El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-17


technical education, disciplinary order
illness, logged determination and un-
tagging industry not possessed by eth
er his British or American rival. He
rises at o'clock, has his simple break
fast of coffee and rolls and is at work
as soon as he can reach the office or
factory, never later than s O'clock He
has his second breakfast, a sandwich,
in his pocket and he eats it some time
between 10 and II, wherever he may
happen to be. At l o'clock he goes
home, If ne is family man, not for
his lunch. but for his dinner, the Iarg-
est meal Of the day. He eats this with
his family leisurely and afterwards
lies down for a short nap. When he
awakes ne has a cup OF coffee and a
cigar, and then goes back to the Of
fee and is at his desk by o'clock
And there he will stay until his work
is finished, having coffee at 3, even if
1t is or lie o'clock Then he goes
home, has his supper, and goes to bed.
Long Midday Rest.
The long midday rest seems odd to
Americans with the quick lunch habit.
but ii enables the German TO get in
four or five hours work in the morn
ing, and five u seven hours after
dinner, a totaIr0f nine TO II working
| hours each day. This is the daily pro-
gram of at least three fourths Of the
German men of affairs. His clerks fol-
low the same routine, except that they
may not go-hOme for dinner, although
they viii have an hour and a half or
two hours off for that important meal
They too, are expected to stay at their
work until it is finished without re-.
gard to the coming of night
Ia IA
work so long. 1t is theory of the
German state that the labor of its
| people is its principal asset, and It pro:
tects, its working men by a system of
strictly enforced laws, designed to con-
serve their strength and TO prevent
the impairment of the usefulness by
Overwork or unsanitary environment
| Even If the factory worker should be
willing 20 stay overtime, the ever
watchful police will attend to it that
| the factory is closed down and that
the wOrkmen are all on their way home
at the hour appointed by law. The
| law prescribes just how much light a
| factory must have. just how many Gu
| bic feet of air must be allowed TO each
workman, just what arrangements for
ventilation and sanitation are deemed
necessary, and so on. The enforcement
a
factory inspector with an inadequate
staff. but is charge upon the regular
police force. Inspection is not annual,
nor semiannual. but daily Every fac
tory and workshop is constantly under
, the vigilant surveillance of the police
officers. and the slightest infraction of
the strict and minute details of the
regulations will be reported. And. fur
thermore, the employer must each
week pay into the public treasury a
certain moiety of each employees wages
to guarantee that employees old age
pension
LabOrerS Are Loyal.
In return for this the business man
expects to receive and does receive, the
entire loyalty of every man in his en-
ploy. He cannot discharge a man ex-
cept for good cause, as the slightest
disagreement between employer and
employe goes into the industrial courts,
not by the agreement of the parties
but because the state does not permit
the private settlement of such differ
ences. On the other hand the state is
quick to punish an employe who is
disloyal in any fashion.
This, system strikes an American as
being unbearably paternalistic but
the German workman says it protects
him from oppression, and the German
employer says that it insures him i'm
munity from labor troubles and strikes
fomented by irresponsible agftators.
The constant interference by the au-
thorities is not regarded as obnoxious
by either employer or empEOye but is
looked upon as the natural and newt
able business of the police. 1t must
not be forgotten that every business
man in Germany, great or small, and
every laboring man, skilled or un-
skilled, has served his term in the
army wearing the kings coat. and
that there he learned habits Of disci-
pine order, and unquestiOning ODE
Hence. and to subordinate his own will
to that of authority.
The Commercial Army.
The military training and its effect
upon the German mind is responsible
both for the strength and the weak
ness of the German commercial cam
paign. The great manufacturer or the
great merchant first of all received a
technical education. and then got his
military training. He rose TO his po-
sition as a general in the commercial
army by promotion from the ranks He
plans his work with the same care and
nicely which he would use in working
of that plan he evolves a theory and
gives orders accordingly. He knows
that his orders Will be obeyed liter
ally and exactly. The result is, that if
the plans have been good, the results
also viii be good. But if there was a
defect in the plans. and If every subor-
dinate in the rganizatiOn recognizes
1t as a defect the orders will be car
ried out nevertheless. and the cam
paign will result in disaster.
II must be said that the greater
number of German commercial gener-
ais have been as unerring in their
foresight was Won Moltke and his
general staff in planning for Sadowa
and Sedan. That is why German in
dustries have forged ahead more rap
idly than those of any other country
thai is why Germanys foreign trade
has increased at an unprecedented rate.
and that is why industrial Germany is
about to capture the supremacy of the
commercial world
Failures Numerous.
But the Germans often make failurao