The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-07-13
BY FRANK A. VANDERBILT.
CHAPTER Nv.
England.

" NGLANDS Industrial situation
and outlook are enormously
- interesting to Americans. Since
the birth of modern industrialism
England has been predominant in the
international Industrial field. At no
time prior to the war did she cease
TO make progress, although Germany
and the United States il later years
progressed on so much more rapid q
scale that England's premier position
was being endangered.
England's great industrial advan-
tage lay in her coal and her work.
men. Most OF her raw material had
TO be imported. She could not feed
herself but with the genius Of the
English for Industrial organization the
island was turned into one huge in
dustrial settlement and a national life
has been built up which is as de-
pendent upon continuation of out
side demand for products Of English
workshops as would be the case with
a New England mill town. There is a
population too large to be fed by home
supplies that gains its living by pass
shops and selling the product to
foreign countries for the means with
which to buy food and more raw ma
terials,
/ think the picture Of England THAT
B Is In the mind of the average Ameri-
can manufacturer who Is looking for
ward to international competition Is
that her industries have greatly bene-
I'll 4. III
lish industry before the war as ham
pered in the introduction of the latest
types of labor saving machinery
through a. certain conservatism on
the part Of both employers and men,
while the restrictive rules and agree
ments OF union labor limited the out
put below the output per man in our
own shops under similar circum-
stances.
Factors I'm England's Future.
Our American manufacturers believe
that the war has greatly improved
the position of English industry
through a forced awakening to the
possibilities OF labor saving machinery
and Through the relaxation Of re-
strictive regulations imposed by
unions. The general belief In America
is, or at least was three months ago,
that America will encounter more in
telligent and more effective competi-
ton from British industry than has
ever been the case before, and that
while Great Britain faces some des-
perate needs. the very pressure of her
difficulties would inspire her industry
with a keener intelligence in its pro-
duction and more insistent pressure
for output. On the whole It was be-
lieved that the war would result in a
great revival in British industry.
Now let us examine the facts in the
light OF events OF the fist six months
following the armistice. Indeed. II IS
rather necessary to go back of that
and look a little more deeply into the
reason why England kept her indus
trial supremacy as we'll as she did.
Compared with the United States she
was handicapped by lack or raw mate
rial. That disadvantage was in a way
compensated for by her ability to load
steamships for both the incoming and
the outgoing trip
Foodstuffs and raw material came
IN more bulky, it is true, than the
manufactured goods that went out.
out there was never a line Of steam
ships. no matter whence they might
come, to which England could not fur
nish something OF a cargo outbound.
Her outgoing bulk was increased by
her great coal shipments, and SO. on
the whole, there was a fair balance in
cargoes and much of her disadvantage
In respect to domestic raw material
better placed as TO raw material and
mad a greater genius for factory or
ganization, and rapidly advanced in
her relative position. America, roll
ing In wealth Of raw material, but
with wage scale two to three times
rs great az her European competitors,
made her best progress In those types
OF production where labor cost was a
comparatively small part Of the COM
pleted value.
The Wage Question.
The struggle In the neutral markets.
however. was so keen that IL bore on
England with increasing severity. The
obvious way TO hold down cost In the
minds OF most manufacturers was to
hold down wages. That was resisted
by the most complete union labor
organization In the world.
Eighty-fve per cent Of the indus
trial workers OF Great Britain are said
70 be organized In unions. and the
leadership has on the whole been OF
an extremely high order. II has In
the main been studious leadership, I'm
which men have recognized that there
are immutable economic laws and