Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-11-07
A Factor in the Industrial Competition of
Nafinna

Factor in the Industrial Competition OF
Nations.
The following article which has appeared In
papers in Belgium, France and England, was
sent from this country for publication in Europe
by z. Rudolph Meyhoffer, who came from
Brussels international delegate to the
Young Mems Christian Association jubilee In
Boston last Jnne. He stayed long enough to
study industrial and educational conditions in
our leading States including the burning ques-
ton OF American trade conspiracy The con-
illusions of thisi article presenting glimpse OF
how "others see u.s. can not fail to be OF inter-
est to all American readers:
England and other European countries
are anxiously asking for the causes OF the
commercial supremacy of the United States.
A recent number of the English edition Of
the ReUiez0 of Rerieaus says
''Cassier's Magazine, IAN English period
ical), contains an interesting series of short
articles by some of the most prominent
engineers and business men in the United
States upon the question of American COM
petition
"Most of the writers agree in saying that
the American workmen is the chief agent
in enabling American manufacturers to
take first place in the world. Mr.. Walter
mcfarland, Of Pittsburgh, gives an i'm
portant reason for this. He says:-
''It appears that the American workmen
are much better time-keepers and far less
given to dissipation than those in Great
Britain. One of the best firms of British
shipbuilders, which has had no trouble
with its men for years, recently stated that
there is loss Of time amounting to nearly
20 per cent. due largely to drunkenness. If
anything approaching these fgueres is true
generally, there can be no surprise that
English firms open to competition from
well managed American works should have
hard time.'
In inquiring as to the cause of this
greater sobriety of the American, the fact
appears that twenty years ago business
interests in the United States paid no atten-
ton to the effect of the beverage use of
alcohol or of tobacco on working ability
About that time the now almost universal
study of physiology which includes with
other laws of health those which relate to
the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks
and other narcotics, began to be legal
requirement for all pupils in the public
schools of this country.
During the past ten or fifteen years the
children have been carrying from the
schools to the homes of the rs, 600, 600 peo-
pie Of the United States the story of the
evil nature and bad effects of alcoholic
drinks and other narcotics
AS result Of the diffusion of this knowl-
edge the railroads of the United States now
almost universally refuse employment to
men who drink whether on or off duty.
Hon. Carroll D. Wright's Labor Bureau
investigations show that more than seventy
five per cent. of the employers of skilled
labor in the United States require total
ahGtInnran of THAR
cent of the employers of unskilled labor
demand the same. These requirements,
the cordial acquiescense in them by the
employed, and the commercial supremacy
| which this knowledge helped to secure to
the United States, have been promoted by
the truth taught by the school, that alco-
holio drinks injure working ability.
The different reception given by work
men to the employers demand for absti-
hence where scientific temperance is not
taught in the public schools, is well illus
trated by the following incident.
The manager of the Borsig factory in
Germany recently posted an order forbid
ding the workmen to bring into the factory
beer or other spirituous liquors, or to drink
the same during working hours. The
workmen, numbering over thousand, held
meeting and objected to the order. The
next day they conspicuously carried in
their beer.
| During the excitement caused by the
order, pamphlet appeared by an old fac
tory official who affirmed that the use OF
alcoholic drinks was detrimental to the
laborers' own interest. He referred to the
cleverness and sobriety of the American
workmen which makes them able to dc
very exact and precise work, which he says
is not possible in German industry, because
of the drinking habits of the laborins
classes.
The American workman does not resent
the employers demand for abstinence be-
cause he has learned, often from his child
hood in the public schools, that alcohol moi
only dulls the brain, but weakens that
nerve control of muscle that is necessary tt
| the precision essential for fine work.
The nomination for knighthood of Sil
Hiram Maxim, the American born inventor
for his work in England, was one of the
last official acts of Queen Victoria. In ar
article in the June number of The World.
! Work, Sir Hiram furnishes indirect testi
mony to the same point. While describing
the results of the English trade unions, hi
adds
1.-The English workman spends great
| part OF his earnings in beer, tobacco, and
betting; he has no ambition" OF course
not, for beer in dulling the brain dull.
ambition. The american workman ht
says, wishes to get on; he accomplishes
great deal more work in a day than any
other workman in the world ''He does
not drink, - says another English writer.
England is beginning to see the difference
in results between occasional talk by tenn
perance advocates to school children anG
the systematic graded public school study
of this topic required by law in the United
i States.
j At recent meeting in Birmingham, ad
dressed by the Archbishop Of Canterbury
the presiding officer, Mr.. Edwin Smith
said
II I'VE are being beaten in skill-by
America. She has been lavish in spendin,
money In educating the brains of the PEG
pie while we have been lavish in poisoning
them. If we spent per head on alcoho
the same as America, our drink bill would
be about sixty-six millions (pounds) les
than it now is We cannot succeed com
mercially while we are handicapped in thi
way to the extent of AZ per cent. TIL,
great mass Of the working people in thi
country are totally ignorant of the effect o
drink" He said that England ought no
to leave the education on this subjec
merely to the temperance societies, bu
that it should be undertaken by tht
State. Surely if the State must encour-
age the traffic for revenue, it should in
fairness educate every child in Government
schools as to the nature and danger o
alcohol, and the benefits of total absti
nencen
i He added in closing
i IF the State will only educate the chill
dren against strong drink-England com
mercially may even yet be saved"
1t has been wisely said that "Industria
supremacy belongs to that country which
enjoys the cheapest materials, the mos
improved machinery, and the most efficien
labor"
i AS clear brains and steady nerves art