Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-05
TRADE INRoADS
FROM AMERICA
HAUNT ENGLISH
Bogies Haunt Sleep Of English
Manufacturers and Ship
pers;; How Far Will
the YankS Go?

1
the Yanks Go?
BY ROBERT WELLS RICHIE
tUniversal Service Staff Correspondent.)
London, May 4.-America ard
Japan: these are the bogies that
haunt the sleep of the British manu-
facturer and shipper these days
How far will the Yankees of the
U. S. A. and the Yankees of the Far
East get the lead on the traders OF
these tight little islands before the
latter gets off from the tape?
The subject was made the topic
for long discussion in Parliament
during the course of which. many
optimistic statements were made
which are not borne out by facts
at least by the facts as Britain 5
captains of industry see them. AT
the same hour that certain members
of Parliament were saying that
everything was all right with British
trade and it was going full steam
ahead" Sir Leo Chiozza Money, in
an interview with the press, was
comparing the output per worker OF
mills in the United States and those
in Great Britain-very much to the
disadvantage of the British worker
and a commercial mission repre-
senting the Lancaster cotton spin
ners was preparing to go to Japan
to discover how far the Nippon man
ufacturer had stolen away British
cotton print trade in the Orient, and
why.
Japan's Big Stride.
| Here's the situation confronting
British producers reduced to nut
shell dimensions: Japan has prac-
tically corralled the whole Far
Eastern market, from Vladivostok
to Bengal, in the cotton print line
particularly and incidentally in the
machinery and machine tool export.
America--to name only the most
menacing feature-has carried off
tremendous contracts for structural
steel rails and manufacturing ma
chinery, not only in devastated Bel
GUM and France, but right here in
Britain itself, where Yankee agents
were able to underbid home COM
petitors. A Cleveland firm recently
secured the contract for building the
reinforced concrete foundation for
the first skyscraper structure in Lon
don--a tower for one of the largest
department stores, which is to rise
nearly as high as the Singer tower
in New York.
Yankee competition all the way
from coal to cocoanuts is equally as
keen.
Seek Inside Information.
One of the humorous angles of
the present situa ton, so far as the
Lancashire spinners are concerned,
is that right at this minute a dill
gent little delegation of little brown
spinners from Japan is going
through the Lancashire cotton mills
with notebooks in hand, courteously
asking questions. In other words,
discovering just how crippled the
Lancashire mills are at present.
| Writing in the Manchester Guard
ian, manufacturers expert says:
"The war, as is we'll known. came
near to gripping Lancashire's ex-
port trade. In August last year,
when the idea of the Mission was
conceived, the position, roughly, was
that only one-third of the produc-
tive capacity was available for the
home and export trade, and large
part of the eastern markets had to
be sacrificed. Prices were ruling so
| high that an easy opportunity was
given to Lancashire's chief rival in
the East-Japan. The development
of the Japanese trade in cotton
goods throughout the East during
the war has been great enough to
cause uneasiness.
Undersold in China.
| Japanese have been able to under.
sell Lancashire goods in the
Chinese and other markets, and they
have been carrying out a highly ef
fective system of commercial pene.
tration. A certain amount is known
| about the Japanese methods, bu
there is scope for inquiry, which ap'
pears to be developing along highly
scientific lines, with the help Of
state subsidies of shipping and SC
forth. The mission will visit japan
and will make detailed investigations
into the whole of the industry, ant
should be able to present report
on its return which would be of val
tie to Lancashire.
| Sir Leo Chico Money, who by
virtue of his high standing in the
London financial world was ap
pointed member of the commission
of inquiry on the miners demands
emphasizes the curious fact that a
the recent sittings Of the commits
sion the truth was learned that the
ministry of labor did not know
American miners wages had beer
raised three times since 1916. Using
this to point a moral, Sir Leo says:
Compares American Wage.
II have just received from Ameri
ca, the official record of earnings ii
| New York state (including New
York City,, which has about 1900
900 factory workers.
"The average weekly earnings
not of the men alone, but of tn.
men, women, boys and girls, EN-
ployed in these factories were in De
cember, 1918, 94 los. I'd ($24.14,
per week Remember that this Gov
ers women's trades, including the
lowest paid industries, such as laun
dry work. If we take trades If
which males are chiefly employed
such as pig-iron and rolling mil
products, we find that the average
| ...ana -, H. ...a.4l &c N