The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-03-17
ADOPT AMERICAN METHODS.
Manufacturers, Farmers and the Ger
man People I'm General Are
Taking to Our Ideas

A query frequently raised by the
German press is how American manu-
tacturers paying wages at least twice
as high as are paid in Germany, are
able, in many cases, TO produce their
wares cheaper than they can be produced
here.
The solution of this question is GER
tainly before the German manufac-
turer as never before. He sees that
the cheaper raw material and bound
less natural resources of the United
States furnish only partial answer,
and that the real solution is to be
found in a manufacturing system that
rejects traditional methods-a system
the keynote of which is to lessen the
cost of production; that consigns ma
chine to the scrap pile as soon as bet
ter one is to be had. and in turn con-
signs that one to the scrap pile when
occasion demands-a system that offers
constant incentive to each man con-
nected with the manufacturing plant to
bring out the best that is in him.
The advantages of such a system have
been again and again referred to by the
German press during the past year. II
will undoubtedly be the standard toward
which, in the future, the German manu-
facturer in all lines will strive. He
has already accomplished much in this
direction. How rapidly and to what ex-
tent he may further advance remains to
be seen. He will have the advantages
of widely diffused technical training
among the German people. the product
of flexible school system which readi-
ly adapts itself to the needs of manu-
featuring and commerce; workmen who
specialize easily and who are patient in
the mastery of details. In some cases
he will perhaps be hampered by the
tendency Of an academically trained
class in a shop to discourage the ad-,
vancement of those not so trained
Whatever change of scope or method
may occur in the future of German
manufacturing, without question, the
United States will be the model whose
methods will be chiefly studied and
whose machinery will continue most in
demand. Our manufacturers should be
able to show that their machinery Of
fered for sale here embodies the latest
improvements. If the fact can be dem
onstrated by actual experience that GER
tain classes of machinery cheaper the
cost Of production Is, 25 or SO per cent.
over other machinery now in use, that
fact VIII more than ever before commend
such machinery in this market The ex-
act conditions as to skill of workmen,
hours of labor etc. under which such
reductions of cost are made should be
clearly stated, but not overstated.
No intelligent observer in this part
OF Germany can fail to have noticed the
recent changes in methods and appli-
ances that have been going on in every
department OF business as we'll as in
other fields
Farm machinery is rapidly taking the
place of hand implements In a small
area of southwestern Germany the num-
Der of American farm implements sold
each year runs well up into the thou
sands, showing how the scythe and the
sickle are giving way to the mower and
the harvester. Modern creamery appli-
ances have gone into every cattle-rais-
ing locality. Wood working and iron
working machinery are forcing hand
work to the rear. Hotel elevators
scarcely to be found at all few years
ago-are now used in all the better Ger
man hotels. 1t is but a few years since
large apartment houses. with handsome
stone fronts, had neither steam heat nor
modern sanitary. plumbing. Now all
such houses are supplied with both
The German porcelain heating stove
bids fair to- disappear before the heater
and the base-burner
The suburban dwelling house, stand
ing apart with large yard and garden, is
modern innovation in many parts Of
Germany. A half dozen years ago
Mannheim had scarcely single one
To-day 1t has dozens of them, costing
from $4,000 to $4,000 each.
In footwear, in American fashion
plates in tailor shops and American pat
terms in dry goods stores, in the use Of
oatmeal and other breakfast foods, in
the popularity of grill rooms and grill
room cooking, in the use of rocking
chairs (now offered for sale in every
first-class furniture store), in an entire
revolution of dentistry and dental ap-
planes. in the increasing popularity of
life insurance among well-to-do bust
ness men, and in countless other things
are to be seen the changes that are TAX
ing place.
H. w. HARRIS
Our Sulphate OF Copper in Austria.