Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-25
GEORGE r. BARBER
On the Frankensteln Of Business

A MEXICAN industry has created
"A Frnnkensten monster which seriously
threatens its continued prosperity, accordlnS
to George +. Barber, director of the Execu-
tiyeS Forum of the Y. NJ. Z. A., an organ
ization of many of the executives OF leading
Philadelphia business houses devoted 10 inc
solving of business problems. :, ~,
During the last ten years sald MT
Barber ''the Intermediates between the pro, pro-
ducer and the consumer have increased ooo
per cent, while the producers have not m
creased 10 per cent Every one VINO touches
the product in the course of the TRANSMISSION
between the maker and the ultimate con-
suner takes profit, and four out OIL every
five of these Intermediates do not add any
thing to the convenience of the purchaser
or the usefulness of the product.
Immense Selling Costs
"When It costs as much to sell goods us
II docs TO manufacture them there Is some
thing essentially wrong. Today there IL
tolerated il not actually honoreu, one oi tne
very things which was punishable by death
or mutilation not much more thah ctnturs
ago. Today TO 'forestall' a competitor ~
considered u mcritoriOuS matter. But orlSiI
nally the word forcstGlp meant to buy up an
the goods in a certain territory anu hoiu
them for an advance in price. inns was
violation of the penal codc az thut tihir'
Today it is not only tolerated, but the man
Who puts it across is considered to have
done n smart thing.
Take, for instance, the matter OF deliv-
cries in the city. One morning late last sum.
mer l got up very early anu s ss' .;'no Um 'NI
norch of my house for a space OF time. 1
saw four milk wagons, three bread wagons.
two ice wagons and three newsboys deliver
their morning goods In a single city blocK;
Two would have given the same service anu
saved that much in costs to the prices whlch
The consumer has to pay for these articles
for Il is the consumer who IN the ehd pays
all the bills, whether these bills are aDSo-
lutely necessary or not.
The Matter Of Clothing
"To illustrate in another manner; there are
n Number of large clothing factories In TINS
vicinity. Each Of these factories mas ut least
CORY models (somc have as high as elghty
and few even m0re), and each OF lnese
forty models is made in six different treat
Inents. or 24O in all. Then there are three
Jifferent STYLES Of lining for each treatment,
silk, merceri2ed and cotton, and there are
on0 different kinds Of cloth for each model.
This makes a grand total Of 2lG,OOO cOmbt-
,,otions. not counting the arious sizes IN
which the garments are made up
"Now 70 per cent Of the orders are for
onlv X pcr cent of the styles. But the
S5 ner cent Of the more rarely ordered styles
comnlicatcs the 10 per cent which are COM
InonIv ordered, and tn" result is an addition
70 the cost Of manufacture. which must be
! reflected in the retail price.
Inc DuSsVotVh
."rbcsc are two OF the main items in the
| nrcsent cost Of things to the consumer, but
| ihey nre two things which can be rcmedied,
| if those interested sec fit to apply the rene
| dies.
"The first remedy lies in the stNndardlza-
| tion of products. This was Il lesson which
! we learned during the war and promptly lost
Il as soon ms the war was over. | do not
moan that the United States is to be stand
| or6i2cd until every one must dress alike and
| inok alike but in almost every line OF pro-
| durtion there are too many different prod
| ncts with too much fancincss. reason
| obie amount Of Standardization would reduce
| the cost of production and hence, the cost
| to the consumer.
.'Tbe second point is that VIC shall have
| 70 crcate managers for the various big bus
| inesscs. for of all the items of waste in
American industry, according to Mr.
| UOoyer's recent report, the vast majority
| of il is directly traceablc to management
| No one teaches management; everything
! else is taught; mathematics, foremanShip
! galcsmanship, workmanship, but not man :
ngcment. And in business 1t is the man
that counts more than the men.
Reduce the Selling Cost
.'In the third place. the selling costs must
be reduced. The rise of the chain stores in
| the United States Is directly due TO the high
cost of selling. And the selling cost can be
| brought down to the right level only when
| we pay according to what is sold. The law
of high efficiency Is to reward aecopling to
the effect achieved, and to reward in no other
| way.
'"This Is a natural law. In this same con-
nection l recently analysed eight very sue
cessful businesses with relation to their