The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-18
AUSTRALIA FACES
 CRAVE CRISIS IN. TRADE PROBLEMS.
Better Working Conditions Patterned After U. s.
 Are Urged.

Melbourne. Australia. July 1SlThe Federal Cabinet had placed before 1t recently a proposal by Herbert Brookes. president of the Chamber of Manufactpres. that; the, government )should appoint a commission consist ling Of trades unionists and represents atives of manufacturers to visit the ! United States and inquire into indus trial matters in that country. Mir. Brookes advised that particular attention be paid to the operation in the United States of the piece-work system. The Cabinet. it was said by the Acting Prime Minister. Senator lPearce, win fp the near future. con- sider. the matter, But few days be- fore Approaching the Cabinet relative 5 to such commission MT. Brookes had caused considerable of Stir in in- dustrial and business circles in Aus tralia by saying in his presidential address to the Chamber of Manufac- lures;
 q have to confess that there, is much truth in the statement of Ian American friend of mine that Aus tralians are in a bad way. Neither operatives ner employers, he Nconsaa<' cred. have any joy in their work and. Australians are at the bottom an un- happy people. te
 When came to look into my Business life, and that of my fellow
 members of this Chamber and realized how much Of our time is spent in 1warding of, in meeting and in conn batin6 industrial attacks.'' added MT. Brookes, "I had tps confess to the ac-' scuracy of such al diagnosis as far as my own experience extended"
 Urges Industrial Reformation.
 In Australia, MT. Brookes declared, militant labor had set it's face sternly in the main against any variation of the day wage system. - The fact re-. mained that the Australian industrial posihon was getting more and more precarious and sooner or later the pre- vailing high wages and standard of comfort would require dependence solely upon the productivity of the country and not upon the decisions of Austrauan courts and wage boards. He pleaded for industrial reformation in which readjustment of the wage system must be one of the most prom fnent features
 { w. wvCahill. president of the Sydney Tabor Council, said in interview that in statements which had been made about the low standard of efficiency shown by the Australian workman compared with the American worker the position had not been fairly put by the Chamber of Commerce.
 T have been in America" said MT. Cahill, land worked as a foreman bricklayer in New York city. have travelled the world and worked in vari- ous parts of it. Tn all sections of the building trades I have found that wherever there was an Australian workman employed he was always as efficient as his mates on the job whether they were Americans or of any other nationality. I Iworked with several other Australians on Procter 6 Gamble's soap factory, New York, where Il 900 bricks were laid and we always held our own on the job. In my opinion the boasted high ef- hcfency of American workmen is due to better machinery" AaI M
 Strikes Cost $50, ,OO0, ,00O.
 The coal mines in the east have netted $50,000,000 in six years that should have belonged to Australia That is what strikes have cost Austra- Ha~" said J. B. Suttor, Commercial Commissioner for New South Wales in the Far East in an address to members of the Newcastle Chamber of Com merce last week. MT. Suttor's field is all eastern and southern Asia, and his headquarters are in Japan He is now on vacation.
 Newcastle is the largest coal port in the Antipodes and one of the largest in the southern hemisphere MT. Suttor did not mince words in his address, as may be gathered from the sentences just quoted.
 'sThe coal markets in the east for the last year." he said, were worth $32,2O0,O00, of which Newcastle sup- piled only $1 ,s30,0 I am sorry to say that we have lost that trade abso- 1utely; and we cannot get it back again until we go to the east and con vince our consunners that we can enter into a contract without the strike clause (disclaiming responsibility in case of strikes) at the end of 1t. If there is one thing that has given Aus tralia bad name it is the strike. Strikes are doing injury to every part of Australia. We have got such an Absolutely bad name all over Asia that really. 1t is difficult to get any, body to look to Australia while the strikes are on. Last year and the year before last, hardly a month pass n8 wa<bns,< owanxa 0offin0 ha1o0r, ,,u