PROSPERITY OF U.S.A.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16811, 1 June 1926, Page 14

PROSPERITY OF U.S.A.

SIR D. HOGG ON EFFICIENCY. ~ FISCAL ADVANTAGES. 'Sir Douglas Hogg, the AttorneyGeneral, was the guest of the London Association for Protection of Trade, Ltd., at their annual luncheon. Sir Samuel Scott (president of the association) was in the chair. The Attorney-General, proposing the toast of "The Association," referred to the remarkable growth of the organisation, which had become not only a national but international institution, with offices in various parts of Europe. The London Association, lie suggested, was far too narrow a term for their organisation. The promotion and development of trade formed the most deflnite note in their activities. He had been talking to a leading industrialist who had just returned from the United States, and he had been reading a book written by two British engineers who had been studying the secret of the success of the United States in its business development, and he found that both in the book and in the experience of his friend what they had noticed in the United States was the abundant prosperity that nation enjoyed and the tremendous faith which the American had in success. He did not mean the worship of the dollar, but rather the confidence in cfllciency, the recognition that success was the hallmark of efficiency, and an unrelenting determination that whatever was inefficient must be wiped out of their industrial process. Efficiency was the keynote of American success, and lie could not help thinking that we had something to learn from the United States. The Americans had found out the right method of increasing production and reducing costs, and by doing so had encouraged in their home market an increasing demand fur goods, which had enabled lh6m to extend the principle of mass production and thereby enabled i.hem lo lowe costs and capture the foreign market". That cycle was one that required development in this country. While we had not all the advantages of the United States —her amazing natural resources, and the advantage, to his mind, of having a monopoly of her own market owing to a sane fiscal policy—we could, nevertheless, learn from the Americans the secret that the development of trade lay in making it more efficient. Our future prosperity depended on the prosperity of our trade, and any organisation which tended to make trade more efficient was one. which deserved well of the nation. (Cheers.) Scope of the Association.

The 84th annual meeting of the Association preceded the luncheon. The president, in moving the adoption of the report, said some idea of the enormous increase in the scope of the Association could be formed from the fact that during the last six years the annual income had increased from £12,902 in 1919 to £28.298 in 1925. Hi; referred to the amalgamation and affiliation of a number of trade societies with the association, and indicated that the name of the Association might have to be changed in the near future. in some quarters they were looked on as a debt-collecting and status inquiry agency, but their scope was far wider than that, and it might be necessary for the committee to call a special meeting in order to consider a change of name. In the last 20 years they had' built up a world organisation, with one great policy in view—the promotion and protection of trade. Referring to the present unfortunate state of trade, lie said that no one could say that the prospects were likely to be good unless labour unrest ceased. He quoted the following pas:>uge from an article in the Times:— "The facts lead to the unavoidable conclusion that not by strike or partisanship, but only by united effort, can the nation find a solution of the pressing needs of industrial life." He hoped that the counsels of the wise might override the counsels of those who wished to create chaos and bring this country to ruin; and not only bring the country lo ruin but ruin the very people they pretended lo represent. In the report, which was adopted, an indication of the usefulness of the special department of the Association was given by examples of services rendered to members during the year. These included the finding of a working manager for a small factory, escorting a member's daughter from London lo Southampton, buying a hat for the wife of a member, and tracing where water from the Jordan could be purchased. Sir Samuel Scott was re-elected president and Mr Duncan Watson was elected vice-president for the ensuing year.