The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-04-06
The Commercial
Economist.
a New Type Of Expert Whom the
Manufacturer Employ5!

Htne hdh mere, going through the car
rage ana shear factories operated by the
Biees syndicate. overhauling books peer
ing into machines and asking All sorts
OF questions Of foremen and workmen.
ne wears gold spectacles and affects a
dainty silk handkerchief, with which he
wipes them as he interrogates the men,
Now and then he figures In a memoran-
dunn book.
During the hours OF his service no Is
NE most industrious man at either plant
lie comes from New York and he styles
his profession 'the science Of economical
method He Is employed by large man
ufacturers and others controlling men and
machinery to suggest methods by which
expenses can be curtailed and revenue
increased. He made these remarks about
"At the outset l wish to say that / do
not claim infallibility or anything like
second sight ] am just a common, ev-
cry day mortal Yet / believe that to
succeed as commercial economist one
should possess in quite a degree that
peculiar attribute called intuition In
other words, the calling cannot be learned
from books or by watching the opera
tions of those following it.
The economical expert enters upon his
task unbiased. He specifies that he has
tull authority TO censure in his report
any man at fault in the entire institution,
even though 1t chance to be the very man
who employed him
Il had that Identical experience in a
New England factory. The manager OF
leak in expenses 50 that he might plug
II up l found tfta reports were pass
ing from men to bosses, from bOsses to
department foremen, from foremen to
superintendent and 80 nll 10 The general
manager, unverifed other than BY gem
erai statements. For instance, the fire.
man excuse for not turning out the
standard amount of given articles in
certain time was accepted without any
attempt by his superior to md out
whether the excuse was vahd one.
The system was In vogue because the
anager himself had first let down the
rs by accepting the reports OF his su-
intendent without debate. The mon
&c not bringing the plant up to its full
competence Ct the general manager-the
man who had hired me. ] bluntly told
him 50 IN my report. He flushed and
bit his lips
me l am not fit for my positions? he
asked
4 referred to our contract and he
wrote out check for the price stipu-
Lated.
I'm certaii, harvesting machine works
of Illinois / discovered that one of its
heaviest expenses was the purchase OF
what is known as agricultural vermil-
lion This color was used lavishly on
every farming implement the firm manu-
factured, and cost from S15 to 10 cents
a pound. The firm used million pounds
a year, costing, approximately, 100000.
Here was a Slkdnllc Dill 10 TeQuCe.
This firm, and others like it, had ope-
rated for years. using this material and
paying this enormous price. The essen
tials Of the paint were hat 1t should
he durable enough to stand the weather;
that 1t should be easy to apply and that
is should always possess a bright and
beautiful appearance 1t was said that
nothing had been discovered so far that
would take the place of the material used
in these cardinal features.
Agricultural vermillion was then COM
posed of orange mineral and red lead,
dyed or enriched in color with more
intense coloring material, OF which but a
small percentage was used. The bulk
of the pigment was lead, which cost from
g to u cents pound. The dye cost
from 40 to 80 cents pound.
1T was d problem for a chemist, and
harnened to number chemistry among
my studies. / discarded orange mineral
and red lead for a base. and used an
equally effective pigment which cost only
40 of cent a pound The dye neces-
sary to use with this pigment cost more
than the dye used on the other base, but
collectively the latter materials cost less
tSin one-haif what the former process
had cost. and gave an equally satisfac-
tory quality of agricultural vermillion,
THAT item saved the works $4,000
year The fec was hasef on the amount
saved. Ihe harvester company never
took occasion to protect the process, and
now its rivals all over the country are
sharing ia the benefits for which 1t so
generously paid.
but the delicate feature of the experts
task Is when his Investigations lead him
up to human agencies. He must steel
himself against criticism and ridicule.
Men who have served a long appretice-
ship at Il particular business don't take
kindly to the man who is hired to seek
out a better way. Superintendents and
assistants rarely extend the helping hand.
But the expert Is sort Of buccaneer, AM
he doesn't mind
He is backed with authority from
headquarters and can rove where he
pleases. TOO much reticence in a certain
quarter makes him suspicious that all is
not well there, and he investigates IMe
more assiduously. Sometimes he finds a
foreman protecting an Incompetent hand
from motives Of sympathy. ] have run
shielded for a small weekly monetary
consideration paid to the men immediate-
~ over them.
when turned loose in an establishment
books. He finds how much is charged
against each particular article of manu-
facture for cost of material, construction,
insurance, storage. etc. Then he goes
after the machine takes it apart, tests
its various wheels. rods, bolts, etc to see
whether less material would stand the
required strain, examines every point for
surplus material and work. and If he
can, recommends the building Of a ma
chine according to his IDEAS He takes
risk in this, because If his model does
n come up 10 the service requirement
he's n discredited expert
1T will naturally be asked why men.
engaged in a factory every day Of their
lives, cannot as readily detect infractions
OF the law Of economics as an outside
expert. They do quite frequently. Every
factory of consequence has some bright
man who devises and puts in operation
plans for Improvement But. as rule,
such men are specialists. Their nnova-
tions relate to their own particular de-
partment
"The whole factory is the experts field.
He examines the purchasing, character
of goods the money brings how they are
worked UP, investigates to see whether
a cheaper or less material may not ac-
complish the same result and concen-
trates his mind on every detail of the
manufacture, from the raw state OF the
material until 1t is on the cars waiting
transportation, finished article, proper
iy Grated
He must know, and be able to explain
why he knows. He must be able to de-
fend his deductions against those Of tho
Oldest and most experienced hand in the
employ. His figures VIII be
challenged, his observations criticised
and his recommendations derided He
must take all this as a natural attendant
upon the service for which he is paid,
and demonstrate to the men at the ton
that his report has a foundation Of
granite and cannot be laughed out Of
court. Macon (Ga.) Cor. New York
Sun.
"The cotton factories Of Lancashire.
England. says Edward Irving, "at pres
ent spin about 155. 900 GOO miles OF thread
a day, so that in six seconds they make
enough to go around the earth. In one
month they spin enough to reach from
here to the moon. The product Of eight
cen .f5avs would reach from fhp u,.T, ~