davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Our Present Place
In World Trade

All of these reasons, as TO the dis
advantages under which European
manufacturers will labor after the
war, are worthy of consideration, ex-
cept the unjustified assumption
that the number of their workers
will be less than at the beginning of
the war But, on the other hand, we
must, in attempting to determine our
own power to compete in manufact-
ures sent to foreign fields. take into
consideration the fact that prices Of
raw materials and of labor have been
with us enormously increased, and
as a consequence there has come a
corresponding advance in our own
cost of production. To what extent
we shall be able to return 10 normal
conditions in cost of production of
manufactures, either in prices Of
raw materials or wages paid, is
subject for the future, and one which
will be extremely difficult to meet,
since reduction of wages will
doubtless be more difficult than that
by which the recent and very large
advances have been made.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25

tory work, in the vast majority Of
cases, is inevitably monotonous, in the
strictest meaning of the word. / am
not asserting that the factory sys-
tenn brought monotony into the
world. To understand the factory
system it is not at all necessary to
idealize what went before it. And l
am not asserting that monotony is
necessarily a bad thing. | dare say
a certain amount of monotony is
good for all of US; and it is wonder
full how unfettered the human spirit
can sometimes remain while the body
is patiently repeating the same
Exchanging movement. wish only
to indicate this-that from masses
of workpeople so engaged mental
attitude toward their work is 10 be
expected very different from that of
workpeople who carry out diversl-
fed series Of operations and see the
whole Of some article gradually
forming beneath their eyes.
With men and women such as they
are, the material conditions we have
lust pictured tend necessarily to pro
duce certain results. In looking at
these results. it is wise to postpone
attaching blame to individuals or
classes until we have first made rea-
sonable allowance for the force Of
circumstances. Consider, first, the
effect upon employers. The aggre-
CATION of workpeople in large num-
bers means, unavodably, the absence
of close personal intercourse, with
the mutual understanding which
such intercourse produces, between
employers and employed. 1t means,
in the language of Carlyle, that the
link or nexus between them comes
to be mainly that involved IN the
payment and receipt Of wages-what
he calls a cash MENUS" We need
not stop to consider whether this in
itself is a good or a bad thing. It's
unattractive and dangerous sides are
visible enough; on the other hand, it
is apparently the necessary pre-
requisite for free citizenship on the
part of the worker.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Reform Starts with
Housing Conditions

In the beginning the manufact-
urer painted and improved his
houses, both inside and out, and
a community hall shortly followed
the work on their homes. Broken
fences were mended and grass ap-
peared about their steps and yards.
Clubs and a Y. NJ. c. A. were or
ganized and competently started, as
we'll as a few trade schools and
classes for the fellows who were
looking for a chance to help them
selves, for it was pointed out that
such men are likely to be the sort
who will later help the company. In
all this tact was evident, and the
work was straightforward and able
in its inception and administration.
The men were met as men, for the
average American refuses to be Gle
waited.
An effect Immediately became APP
parent TO some Of those best placed
TO feel it. The head was still uncon-
WINGED. However, some improve
ments about the plant itself were
next slated for attention-factory
sanitation, suitable toilet, and rest
rooms, with lockers, adequate heat
ing where possible, water filters and
coolers and wash rooms that en-
couraged washing. Hitherto the
owners horses had been we'll cared
for medically, the human element a
little bit neglected. Physical ex-
animation Of all employees and recon-
mendations as 10 their individual
welfare followed, soon furnishing
successful illustrations of "preven-
tive medicine" at work. Among the
other innovations was a set Of show
ers, and here came practically the
only bslk among the men. Some Of
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Machinery Widens
Division Of Labor

But we must carry the analysis a
step further. Machinery facilitates
division of labor, and division Of
labor enlarges production; and that
is a good thing. But this is a world
in which things desirable in them
selves are not always compatible
with one another. And what has
been good for human beings as con-
sumers has not been equally good for
human beings as producers. The en-
largement Of production, effected by
the specialization of machinery and
the subdivision of human tasks,
means that an increasingly larger
proportion Of workpeople are en-
gagged, day after day and week after
week and year after year, in per-
forming, or in tending a machine
while it performs the same single
operation, the sane process" Fac
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
What Happened
After Former Wars

No feature of the relationship of
countries or sections formerly at war
has been more striking than the
promptness with which their COM
mercial and business relations were
resumed at the close of hostilities.
The war between the two sections of
our own country in which the bitter
ness was great, was followed by a
rapid resumption of trade between
the sections. The internal COM
merce of the United States amounted
at the beginning Of that war to ap-
proximately $3,OO0,O00,0O0, and was
by 1870, five years after its close,
more than double that Of 1860; the
products of the two sections were
freely interchanged and business re-
lations promptly reestablished.
Trade relations were quickly re-
sumed between France and Germany
following the war of 1S70-'7l, in
which the bitterness was quite as
great as that which now exists. I'M
ports of France from German terri
tory in 1869, the year prior to that
war, were S50,000,000 in value; in
1872, the year following the war,
practically s70,OO0,O00, and averaged
S66,000,000 per annum in the five
years after the war. German i'm
ports from France in the same pc
Rod showed an even larger gain,
having been in the year before the
war S60,000,000, while the annual
average in the five years following
the war was SS3,000,000. Thus
trade between France and Germany
showed an increase of 40 per cent in
the years Immediately following the
war.
The trade relations between the
United States and Spain following
our own war with that country were
promptly resumed and quickly i'll
creased. Our imports from Spain
in 1897, the year prior to the war,
were less than S4,0O0,0O0; and in
the five years following that war
averaged s6,000,000 per annum, an
increase of 80 per cent. while our ex-
ports to that country, which were
81, 100000 in the year preceding the
war, averaged S14,000,O00 per an
mum in the five years following the
war, an increase of % per cent.
Japan's exports to Russia, which
were about S1,500,O00 in the year
prior to that war, averaged more
than 100000 per annum in the
five years after her war with that
country, an increase of over 100 per
cent in five-year period.
No countries in the world are more
keenly alive TO the Importance of
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
How Employer
Was Rewarded

Their employer had now taken
steps toward improvement IN the
mental and moral, physical, social
and financial welfare of his en-
ployes. Rightly used, they are a Bag
fee, and they developed human in
terest. enthusiasm and live coopera-
ton. Subsequently this manufact-
urer declared that the quality of his
products had been improved, produc-
ton speeded up and his whole efii-
cheney augmented. He said; I'm
not afraid of strikes, even with con-
ditions elsewhere as they are, for |
know that ! am building up force
which is permanent, and honestly in
dustrious, no matter what is going
on outside"
Incidentally, the nine hours had
more to show than the ten. Of
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
By o. p. AUSTIN,
Statistician of the National City Bank
OF New York

Il INTERNATIONAL trade after
the war, in my opinion, will be
- quite similar to the interna-
tional trade before the war. The
great trade currents which nave
been developed in the century since
the steam vessel and railway recon-
structed the commerce of the world
and multiplied its activities are the
result of natural conditions which
cannot be permanently Interrupted
by even such titanic struggle as
that which we are now witnessing.
Certain great sections of the world
have become its chief producers and
distributors of manufactures, and
must so continue for many genera
tions, while certain other sections
have become and must continue to
be the chief producers Of foodstuffs
and manufacturing materials. The
trade currents established by the ex-
changes between these great sec
tons must continue, while the ex-
changes between countries separated
only by imaginary lines, and thus
made at less cost than those with more
distant countries, will speedily re-
sumo, both as matter of conven-
fence and business economy, and
business is little influenced by SEN
timents.
Let us consider some of the main
reasons why, as it seems to me, we
may expect a speedy return to prac-
tically normal trade relations after
the war. The suggestion of the Paris
Conference that the war at arms
should be continued commercially re-
ceiyes less and less of support as we
find opportunity for reflection. Other
suggestions, namely, that the coun-
tries at war will Immediately upon
its termination begin to dump ac-
cumulations of manufactures upon
the markets of the world; that these
countries will be short Of certain
classes Of manufactures and will
call upon the United States for great
supplies; that shortage of capital
will prevent a resumption Of their
industries and export business; and
that lack of shipping facilities will
prevent a return to customary trade
movements, appear likely to prove
much less formidable when we come
to face them than was anticipated
when they were viewed from a
greater distance.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25

course there are men who would not
do a fair DAYS work under any con-
ditions nor for any consideration,
but 70 every one such are a hundred
who do not fail to react to such
scientific management. And the
others are soon weeded out. The
old laborer at the plant had won
back in large measure the first am
billions and honest zeal for his work.
and was looking forward TO a little
pension. II don't know what's got
into everything" he said, "but the
boys will do most anything to push
the plant along" Hopefulness and
appreciation were creating personal
efficiency.
Quite recently, before the present
war, men worked in Germany, and
hard, for a mark a day; and a mark,
/ it is recalled, has rather less value
/ than a quarter. They bought a gov
ernmental license for the privilege,
too. The system of Germany may
work in Europe. II is sufficiently
established for that. But any sys-
tenn of employment in this country
which looks to the machine and over
looks the operator will not go" 1t
is going to fail before it is tried, for
industrial efficiency in America is
Just about one-tenth mechanics and
nine-tenths improved cooperation.
Efficiency achieves its best success
where it stops to consider the per-
sonal equation.
Goodwill, common confidence and
personal contentment must exist, not
less for the individual employer than
toward the greater corporation from
the public which it serves. Yester-
days theory is the fact to-day.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
By J. GORDON DORRANCE

GOODWILL in trade has been
r figured as an item in ex-
- change since the crude bar
tering of yesterday was supplanted
by the highly specialized business
deal of to-day. 1t has been bought
and sold, and by it business has
failed or it has actively succeeded.
Goodwill in service is another fellow,
vet there is nothing in the outside
relations of any industry which is
more essential to a growing. perma-
nently solid state, or the holding of a
brisk trade by better goods, than the
goodwill which lubricates or clogs the
wheels at the producing end.
The highest type Of applied eff
cheney recognizes the mdteriel as the
end of efficiency in management and
operation, but the personnel must
form the means. No matter how
highly specialized and finely wrought
the machine, if it is man-run it has
one very human cog. This is present
in every business, and its improve
ment in actual working-relation with
the rest may be developed explicitly
through illustration.
A manufacturer who is succeeding
in a big way reported recently that
his relations with his men were not
as he would like to see them. In
short, they were becoming disaf-
fected, and it was reaching the point
where their attitude could very
easily be prejudicial to their work
As he put it:
Il can't make it out. give them
regular employment, a number OF
off-days annually, something at
Christmas, and comfortable housing
conditions. Still, they grow dissat-
isfed, their families with them, and
/ am convinced that dissatisfaction
of this sort means inefficiency. 1t is
sure to be reflected in their work. An
unhappy, disgruntled employe may
do a days work which will get by,
but do not think it can be profitable
for the employer.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25

respective foremen shared, and the
men were no longer expected to work
with faulty equipment or to accom-
plish the impossible at the last mo-
ment because some one neglected 70
look ahead. No limit was set upon
each mans efficiency, and the mistake
was avoided of cutting piece rates
for a very good days work. Pay days
we're made semi-monthly and the
men shown profitable ways of spend
ing money. At the plant disable
ideas were sought, publicly credited
and paid for; independent thinking
was encouraged; moral appreciation
was backed up by equitable pay, and
the men had something new to talk
about.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
PROFITS OUTWEIGH
HATRED IN TRADE
BETWEEN NATIONS
That Why International Commerce Is Expected to Resume
It's Former Channels When War Ends-Om
Place in Worlds Trade

Meantime the countries which
were formerly our competitors in the
worlds markets for manufactures
are planning fully to reestablish
themselves.
Now to consider our own pros.
poets. If we are justified in assum.
ing that world trade conditions are
likely to resume normal or approx.
mately normal proportions and meth
DDS after the war, and also justified
in the hope that the end of that ter
rible struggle is not far distant, We
must give immediate and serious at.
tention to the future of our own part
in international trade and especially
the question as to whether we are 70
be able to retain the increased share
O. the worlds trade which we have
accumulated during the war.
Have we increased cur share in
world trade during the war period,
The answer to that question is Oh
vious, for our exports in 1916 were
100 per cent greater than in 1918,
the year before the war, and our i'm
ports SO per cent greater than 1918,
while total world trade in 1916 was
probably about 10 per cent greater
than in 1913. While it is true that
much Of this increase in our exports
occurred with the nations at war and
consisted chiefly of munitions for
which the demands upon US will
cease at the termination Of hostili.
ties, it is also true that there was
large gain in the sales to the neu.
trail world, and this consists almost
entirely of class of material for
which we must continue to find mar
kets abroad.
1t is to these neutral sections and
the increased trade with them that
We should now be giving special at
tention. Our exports to the neutral
countries of Europe increased from
| $4,000, 900 in 1913 to S4O2,OOO,O0O
in 1916; to South America, from
S147,OOO,O 900 in 1913 to s220,OOO,OOO
in 1916; TO Asia, from Sl26,OOO,OoO
to $205, 900, 900, exclusive of that 60
ing to Vladivostok for transmission
to European Russia; to Africa, an
increase from s29, 100000 to sA-
100000; to Oceania, from SS2,OOO,'
600 to S106,0O0,000, and to North
America, from S60l, 100000 to $685.
100000. The total increase in ex'
ports to the neutral world was from
$685. 100000 in 1913 to s1,9ll,OOO-
900 in 1916, gain of S6S5,OOo,OOV'
while in the three years ending WIN
1913 the gain was but S4l6,OOO,OOO'
The increase in exports to the neu'
trail world in the three years ended
with 1916 was 62 per cent greater
than that of the three years ended
with 1913.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
By PROF. W. J. ASHLEY,
University of Birmingham, England


(Ertracted from a Recent Address,
/" HE factory occupies by far the
larger part of the industrial
field, and constitutes the
characteristic industrial problem of
the present day. And therefore it is
important to realize what it means
and what it involves. 1t means, TO
begin with, the performance OF me-
chanical work by what we signlfi-
cantly call power. c., non-hu-
man power-steam or electricity.
Muscular effort-the effort of lifting,
carrying, pushing, thrusting, cutting
and the like-is almost entirely re-
placed by the performance of ma
chinery. The human agent-apart
from the original designers and
apart from the repairers and ad-
iusters and settlers" of the machine
becomes simply the "tender," the
supplier, in many cases the mere
watcher of the machine.
Wherever to-day in a modern
works we find men or women en-
gagged in hauling heavy things about
we cannot help feeling that it is out
of keeping with the mechanical spirit
of the age; that it would be more
appropriate to modern ideas to get
the things shifted by mechanical
transmitters. The attendance, in the
next place, of the human agent upon
machinery has involved the aggre-
cation of large bodies of men and
women under the same roofs. This
has hitherto been due in a large
measure to the expense or impossi-
bility of transmitting power" TO any
considerable distance from the point
where it is generated; and accord
ingly there are those who dream of
time when power shall be CEN
trally generated and then sent by
wire all over the countryside to mill
ions of small domestic workshops.
Whether or not that time will ever
come, the great factory Cor mill or
works., with its multitudinous pop
ulation, is the phenomenon we have
to reckon with to-day, and appar-
emily for a long time to come. And
large bodies of workpeople being
thus aggregated around machinery,
it was quite inevitable that they
should be subjected TO regulation as
to hours and sequence Of work. 1t
was this necessary subsection to
discipline, this tanning of impulses
to a uniform regularity, which occa-
stoned much of the popular repug-
nance to the factory when 1t first
appeared. There are, indeed, an
thropologists who maintain that,
while woman is by nature steady
going, persistent animal, man by
nature is an animal who does things
by fits and starts. Whether that be
so or not, the desire to do things by
fits and starts, while it may possibly
be appropriate to some forms of
artistic activity, is certainly not rec
oncilable with the factory. The
"notes" of the factory are Machin-
cry, Numbers and Discipline.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Chief Hope Lies
In Manufactures

But this is not all. The gan
which we have made in our exports
to the neutral world, 5,OOO,oVV'
occurs in class of merchandise
which must be our chief hope IN me
future growth of our export trace
We have passed the stage in our u
dustrial system in which. natufa
products can form the chief share o.
cur export trade. In the past, WINE
we were making a phenomena H.
crease in expectation, the natuf'
products, grains, meats and cot'on
we're the articles in which the cnlsi
growth occurred. But within recen'
years we have reached stage IN no
tional development in which we ns'.
TO more Of foodstuffs TO spare, anu
the share of our cotton which we re-
quire for local consumption is steao'
lily increasing. AS a result, we NUS
expect that the chief gains IN Oui
exports in the future viii occur
manufactures, and while we snsH
have a harder fight to develop an III
creased trade in manufactures tns.
we ever had in selling the natursl
products. because of the sharp ~.
ropean competition which we snsD
encounter in manufactures, we mus
make that fight if we are to NAN
tain our rank and prosperity as o.
exporting nation. ooo
Nearly all of the soS0'VVV'Os.
worth of gain which we have n'SS,
in the exports TO the neutral "U'"
since the beginning Of the war 10.
occurred in manufactures. ana
a result the responsibility OF re'a,
ing that gain and increasing IL A. :"
years go by must rest upon oul "
ufacturers. To belligerent hu'.r
there will also be opportunities J" -
first year or two after the ""
sales of our manufactures, espee's
ly material for construction OF n.. .
buildings and railways to take y
place of those destroyed ana inc
Establishment of new factories ."
this will be temporary, for man ~.
featuring Europe will soon be ~" !.
TO supply its own Requirements
this line, but in all the neutral VIZ -.
North and South America r. -,
Africa and Oceania, the denian'
manufactures will continue anu Il
crease with the general rev'yN
business and industrial devel0pA a
which will come with return
world peace.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Visitor Arrives in
Onc-Man Town

The situation was an Interesting
one, though not especially unusual,
and it was decided to determine just
how far the conditions which he evil
IDENTIFY knew existed might react on
the large business which he owned
and managed; and to what extent
the prosperity of the owner was en-
joyed by the men. An engineer in
industrial efficiency visited his plant.
Dependent upon outside territory
for its raw material, and located at
little distance from any large city,
this plant was part of a "one-man
town." AS a crew his employees aver
aged well, the greater part Ameri-
can~born, with some sprinkling of an
especially thrifty foreign element.
Many of them were young, the sons
Of other boys who had grown up and
, grown old with the same concern.
One Of these was an intelligent
chap, though he had always been
with the same concern without in
the mean time becoming either we'll
up or well-off, as we are often
pleased to sum it up. One day he
was asked TO tell something OF how
they lived and worked. He did not
answer Immediately, but finally ad-
mitted he couldn't see how it would
make a great deal of difference TO
explain what everybody else about
the plant knew, anyway. Let him
tell It:
"The boss himself is all right, at
least, as near as he knows how to be.
But sometimes the boys get dissatis-
fed with the way they have things
here. Every once in a while they
hear Of men outside getting a raise
or shorter day, and naturally it
makes them think Of few improve
ments here. This company has had
its plant here running for pretty
nearly thirty years, and good many
of the men who began with it, way
back, are still getting just a few
cents more an hour than tramp
workers who drift in for a few
weeks and then start on again.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-25
Working Hours Cut,
But Not Wages

The working day had been cut one
hour. from ten to nine. The pay was
not. Instead, standardized days
work, with an individual bonus in
proportion to the mans own efforts,
was put in force. The bonus APP
piled each pay day, eliminating the
chief difficulty numerous profit
sharing systems show, where men
will object to dividends deferred to
the years end. They want it as they
earn it.
In each departments bonus the