El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-12
Fear Of Competition Causes
CrusadeBy Englands People
By
Frederic
]. Haskin
VII.-THE BRITISH CRISIS.

There is a great department store
in London, owned by an American u
is the first department store organized
and operated on the American system
ever seen in Great Britain. and it is by
far the handsomest and the most con-
venient retail establishment in Lon
don. When this store was being built,
it's proprietor was assailed. in the press
and by every means Of publicity, as
being a wicked foreigner who was COM
ing to England TO steal the last crust
from starving BritOns by means of this
dreadful engine of competition
Partly to allay this prejudice, the
American merchant provided himself
with a complete staff of Englishmen-
Even his private secretary was an Eng
lishman and besides himself there was
but one American in the whole great
store from garnet 10 cellar. when it was
opened for business. Employment was
provided for nearly 1000 English people
who had been out of work
And yet so deep is the hatred of for
eigners and so compelling is the fear Of
competition that there are literally mil
lions of people in London who would
die rather than TO enter the portals OF
that store. One young woman, who had
! lived in America and who herself de-
| plOred many of the ultra-cOnServative
notions of her people, declined to so
much walk through the American
! store, giving as her reason that cOmpe-
tition had ruined her father and she
! would not countenance it in any fashion.
! staid British Customs.
In the Orient, where British mer-
/ chants for decades had no competition
! whatever, certain habits and customs of
/ ease and luxury were developed and
| made a part of the British mercantile
! system. For instance, in Calcutta, or
| Singapore, or Shanghai it has been the
! rule always to close the banks and all
/ business houses for ten days during the
! race meeting. In the fullness of time
| the Germans came to these and TO other
/ Oriental cities, set up their great ware
/ houses. and filled them with German
/ wares brought from Germany in German
! ships. The British smiled. for they said
! that no German ever could hope TO learn
/ the processes OF the Oriental mind. The
! British had forced the OrientaIs TO
/ learn the English language as the only
! medium of business transaction. The
! Germans came already possessed of
English. to which they added at once a
/ working knowledge of native languages
and diabetes.
! Instead OF quitting work early for
/ tennis and cricket, the German worked
on into the night. And when the an
nuaI race meeting came, horror Of hOr-
/ rors, the German business houses re-
/ fused to close. Ten days they worked
on while the Englishmen were enjoy
I ing the sport Of kings. And for this
! reason every young Briton working in
/ the Orient declares that it is the first
duty of the British government to go to
/ war for the express purpose of destroy
ing German commerce. that such
breaches of Oriental mercantile etiquette
| may be made forever impossible.
Chinese AstOund England.
\ little more than a year ago the
/ huge British banking corporation which
/ controls the bulk of the banking bust
ness in China, was aStOunded when II
( discovered that the Chinese government
( intended to permit other capitalistic ma
tiOns TO participate in a new Chinese
| railway loan. The fact that Germany
and the United States offered the money
! 10 China on much more liberal terms
/ than did the British bank. was not taken
] into consideration by Englishmen. They
! merely swOre over their ante-tiffin
| cocktails that this had become q bust
ness for warship and that nothing but
! the strong British navy could suffice
| to wipe out the insult 10 British honor.
/ SO ii Is with the irresponsible under
! lings. The men at the head of affairs
: realize that Industrial competition in
! the 10Th century cannot be met by force
of arms. They know that something IS
radically wrong with the British sys-
F.. tiOn that what is needed in England is
/ the abolition of the rule of thumb. But
! until they can awaken the whole people,
| both the habit-encysted wOrkmen and
J clerks below. and the leisure class
, above, to the truth of the situation. they
! Will not be aDie TO devise a plan for
meeting competition and thus ending
| the fear of it.
Adverse to MOdernisms.
The helpless position of the men at
! the head of affairs is Illustrated in the
! case of the manager of a large rubber
manufa curing concern. An inventor
! came irto the London office of the
! manufacturer with a new device made
! of rubber which promised a large bus
I mess The manager was much pleased
| and he sent it to his factory with in
I STTUCtiCnS to make. up a quantity of
/ samples. The model was returned with
/ the Information that nothing like that
! had been made before, and that the
wOrkmen refused TO attempt IL. The in
/ ventOr went TO Germany with his model
and found manufacturer at once. And
! vet these wOrkmen join with the specu-
| latiOn-crazed people who are putting
{ their savings in rubber shares in com
/ planning because their government does
not protect them from the effects Of
] German competition. This is an extreme
! case. no doubt, but il IS true and il is
| q sample of what can happen in Eng
land, despite the fear of competition.
! Tomorrow VIII-Impending Social
Revolution.