The Washington times., 1901-07-21
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~
an American joke contained in this para
graph will cause American readers t
smile.
The idea which the author seems t
have of our workmen is that they ar
paid more, and earn more, than tn
British artisan because of their iutclli
gent interest in the work and their in
dividual enterprise. He says that tn
money they take would make most Eng
lish engineering works managers vince.
In regard to English labor, as compare'
with that of America, the author says:
THE great army of skilled mechan-
les in this country are considered a
tower of industrial strength, but per-
haps they may also prove a source
of weakness; and here it may be
pointed out that great manual deX-
terity by no means indicates a high
state of civilization, but perhaps
rather the reverse. The ivory carv-
ingS of China, and even the flint i'm
plements of prehistoric man. are in
stances in point. Before planning ma
chimes, milling machines, and emery
grinders were invented. the mechan-
les who chipped surfaces with the
chiscl, and filed them smooth by hand.
posse ssed a manual deNteTity that
seems to be fast disappearing. Rude
as many of the early steam engines
are to our eyes, it is doubtful whether
they could be produced now with the
appliances then in use. Any lad fresh
from school can learn to attend a
milling machine in few hours, and
VIII produce surface that could
hardly be eXcelled by a man with
hand tools who had spent half a life
time in acquiring manual deXterity.
A great many English artisans who
go out to the United States find that
the first thing they have to do is to
forget they are skilled mechanics
Some refuse to learn the lesson. and
they either go to the vail or go home
again. The majority. however, con-
form to the situation. and mold
themselves to the new conditions in
manner they would never do in Eng
land. The man who has the sense to
do this will generally rise, and then
his wider knowledge stands him in
good stead. His early training has
been in shops where specialization is
not carried to the extent it is in
America. He is not a mere machine
mindsr, and so it often comes about
that he is chosen foreman, because
his more comprehensive knowledge
enables him to exercise jurisdiction
over wider field.
ION the other hand. / have found
the majority of the most highly skilled
mechanics in America, such as are
employed in the tool-rcoms TO be
educated in America. The reason for
this it is difficult to give, but proba-
bly, that superior education-to use
the word in its widest sense-,.f the
American workman enables him to
think more closely. and to study how
best to develop manual dexterity: for
after all. what We call manual dex-
terity is largely matter of brain
power.
The author is emphatically opposed to
-ades unions as they exist in England,
nd he seems to have an idea that there
nothing of the sort in this country.
e gives as an example of the mischief
hich the trades union principle mis-
pPlied may do. the story of the Thorny-
-oft boiler. in which two English asso-
ations, the Amalgamsted Engineers
1ciety and the Boilermakers' Society,
CURE. The tale runs as follows:
The Thornycroft boiler as is well
known. is made chiefly of pipes, whilst
ordinary boilers consist ma My of steel
shells riVeted together. 1t is the bust
ness Of filters TO join pipes. and when
Mr. Thornycro1t first made mis- water
tube boiler he gave filters the work.
This went very well for time, until
the boilermakers woke up and declared
that men not of their union should not
make boilers. Very Well said Messrs.
let the boilermakers take
over the work as soon as they can learn
how to do it,. Here. however the
Society of Engineers. of
whom the filters form d branch,
stepped in, saying: No; pipes are
pipes, whether in boilers or out of
them. and We claim all pipe work. II
you let boilermaker touch pipes. We /
20 CUT The boilermakers were equal
y emphatic. If you let filters touch
boiler work we boilermakers Will go
,ut.' AS either alternative meant stop
ping the business of the yard, Messrs
begged the unions to set
lie the matter between them; but this
he unions would by no means do. At
he time the dispute arose there were
several boilers competed for foreign
Government, and these the makers
we're under penalty to deliver by a GER
ain date. The boilers only required
esting. but testing is a job that must,
according to the rules of the unions,
De done by the same men who do the
work. Therefore the boilermakers
would not let the filters make the test, I
md the filters would not let the boil
make the test Matters went
m in this way for some weeks PEN
ilties accommodating, and the foreign
government getting more and more |
rate, for they wanted their boilers
,adly. Messrs. Thornycroft. therefore,
made the suggestion that both sides
should be paid for doing the work,
whilst the actual test should be made
~ clerks and craftsmen. by mem
,crs of the firm. by anyone in fact
or the operations are of the simplest
nature. But this also could not be
greed to. 1t would both side, join
d in saying-and it was the only
greement they came to throughout
be putting unqualified men on to our
york So this comic opera dispute.
which was anything but Comic to the
rm, went on for over two months.
ntil the contractors. seeing no chance
Dr solution of the problem. ordered
ne party 10 make the test. whereupon
he other side promptly went out on
nov fit the pipes together
r whether the piIefitters fit the boiler
ogether. / am not quite sure, but /
hink the boilermakers won"
is rather interesting TO remember. In
lnection with this Gilbertian incident,
It in New Zealand English colonists
We succeeded in evolving an arbitra-
n system by which such performances !
this related to have taken place in the
ther country can be absolutely avert
CNew York: Harper & Bros. 81
Recent Fiction.
The Middle Five" by Francis La
.sche is a most simple and unpreten-
us account OF the way in which Indian
Us at school work. play. and employ
mselves generally. The author is him
( an Indian of the Omaha tribe. and
S little book is almost entirely auto
eraphy. 1t is chiefly valuable as proof
the utter uninterestingness Of the half
Gated aborigine. These Indian young
RS, in their paternal lodges, or wander
on the prairie. might be extremely
turesque and fascinating; gathered in
school. dressed in blue uniforms, and
sing broken English, they are nothing
The kind. When there is so much that 7
in the world, it seems I
her a pity to add to it, and there ap- O
RS to be no reason why an Indian {
.nt lcnrt, his Z {, in the nlnt hes his | =