Morning journal and courier., 1888-12-27
MODERN BUSINESS METHODS.


 cussed Before the Chamber of Com.
 aerce by Prof. PIatt-The Paper Pro-
 vokes a Good Deal of Discussion.
 The Chamber of Commerce held it's regular monthly meeting last night, and Prof. J. T. Platt, of the Yale Law school, read a very in- teresting and instructive paper on "Some modean business tendencies" Prof. Pratt briefly coptrasted the difference in the condi- ton of the laborer of the to day and that of thirty or fifty years ago.
 The liberal system of patents was cited as one of the reasons for some of the principal changes in the manner of work.
 The speaker had recently visited factory in which there were 1, 1850 persons employed, the majority of whom were young women and where most of the machinery was auto- matic The striking feature of the whole was the cheapness of the product. The con- dition of the young women, he thinks, is not superior to that of the average household domestic, although the girl in the factory has the benefit of severe discipline thereby ac- quiring regularity of habits, eloseness of at tention and carefulness.
 The great tendencies of the standardization of capital is in great measure to drive out the smaller manufactories. The telegraph, too,
  Years ago, as all are aware, it was differ ent For instance; on November 2S, 17o7, the ship Neptune of $50 tons burthen left the foot of Olive street for the south Pacific ocean on sealing cruise. The vessel had no cargo, and was owned by Ebenezer Town- send. His son was on the ship, which was commanded by Captain Daniel Green. When the Pacific was reached 80,000 skins were sold in Canton for $270, ,000. A cargo of teas, spices, etc, was then taken and brought to this city. The trip occupied three years, during which time the owner had not heard from the vessel. The profits were hundreds of thousands of dollars.
 In striking contrast Is the way deal was eonsummated recently. A we'll known agent in New York city telephoned to foreign merchant in the city that he would furnish him with certain amount of cotton cloth at certain price. The merchant telegraphed his agent in Shanghai, China, asking him If he could dispose of the goods at the price nomed. He received reply that the goods were already sold, so he accepted the offer of the cotton man. The startling fact about the transaction is that the cotton for the cloth had not been purchased at the time the goods were sold in Shanhai.
 A great tendency in the tremendous com petition of to-day ls the overproduct1on Of many lines of goods.
 To regulate this is the chief aim and end | of large combinations and trusts. In many cases these monopolies are the only resource of men wno otherwise would be forced Into l bankruptcy.
 One of the great effects of the rushing, | crowding methods of to day in the speaker 8 minds, is the tendency to make the mass of 1 ignorant men socialsistic.
 I So long as thing is made cheap the ques- | tion is not asked how it was done or by l whom.
 | Social changes are very rapid and old in- 1 stitutions quickly give way to new ones. The l danger often is that the desire for change may conquer wisdom.
 l The successful business man of to-day | must be bright to be successful; not necessa- | rily speculative but 8 man capable Of read | ing the future.
 | When the time came for discussion Presi- l dent Dewell spoke briefly on several points I touched on in the paper, notably the I'm. Il provement in machinery, and related that l not long ago he went into factory where ln one room was & woman tending machine that manufactured large paper boxes. He | asked the owner how many boxes the machine 1 was capable of aud he said as many as forty ! skilled girls could make. The invention cost l $5, 900. The natural question is what be ! comes of the other thirty-nine girlsa 1 Ex-Mayor Lewis spoke largely in the same | strain and deprecated the ever-increasing l power of monopolies and trusts. | G. A. Butler took the ground in very de- cided and positive speech that the labor saw ing machinery always is a benefit to the la
 borer and cited the vast improvements in the
 farm implements. He thought that thu
 prospects for active young men were nevel
 better, despite the ever-growing trusts and | combinations.
 Nathan Easterbrook gave his experienc'
 in refining oil at a loss and spoke a gooe
 word for the leading oil monopoly.
 The discussion became quite informal ane interesting before the close.