The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-10

II Is due to Is that the American employer has
fewer deadheads to carry about, and lis cap,
adaptable and assimilatiye, less hldebound In
their methods, less prejudiced in their conceits,
tive"
Tho real test Of effective Industrial com.
petition, sccoEding to Mr; Burns, was to be
in the cost per ton, the price per horse power
competitor is he who harnesses short hours
and high wages to skilled supervision, good
design, economic working, uelitarian and vary
ing demand of customer"
Workmanship that had been claimed for Ameri.
Gu, the Socialist member for Battersea wrotc:
'The fact is that excellence of workmanship
goes hand in hand with new and skilled meth.
DDS, high.class machinery. and intelligent, high
paid, well'trcatcd workmen. short hours OF em-
ployment, and where these condit ons exist
there trade drifts. American machine tools
which | have worked are often superior to
British machine tools, because they have a
minimum of weight for a maximum OF versatile
utility and universally of output, They are
designed to occupy less space, their running,
lighter design. In a word, where American
engineering excels British is not because OF tho
shortcomings OF the British mechanic, but il Is
because Of tho wooden-headcd, often pig
headed, character Of employers and Of man
ayers as and tor 1af ,s0,r who 1so, are TOO often
Of eay' bullying aiRiiilsE s nnd diving tGT aG0 t RBSiihs' mean. 'Gafi1 HsH
skilled American supervision and inventive
methods with British mechanics work therein
which would be the best in the world,
the financial aid rendered from abroad, Burns
concluded with a welcome to the Duke OF Nor
a settlement of tho difficulties; Of him Burns
said: He sees that the greatest enemy TO the
future of B%ritain's safety at home and abroad
defyin9 the law, grinding the faces of the poor,
militarizing industry, and by mere money and
coercion overriding the inclinations of the best
emDlOycre and resisting the human and mOdpr-
A contributor, evidently British, wrote to
who was interviewed in tho Times may be fair
game for the inNoctive Of Mr.. John Burns. but
says that the points really at issue are not once
touched in his long communication"
The chief facts established by our Ameri.
can friend this correspondent, MIR. James
Armand, went on to say. were that the engi.
neers in his country worked ten hours a day,
had, higher wages and did not hamper the IN.
PRODUCTION or the working of labor-saying ma
chinery.'
Then he paused to oil up and to swoeten tho
the rest tf the Americans interview was mat.
ter of opinion. or the familiar outcome OF that
Compartment Of the Stars "a and Stripes"
MIR. Armand Is conservative, and, while he
does not oppose an eight-hour day he pointed
the pending dispute in the engineering trades.
The truth is that we have arr led ut a stage"
he said, when the greatest circumspcction Is
REQUIRED and when every step should be taken
with the utmost care. I would like to be al.
lowed to repeat that, so far as the comfort OF
that an eight-hour day. with drive and hurry
and espionage and no proper time for meals,
may easily DO q worse thing for them than a
nine-hour day without these Accomplishments,
and without the opportunity OF oyertine; and
this apart altogether from The effect 1t might
In some editorial comment on the English.
American conversation, the Times said, partly
quoting the anonymous American: 1T Is stated,
and the fact cannot he denied. that American
machine tools, by hundreds OF thousands Of
dollars worth. are sent, freight paid, for thou
sands of miles across the ocean,, 70 England,
Germany France, Russia, Japan and China.
and it is difficult to resist the contention that
this simply means the success of free and in
telligent labor, well paid
We are not sure that even the most intelll.
gent foreigner can DO as certain Of understand
ing what has hapepned or Is happening il. our
industries as he can DO OF discerning what has
come to pass in his own branch OF business.
organization and the working OF American in-
dustry, there Is no reason why we should DO in
different to the discerning criticisms and the
wholesome advice OF those who know how in
dustrial enterprise has been made TO flourish
on the other side OF the Atlantic ami who are
quick to perceive the weak points OF their COM
AS showing how it is that the engineers have
been able to keep up the battle SO long, for five
cial representative in London Is said TO have re-
celved q 900 or upward. On the fifth day he re-
ceived 81, 100. The contributions came mainly
from unions of other trades.
An Instructive letter was published by the
London Association OF Engineering Employers
ID the latter part of september from Messrs.
Joseph Richmond e. Co., and IT was reprinted by
the Times. 1t was originally written TO an
cited some Of the drm's experiences with the
day for which the engineers are
contending. In part, it is as follows:
ION Saturday week last we called our men
together and gave them u fortnight's notice to
the effect that we could not go on any longer
under the existing conditions ia forty-eight-
lOur week.. and That Oh SATURDAY.. the 10Th
inst, We should revert to the ttty-tour.hour
week. The result has been that practically all
our men, unionist and non-unionist, laborers,
as well as members of the AmalSamated So
Giety, of Engineers, have handed in notices.
watching most closely the effect OF the eight
hour day In our shops and on the cost of pro-
duction. and We are sorry to say that We could
OF the fact that, instead of the men doing
more work per hour. I'VE do not say moro in
they are doing less, and our books amply show
this, as a great deal OF our work is OF u special
description and such as VIC are constantly
reproducing. IL is consequently an easy mat
ter to draw comparisons, and our books show us
that the work has cost far and away more than
eight and u tifty-four hour week. Ii absolute
figures or extracts from our cost books would
be OF any service TO you we should DO glad TO
furnish such, or show you or representatives
OF the Masters Federation the actual entries
and memoranda OF the work carried on in our
works during the last three months"
The T mes gives space TO two other letters on
the situation. both OF which shed light on the
lanor dispute; one principally on its causes. tho
other chiefly on its effects. The one is from a
writer mHnitestly with the employers. and
from Birmingham. The other, from an
engineer, not only pictures windy some OF the
results oil the strike, but dummies the methods
or the unions and sets forth figures indicating
that In the twelvemonth prior to the strike the
men in the engineering trades were In the main
reasonable progress. The birmingham
man said, after declaring that tn real issue in
the dispute had been concealed by a great lot OF
matter:
The cause OF the struggle is that the trade
unions have interfered i'll the management Of
the works by their owners aud have ordered the
owners TO make serious changes in their man
under threat Of compelling the work
men to strike.
The trade unions have ordered the owners
to employ tull.price mechanics TO work certain
tools that can be worked by junior
hands or laborers, and arc 80 worked IN other
THE trade unions have ordered thu owners 10
work each machine tool by IA separate man. in
stead Of one man working two or three machine
tools simultaneously, rs Is done in other coun'
They have ordered certain foremen to be
discharged because not under the control of
the trade union,
They have ordered the speed OF turning out
work from certain machines 10 be limited below
their full capacity for the purpose OF !ncreas.
Inn NbA NNH al ~ A-ls.--