The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1922-03-14
AI4ab0r Index?
ROGER w. Babson Proposes The *|Pro
duction Rating" by Which Various
Cities Can be Judged

~. the following from the central |
-, rrhase authentic statements are !
.ay;ng exclusively in the COM |
uoNWEALTH.
..p.fira continuing the report OF !
4ho o,lsnec of my trip I want to dis
,.. - problem Of Importance Of su>h
,oportanre in fact that it will not
;4 Since leaving home last Novem
have visited 80 of the largest
..,os and have pretty much covered
n.,ustrial America from Canada on
a., nor,h 10 the Gulf of Mexico on
,ba south. This trip hass impressed
mo with two major facts. Business is
suffering from two entirely separass
limos The first is the weakness of
,,.. sys+en, of distribution which | in
s.od 10 take up Immediately upon my
~n+,ru. The second is our appalling
;annrauce of production standards as
evidenced hv the variation of the eff
fieiancy Of lahor in different sections
Of tho country.
When a Manufacture faces a prob
i'm IN finance Or marketing he gets
his information on railroads. rental
.harges. dock facilities, population
AMI climatic conditions. When he
faces the problem Of production hs
5aa ar. no figures.
.! have tried the Chambers OF
,al,nrrce in practically every city
aaye visited. | have tried the De
,;,rtmrut Of Labor and the other de-
.,artments at Washington. No one
aeparently has any data on the refa-
} tive efficiency of Labor IN dlttefehs
sections Of the country. III the same
.ine Of business there are great var
iations. Men doing the same kind OF
work IN two different sections of the
.1r,trv produce Il different output
Wages l,er hour are pretty much
Standardized, hut when it comes 20
production per dollar we are all in the
dark
Gas :; solution to this difficulty
suggest having :, National COMMITTEES
Of three or five appointed by the Sec
retarT OF Labor to prepare certain
abnf tests and then as an experiment
apply them in Il half a dozen cities
say New Orleans. Birmingham ant
Atlanta in the South, and Boston
t'evelanI and ST. Louis in the North
lact local Association of Commerce
wou> out point its own local commit
tee Of fiye, one man representing tn
Association on the wage workers
and one each for manufacturing, build
ing and agriculture. This commrrte
would secure the local statistics TO
4}s own city IN addition to securin
definite information for comparin
different sections of the country. Th
plan ais" has another far reachin
Standards are determined thru exper
4aens it may be possible to keep tn
'lgurcS upto-date for each large cit.
1huS the relative labor efficiency pc
doilar could be quoted just as econ
modify prices and f" freight rates
are now quoted. This would inevl1
ahIy create a. friendly rivalry betwee
different sections and tend to increas
Tie efficiency of both management
and ai,or for the entire country.
Ia 50 doing we would accompl1s
more IN reducing prices, develop1n
''"'1ga trade and creating prosperlf
'aan could ever be done with any so
NoHg'cSSlonal Legislation. III La
i'm writing the substance of t.
''oFe article to several Chambers
'"'n'''rcr today and there is no re
'"' WY tne Chamber of Commer'
" aar progressive American ci!
>"'G': not go ahead on its own hoe
80 lake such a survey. Adverti
th1 production efficiency Of
'''n''.nf1jty will do more toward brin
F'S = ia.nstries to it than any nu1