Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-03-11

Continuing his personal survey OF
business conditions Roger w. Babson
sends tho following from the central
south. Thcsc authentic statements are
appearing exclusively in tho Every
Evening.
Before continuing the report OF
tho balance OF my trip / want 10 dis
c,ns a problem OF such Importance
that II will not wait. Since leaving
homo last November ] have visited
20 OF the largest elites and have pretty
much covered Industrial America from
Canada on the north 10 tho Gulf OF
Mexico on tho south. This trip has
impressed mo with two major facts.
Business In suffering from two entirely
separate things. Tho fret is tho weak
meas OF our -sys,em OF distribution
which intend 10 take up Immediately
upon my return. The eecoud Is our
appalling Ignorance Of production
standards M evidenced by tho varia-
ton OF the efficiency OF labor in differ
ent actions OF the country.
when a manufactures facee a prob
| lem I'm finance or marketing he gets
/ his information on railroads. rental
| charges. dock facilities. population and
climatic conditions. when he faces the
problem Of production he can get no
! ngures.
II have tried the Chambers OF Com
MERGE In practically every city have
visited. | have tried tho Department
OF Labor and the other departments
az Wellington, No one apparently has
any data on the relative efficiency Of
! labor In different sections Of the cOuu-
/ try. In tho sans line OF business there
are great variations. Men doing the
anmc kind of work in two different
l sections n the country produce a
| different output. Wages per hour are
pretty much standardized. but when
IL comes 10 production per dollar we
are all in tho dark
AS n solution 10 this difficulty
suggcst having a National Committee
Of three or five appointed by the Sec
rotary Of Labor TO prepare certain In
Dor tests and then "a an experiment
apply them IN a half a dozen cities
say New Orleans. Birmingham and
Atlanta in the South. and Boston
Cleveland and ST. Louis in the North
Each local Association Of Commerce
would appoint It's own local committee
OF five, one man representing the AZ
ISOLATION. ono the wage workers. and
ono each for manufacturing, build.
ing and agriculture. This committee
would secure the local statistics fol
It's own city. In addition 70 securing
definite information for comparing diff
fcrent sections OF tho country. TIL
plan also has another far reaching
possibility. After proper comparative
standards are determined through ex
periments st may be possible TO keel
the figures up-to-date for each larg
city. Thus the relative laboT~efilcienc
per dollar could be quoted just a
: commodity prices" and freight rates
are now quoted. This would inevitabl
J create a friendly rivalry between dit
: ferent sections~and tend TO increas
!, the efficiency OF both management an
= labor for the entire country.
In 80 doing we would accomplis
, moro IN reducing prices, developin
y foreign trade and creating prosperit
. than could ever be done with any so
q OF Congressional legislation. In FAC
10 1 am writing the substance OF Il
y above article TO several Chambers
y Commerce today and there is no re;
n son why the Chamber of CONNER,
II Of any progressive American CT
:! should not so ahead on its own hoo
lie and make such a survey. Advertiser