fundamental principes. These nine points of the new industrial gospel are only new to us because we have refused to listen to the teachings of that gospel before. In brief, these points are: (1) The “elimination of the ea ’ canny system.” and the acceptance bv both employers and employees of the principle of promotion by merit; (2) “Reduction of prices and increase of production;” wherever posible; (It) “Rapidity df turnover,” secured by simplification and cheapening of processes; (4) Endless keenness in utilising “time-saving appliances,” and the ruthless scrapping of plant and machinery whenever the slightest improvement can be effected by doing so: (5) Sympathy with the principle of “high wages” for tho reward of good work, and the placing of no limit upon the possible earnings of any man, whereby every incentive to personal exertion is granted; (6) “Co-operation between manufacturers” by the exchanging of ideas likely to benefit the industry, and

the consequent abolition of the silly and jealous obsession for “trade-sec-rets’'; (7) A continuous and strenuous “campaign against waste” in all its many forms; (8) “Consideration for the employee” in his working hours in respect tp- the light, cleanliness and conveniences of his surroundings; and (9) The encouragement of “research. ’