New Britain herald., 1922-09-23
Better Distribution Necessary
 to Cut Cost ofLiuing- -Babson

Wellesley Hills. Mass. Sept. 2S - Any reduction in the cost of living must come through better distribution rather than cheaper production" says Roger w Babson in discussing the business outlook.
 Its strange how we concentrate on saving the pennies and let the dol lars slip through our fingers The officials of every manufacturing com pany in the country are hunting fran. tically for new ways to cut down the cost of production. They lie awake nights over a few cents an hour on labor, or an extra dollar or two on ton of coal, or any other factor which may affect the cost of making this product Once the goods are made and out of the factory their efforts cease The job of getting their product 10 the ultimate consumer be- longs to someone else.
 All of us have become so engrossed with the problem of cutting down the cost of production that we have let distribution take care of itself We have saved millions at the bung but
  the past 30 years the amount of goods produced in the United States has increased probably ten times over The mum Der of workers necessary to produce those goods have increased only about two and a half times This means that. owing to new machinery and better methods the average worker today is able to turn out about four times $ much goods in eight hours al the worker so years ago did in 10 or 12 hours Allow for the cost of the machinery, fuel. etc. and even then you find the average unit producing cost today is less than half of what it used to be In produc- ton we have made wonderful prog ress, because we have given most of our thought and effort to it.
 No Progress Seen
 Turn to distribution and we find no such progress. In fact, the per centage cost of distribution probably has not been reduced at all With twice the production per worker we should expect that the wages for a days work would buy twice as much 
 had been improved as much as pro duction, a days wages would buy four times as much as it did 50 years ago We all know that no such increase has taken place. In fact, it is debatable if the average family today is even half again as well off as it used to be-
 This does not mean that the re- taller or the jobber or the carrier are hogging the difference It means to a large extent that we have not de veloped our tastes so as to get the most for our money. It means that we have not educated the retailers and other distributors to most efficient methods of handling merchandise. In short we have not made the same progress in distributing goods as we have in their actual production
 We have been devoting our efforts to building better factories, to getting a greater output from labor to put ting out more and better goods.
 Much Research Work
 We have done very little toward the equally important problem of S6IIlnG lQOSe SOouS lU lIlc ullllildte consumer The government is spend ing over s10o,o0o,ooo a year in re- search to help the manufacturers and farmers. but it has never even taken a censuseof the retailers Hundreds of men are employed gathering in formation on the crops. Hundreds more are experimenting in chemical research for means of fighting pests and blights which destroy crops. and instructing the farmer in -helr use.
 Similar work is being done for the manufacturer to help him find moro effcien- methods of production. 4 complete census of manufacturers is taken every five years. which shows the number of firms in each industry, their production costs and profits These things of course, cost money but they are worth it. They are largely responsible for the fact that the United States stands head and shoulders above any other country in the efficiency of it's production. Is there any reason why we should not spend at least as much to help the retail distributor on whom we must depend to get those goods to us?
 So far most people have been con- tent to point to the growth of the chain store and cooperative selling movements as indicating the short comings of the individual retailer but the crying need of the hour is that we all get behind the retailer and help him If his methods are wrong, 1t Is 1 our misfortune and it is up to the rest of us to show him a better way. He sells at least S5 per cent of all the consumers goods bought in the Unit Ad States; he has more than a million stores in the country representing an investment of billions of dollars; in short. the individual retailer today is |