The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-08-15
Closer Cooperation
CONTINUED from Page 81


similar associations, both here ana
abroad. which, among other things,
will do their own necessary statist-
cal work. The several bureaus will IN
some way be brought together IN
some international form. But l can
tell YOU. based upon no trifling exper-
fence that with proper backing ana
proper execution vel mean we AM
ericans-can do our statistical WORK,
and do it better than Frankfurt ever
dreamed of. without waiting, how
ever. for that ultimate development,
the American zinc industry ought 10
get busy with its own. That VIII DE
of more aid to you, and more quickly,
than anything you can think OF unless
you have my imagination This is one
of the things that American Zinc IN
stitute can accomplish right away
with the promise of some early, bene-
fetal results.
Another thing to which the insti-
tute may we'll direct its attention is
the education of it's members to what
Is a proper basis of accounting, when
may well be evolved into uniform
system. You will forgive me, | hope,
if remark that, without any doubt,
you--both miners and smelters--are at
skies and sevens with regard to TINS
fundamental subject. lot of you
thing you are making who really are
not. Others of you who are really
making money are not doing so well
as you ought to. Some of you who
are losing are losing too much. There
can be no real efficiency in your bust
ness, nor in any other, without
thorough going system of accounting
know that some of your leading met
|allurgical companies, (which have what
they consider to be perfectly elegant
sets of books, are lacking in good
deal of the elemental information they
ought to have or else they do not
possess it in the form they ought to-
In advising you to give thought to
this matter and in emphasizing the
Importance of it | make no pretense
to being original 1t was the one
great lesson that Edward N. Hurley
learned during his ministry as chair
man of the federal trade commission
when he had unusual opportunity to
examine the accounts of American in
dustries; and he has been preaching
it ever since. Only a few days ago
he was addressing a national associa-
ton of coal operators, lately formed
to cooperate for the general welfare,
just as you want to do and in the
course of his remarks he said this,
which I can do no better than to re-
peat:
ut seems to me that one of the
most important things your associa-
ton can do is to begin active prepar-
atoms now to increase your efficiency
50 as to maintain the production OF
coal at the highest possible level. You
ton by working out uniform sys-
tenn of cost accounting and by organ
izng a cost accounting department to
assist mine operators to put their
business on sound basis. In every
trade association the strong must help
the weak, and in most cases the weak
are those who know the least about
their own business. Accordingly, the
first move to strengthen your industry
is to teach those weak producers the
facts about their own conditions
Coal should be mined at a profit, but
no man can know whether he is real
ly making a profit or not unless he
knows his costs.
profits are not all, however. No
man can know whether his organiza-
tion is really efficient or not unless he
knows his costs and unless he has
some standard of costs, either the
average for his field or the figures
of the lowest producer, which he can
use to compare with his own. 1t is
vital to us all to develop the highest
industrial efficiency of which we are
capable today. In one sense, this whole
war is test /of industrial efficiency.
Thoroughgoing cost accounting is the
very basis of efficiency in your Dusi-
ness, as in every other business
This association of coal operators
has already begun to do that very
thing. am prepared to adopt Mr..
Hurley's words and substitute zinc for
every time he said coal, and to assure
you that the advice is wise. With
proper cost accounting, preferably on
a uniform basis, you will know what
you individually are doing, either in
mining or smelling With proper ac-
counting at the sources of production,
the collection of statistical data will
be. easy. With the right kind of sta
tistical service, you will know what
the industry is doing as whole. You
win be able to sense coming events. |
You will be able to form better judg- !
ment as to when to buy and when |
All Il a l.