Evening star., 1902-08-23

gineer. and the total cost has been more
than two and one-half million dollars.
The English railroads are sending their
engineers to America to study our railway
methods. and l understand that a commits
sion OF English factory men will shortly
go from Liverpool to the United States to
make careful investigation of our plants
along special lines.
In a recent letter to the London Times
Mr.. Lawrence of the house of commons
writes long statement as to the causes of
England's loss of trade, in which he says
that ii is largely owing to the use of anti
quated machinery. He gives an instance
in his own factory. saying that while on a
visit to America he discovered that we had
more economical machines than his own,
and that when he returned he broke and
threw upon the scrap heap tools which had
originally cost $1S5,000 His associates OBJ
jected al the time. but they had since found
he was right, for owing to that change the
company has paid dividends amounting to
over eight million dollars.
British Engineers Who Graduate in
America
Indeed, 1t is fast becoming quite the thing
to send the graduates from the technical
schools here to the United States for prac-
teal training. This Is what the British
Westinghouse Company did with fifty young
Englishmen whom they are now using in
their Manchester works. They sent them
to Pittsburg to learn Westinghouse meth
DDS, and the managers say that when
so trained they become more efficient than
the Simon Pure American.
In a speech at Wolverhampton Lord
Rosebery recently mentioned how a certain
factory had selected from the public
schools number of young men having
some knowledge of electricity and
gineering and, at its own expense, had sent
them to America for a two years appren-
ticeship in our workshops to qualify them
to be superintendentS foremen of its
shops in England.
In short, the. English factors are now
doing what the Japanese government has
been doing for twenty years with hundreds
of its promising young men; that is, send
ing them abroad to learn how to do busi-
ness. The German manufacturers have
long been doing the same thing. You find
Germans everywhere studying trade and
trade methods. Indeed, it has come to such
a pass here that many of the English shops
refuse to employ Germans even though
they can get them for nothing.
As to sending men to the United States
up to the present time. this has been done
by the most enterprising firms The aver
age British manufacturer is still in his
Rip Van Wrinkle sleep, although he is be-
ginning to stretch himself and dream of
waking up. The most of the class stick
to their old machinery and old methods.
They insist on doing business their own
way and appear to think that they can
grandfathers used because their grand
fathers prospered This is one of the chief
causes of the decline Of British industry.
Some Of the Troubles of British Labor.
In a previous letter 1 referred to the
difficulty which Mr. Stewart, the Ameri-
can who built the Westinghouse works.
had in getting his bricklayers to lay more
than 450 bricks day. The same difficulty
exists as to all classes of English labor
The factory men complain that every work
man tries to do as little instead of as much
as possible in the time he works He goes
on the principle that there is only so
much work to be done and that what is
not done today will have to be done to-
morrow, and also. that if he does all the
work there will be none left for his fell
lows The amount of work expected of
each man in many cases. which is fixed
by trade combinations, is the amount possi-
BILE for the weakest and LATEST. The mini
mum wage-that is, that all members of a
certain trade shall receive a fixed amount
per day without regard to the relative value
Of their labor-is upheld, and the rule of
one man to machine is fought for.
English Strikes and Their Cost.
Strikes and lockouts are common. and
hundreds of thousands of people are affect
ed by them every year. 1 have before me
the figures of such strikes for the year
1900. They numbered 64S and 1SS.OOO people
were involved in them. The total loss of
work amounted to more than three million
days, or in round mum bers cutting out the
Sundays, to the work of one man for about
ten thousand years. Reckoning the DAYS
at eight hours and the wages at only six
pence or twelve cents an hour the loss in