The evening times., 1899-05-08

| American workmen work and give good
| value for the money they receive, taking
few holidays, and do not shirk during
hours"
According to the observations OF the
American Consul, the British workman is
as much devoted to his holidays as the
| Latin to his feast and saint days. After
| bank holiday in England the manufactu-
rer is seldom able to get his plant in full
operation for ten days. Notwithstanding
the fact that the works may be crowded
with orders, the British workman declines
to surrender his holiday prerogatives.
Periods of Holiday Idleness.
"Will the facts that British engineering
firms are So busy that orders for locomo-
tives must go abroad and machinery and
many other things must be purchased,
whether from home or not, make any diff
/ ference?" confines Consul Halstead's re-
| port. Not bit of it, and there are six
holidays during the year. At Easter and
at Christmas, they come In pairs; SO that
| there are really four periods during the
year with from a week to ten days OF ma
| tional idleness; and during the fifty-two
weeks of the year there is on every Satur-
| day half holiday, which is SO universally
observed that even the repair hands in the
smallest bicycle shops lay off, and on this
great bicycle-riding day it is almost i'm
| possible after l O'Clock. to have the slight
| est repair made to bicycle, to replace
! lost nut, or buy a monkey wrench, bot
! tie of oil, pump, OF to get puncture
stopped; and with a percentage of work.
| ingmen Monday is another holiday, sort
OF Saint Recovery day.
THE introduction of American machin
cry had perhaps something to do with the
| engineering strike. 1t al any rate brought
matters to crisis, for the workmen were
! opposed to any kind of new machinery, be-
! lieyed in the one man to one machine
practice, made il difficult for a willing
workingman to do more than a minimum
of labor. and wasted from ten to twenty
minutes after the bell rang at the end of
the breakfast, the noon time, and the tea
| reCesSes. Now, there are hundreds OF
| American time clocks in British factories;
| but good salesman of American machin-
cry is still very careful about guarantee
| ing an output of over two-thirds of what
his figures might be at home.
THE engineering strike has proved ad
vantageous to foreign competitors. The
slate strike introduced -machined,
| well-colored American slate; and believe
some OF it is sold here now. The Welsh
coal strike of last summer made American
coal competitor of British in Mediterra-
mean and South American ports. Strikes
here are not based so much on wages as
on factory friction"
Inroads of American Goods.
| The Daily Mall is prone to lecture
the British workman for his apparent in
| difference to the inroads of American COM
| petition. Mr.. Halsteads report contains
a number of clippings from the columns Of
that newspaper, among them being one
which says in part:
only recently. a huge order for steel
rails has gone to America which should
| have been placed here. The London agents
| OF the American firms were on the alert,
| with the result that this fat little order
| paid for with the money of British capi-
| talists for railway in a British colony
has gone to the famous firm of Carnegie, OF
| Pittsburg. United States of America.
The lowest irreducible quotation of the
Middlesbrough firms was 15s. ts3.64) ton
higher than Carnegie's. The buyers thus
save some 20 per cent-and who can blame
| them? and the American people receive
; an addition to their spending power Of
some G20O, 600, showing their wisdom. In
addition to the order for rails the same
: firm is supplying all the accessories re-
| quired, such as fish plates. spikes. nuts.
! and bolts. their prices for these being ac-
| tually about one-half of the lowest British
| makers.
Like our German rivals. the Americans
! readily adapt themselves to the require
| ments and circumstances of the people for
whom they cater, and willing depart from
the beaten track to meet the requirements
of their customers; but their principal ad-
vantages undoubtedly lie in better ma
chinery and better labor; and, to be fair.
| Brother Jonathan is not hampered by the
| exactions of his workmen to the same ex-
| tent as his British confrere. The Ameri-
can workman works harder during the
| hours of work, and piecework governs him
more than his fellow workman in this
| country.
| Recently, an English maker of plows
and implements found his business drift
| ing steadily to America. He opened his
morning mail bag only to find an increas-
| ing number of bills and fewer orders. Ruin
seemed so imminent that he determined to
sail across and find out on the spot how it
| was the Americans undersold him. He
called upon one of his leading rivals on
landing and told him frankly the object
| of his visit.
"The American expressed every willing
ness to show the Englshman over his
/ works. and guessed they had better begin
at the beginning and go right through.
| In the first shop they entered six machines
were humming merrily at their work, all
of them being operated by one workman
| That is enough for me, said the English
maker; I don't want to see any far
| ther. In our country I should be compelled
| by the trade union to put man at each
of those machines, and perhaps boy to
help him, or shut up shop The subject
presents serious questions for the British
| workman and the British manufacturer,
and conditions which will not be solved
by strikes or trade unionism-or even
boards of conciliation."
In conclusion, Consul Halstead makes the
following interesting statements:
"The present plasterers' strike would
offer good opportunity to introduce
stamped-steel ceilings and walls, IL any Of
our concerns had a really good selling
agency in London. No set of workmen, in
the opinion Of builders and architects,
have been so unreasonable as the plas-
terers, and IL the matter were properly pre-
sented there might be found a readiness
| to do away with the surface or finish plas-
terings and substitute the easily attached
| steel finish.
Pryinx Into American Factories.
"In one clipping above, the story is told
of the British manufacturer who had gone
over to the United States to see for him.
self what was going on there. There is a
good deal of that thing done now. both