The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-10-26

scale production by machinery is OF
very recent origin and that in effect
ing great economies on the one hand
on the other it has introduced new
elements which simply on account Of
their immaturity are more expensive
than they should be.
Distribution Problem.
Distribution is the biggest and most
important of these new elements. Sc
long as our manufacturing methods
continue to develop along their pres
ent lines, distribution costs can never
be eliminated. Machinery reduces
manufacturing costs by reducing the
amount of human labor and undoubt.
edly distribution is composed of GER.
tain units which may accomplish
similar results. One Of the great
problems today is to recognize clear
ly these units and to use them to the
best advantage.
In order to obtain a better insight
into the problem of reducing distribu-
tion costs, let US go back and trace
briefly the processes by which we ar
rived to our present methods of man.
ufacturing and selling and attempt to
place the exact relationship between
the two.
Because our own lives have not also
spanned the whole period between
homespun cloth and the automobile,
we sometimes forget that industry
has not merely grown in extent but
also has become an essentially differ
ent thing. Once an article was made
complete on the farm or in the town
where it was to be used, perhaps by
the very one who was to use it. Lis
ten to the words of Darius Milton
Raymond, who died in Reading Cen
ter, New York, two years ago, at the
ripe old age of ninety-seven years. In
his youth, as his biography is told,
farmers KILLED and dressed their own
cattle and hogs E. had the skins
tanned, and their shoes made from
material of their own production.
They raised fax -. spun and wove
II into cloth, which they fashioned in
to clothing in their own homes" Win
dow glass was almost unknown, The
news Of the election of Lincoln as
President arrived six weeks after
election day.
Times Have Changed.
Today a mans work is limited not
merely to making, let US say, shoes,
but to performing only one or two
operations in the process. With the
aid of machinery this high degree of
specialization has reduced the actual
labor of making a product to mere
fraction of what it once was.
During the youth of Mr.. Raymond,
family produced most of its necessi-
ties and the things they did not pro-
duce were made within their imme-
diate neighborhood, No problem of
distribution existed. Today, however,
with the exception of few simple
articles that may be made on certain
farms, family does not produce a
single completed product for, its own
use.
Why are we willing to pay such a
price for distribution? Because 1t
represents a net saving on the retail
price of an article. If you had to
make your own shoes every time a
pair wore out, it would cost you much
more in time and labor. For though
the added cost of distribution raises
the price of an article considerably,
at the same time, manufacturing costs
are reduced to far greater extent by
the large scale economies in human
labor.
An Example Given.
This saving represents more than
mere reduction in price; it is a
saving that has added to our COM
forts, that has turned luxuries into
everyday necessities, that has made
life easier; it has given us new prod
ucts and services-stoves, window
glass, rugs, silks-things almost un-
heard of by the man of 1910, things
which only the most wealthy could
afford.
But what is the machinery that has
made POSSIBLE these changes? Let
us take the case of one manufacturer.
Mr.. A. is the manufacturer of a
food product which he feels is the
best of its kind. He puts up plant,
installs machinery, and prepares to
turn out his product on moderately
large scale. But how can he sell the
output of his factory, and keep on
selling that output in steady stream
day after day? Unless he can sell II
to large numbers of people, he cannot
make it in large enough quantities to
turn IL out at a marketable price He
is faced with the problem of distribu-
ton.
Mr.. AS first step is to hire and put
on the road number of statesmen
Mr.. A. seeks to lower his manufacture
ing costs per unit by widening his
market and increasing his sales