The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-04
LABOR IN UNITED STATES.
Some Statements Made by Mr.. West
fnghOuse to an English Audience.


fnghOuse to an English Audience.
New York Letter in Philadelphia Press
One reference Mr.. Westinghouse made
seemed greatly to interest the distinguished
Englishmen who listened to his address
He stated that in the United States we had
always been short-handed with respect to
labor. AS result, we have been obliged
to find mechanisms and ways whereby one
man may accomplish the work of two or
three men as compared with the product
that comes from the English nations
I'VE have had the best men from Europe,
Englishmen, the patient, technical German,
and the enthusiastic and Inspiring French
artisan, skilled men, architects, men wor-
thy to rank with those of professional at
tainments. and for that reason have been
able to combine their experience and have
accomplished results unattainable in a
country where there is more labor than can
be well kept occupied"
When Mr.. Westinghouse spoke Of Presi-
dent Schwab, now one of the men of high
repute the world over. there was intense in
| interest on the part of his hearers to know
in what association that name was to be
used. He was to speak in part of some of
the personal qualifications that have placed
Mr.. Schwab not only in the first rank but
almost first in the rank of the directors of
great industry, theoretically showing to the
distinguished men of affairs of England
some Of the differences between American
| methods of direction and operation
and; and those hos , that distinguished Eng
ScnWab as peculiarly competent,
strikingly original and successful in
his management of men and his mar
oh of l.a1i <1ff
they would respond instantly as a giant
| piece OF machinery does to a single touch.
Mr.. Westinghouse knows we'll whereof he
| speaks, so that there can be no question of
| the accuracy of his statement i'm this adj
dress, that if Mr.. Schwab made the merest
suggestion as to the use of new apparatus,
| of an old mill and the putting up of a new
one, then Mr.. Carnegie instantly acqui-
esced and this revolution was ordered
AS a result of methods of that kind Mr..
Westinghouse said that the mills at Home
stead produced with four thousand men
three times as much steel as the Krupp
works produced with fifteen thousand men.
Had any one of less authority than Mr..
Westinghouse possesses made that state
| ment to a company of Englishmen il would
have been doubted. 1t was accepted when
he made it, and it furnished a wonderful
illumination whereby was made clear some
of the influences that are making the
United States world power. To illustrate
somewhat in detail Mr. Westinghouse spoke
of the remarkable employment of electric
ity at the Homestead mills. 1t cost much
to install electricity, both the direct cost of
| equipment and the discarding of expensive
apparatus that had been earlier employed,
but now, Mr.. Westinghouse said, ii is pos
Sible to see in the room containing steel
melting furnaces three men mounted on
| car with the charging apparatus moved by
electricity. Only three or four movements
are necessary to the contrivance. These
three men are able to charge twenty fur
| naces, whereas, before the use of electric
| ity. 200 men would have been needed for a
lilo mt Of nrLr
| One of Mr.. Westinghouse illustrations
| inspired the Englishmen to laughter. He
stated that in the vast yard of these works,
where the metal is piled in stock, a system
| of overhead cranes was in operation where
| by prodigious weights are lifted and moved
about and energies involving nobody but
| the expert knows how many horse power,
yet all this without one man exerting him
| self half as much as am now" This was
| the only suggestion that this remarkable
| address by Mr.. Westinghouse was costing
| him any effort.
| Mr. Westinghouse described a visit of
some of his English friends to Homestead.
Mr.. Schwab himself escorting them around
| the place He took them into one place
where $50 tons of plate Orders are turned
out each day. They found that the fur
naces were fed by natural gas; therefore,
| no stokers were required. They saw a con-
| trivance like a battering ram in front of
! the furnaces. Two men were sitting there
| almost deserted Suddenly there came
| a confusion of sounds; truck approached
with MASSIVE lngot. No one touched IL.
| A gigantic pair of tongs came like magic
| along, picked the ingot up. placed IL on the
| roller table, and various apparatus adjust
| ed il to its appropriate place, even the ad-
| justing screws of the rolls being operated
| by electricity.
There were only seven or eight men in
| the place, and they seemed to be doing not
| a bit of work. They were, however, skilled
| artisans, and they were, without exhaustive
| labor. directing this vast mechanism. They
| found in the room where the furnaces were
| lad sitting in box called the pulpit By
| no more exertion than the use of his fingers
| ne caused any furnace door 10 open. cars
| to approach, take out of the furnace a
| white-hot ingot, which was automatically
moved to its work. And when his English
/ friends saw this they said: England has
no chance in competition with such meth
DDS"
| This address of Mr.. Westinghouse was an
| object lesson. The thought that was behind
| his words was even more impressive than
| the simplicity, clearness and graphic force
| of expression which this great scientist and
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