New Britain herald., 1917-08-15
FILLING THEIR PLACES.

1 FILLING THEIR PLACES.
 Unnecessary Service Now Rendered
 By Men In Various Walks of Life to Be Eliminated. (James B. Morrow, in The Notions Business). The Commercial Economy Board was created Ito investigate and ad- wise how commercial business may best meet the demands made on it by war"
 This group is composed of five men-Wallace D. Simmons. a Yale graduate and a merchant in St. Louis; George Rublee, a Harvard man and a lawyer; pr. Edwin F. Gay, dean of a great school of business admin istration; Henry S. Dennison. pres ident of the Dennison Manufacturing company, and Arch w. Shaw, the ed- itor and publisher of System, Factory and other bushes periodicals. MT. Shaw is chairman of the board. How can 8 million men, or two mill lion, or three million, again to ask the most vital question of the hour, be taken from the normal business forces of the nation and still leave a sum total of business done equal to the needs of the people, and in
 large part to the needs of Great
 Britain, France, Italy and Belgium? The answer as given by MT. Shaw can be stated in the following six words: The elimination of all non-
 essential service" What is such service? Let Mr. Shaw reply in his own fashion.
 If a grocer at a corner uptown
 by simplifying his methods can re- duce his working force one man and
 send that man into a wheat field, an ammunition factory or the army he will be helping to conquer the Prussians.- The unnecessary service given the
 public would, if abolished, release ac- countants, bookkeepers, clerks, pack
 CTS, checkers. deliverymen and de- livery equipment for use elsewhere and use that would count in time of war.
 Men with whom to fight the Prussians must come largely from the nations forces of distribution. Farms must be kept going and also factories, mines and railroads. Grocery, dry goods and depart l ment stores employ more than 20O,- 900 men to deliver goods to their pa irons. Half of those men could be
 
 by suffer little inconvenience. The l same grocers' wagon would not 20 to 1 the same house three or four times a. day-one trip with a pound of but 1 ter, another with a loaf of bread. l another with a peck of potatoes and
 so on-because the woman in the house would learn to do her business ] in a better way.
 | She would understand, too, that a.
 basket in her hand or a package un- l der her arm was a military service
 and that every time she carried either
 she was helping to whip Emperor ] William. Her little son on his way
 home with a quart of berries or a.
 spool of thread would likewise be en-
 listed under the banner of his conn., l try.
 Also the American people acting
 colleclVely and periodically, can save
 millions of pounds of wool and leath-
 CT. Prussia by the stern hand of It's
 military system controls all things. A man may own so many suits of clothes and no more. He cannot have a belt | on his coat or cuffs on his trousers. 1 Wool must not be wasted, declare the 1 battling Prussians
 l In this country, among democrats 1 laws to conserve wool are not so ne- ! cessary. We need only to be told of 1 our duty If it Is unpratriotic to have cuffs on our pantaloons and belts and patch pockets, we will not wear them once we know that our soldiers and sailors will suffer If not provided with warm clothing.
 Shoes in England for women can be seven inches high but not frac- tion over. Unlike Germany where laws and penalties keep the people within drastic bounds. Great Britain relies both on agreements among its 1 business men and the patriotism of itsr l men and women. Here in free Amer ica I hope such drastic laws will not be necessary.
 'If our enemies in their man pow CT are more efficient than ourselves they will win the war. I make this statement very seriously. | mean ex- actly what I say.
 Americans demand fresh bread A loaf is stale in their opinion the sec-s ond day. So every city and town Is filled with bakers wagons driving from grocery to grocery with bread hot from the ovens.
 Tive per cent of the bread delivery to retail dealers is not sold on the day of its baking. The supply to that av- craze quantity exceeds the demand. On the following day the bread is' hauled back to the bakeries. where much of it is ground into chicken feed.
 '"Three million bushels of wheat, enough to feed 100000 human beings, is wasted in this way yearly. The waste should be stopped. All bread should be sold. none taken back and the deliveries to grocers should be reduced.
 'The same waste is going on in fa- brics. Of a thousand patterns offered to the trade. a hundred or two hum dro5 rorhens ro1a1, he chosap The