Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-16
THE NEW SIMPLIFlCATION
AND HOW 1T is DONE
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskip

WASHINGTON, March 16:-We
Americans know what we like, but
does it make any real difference TO
anv of us whether our favePite kind
of bread has square or round edges
and whether the mantel clock has a
straight or curved base? Probably
not. Yet our industries have for some
decades gFayely gone on the assump-
! tion that these subtle variations are
of fundamental importance.
| The war showed that there is no
| foundation for this idea. Manufac-
! tursrs who patriotieally cut down on
/ specialties found that making fewer
| items meant greater speed and ettl-
| cheney in their plants and less eX-
pense, and the public did not miss
| the eliminated items. A baker who
| had always made fifteen kinds of
bread, including different combina-
tiens of shapes, sizes, and qualities,
cut down to six as a war measure,
and he never went back to fifteen.
This is one example. Other manu-
faeturers could not follow their war
programs because the war eonserva-
| ton measures often meant emeF-
gency. makeshifts. Many Of them
consequently went back to the cid
routine of turning out multiplicity
of specialties instead of making a
| few steady selling articles.
The National Chamber of Com
| meree some time ago pointed out
| that sin numerous commodity lines
varieties have been pyramiding to
such an extent that the science of
mass production, for which America
| is known the world over, is being
lost. 1t would seem that one of the
M est essential lessons taught by the
war has been entirely forgotten"
HeW the situation stood, and still
stands to a great extent, may be seen
| clearly by one classic illustration;
| Years ago farm wagons were made
| by local bla OK smiths and each black
smith followed his own methods and
| the desires OF his customers. Each
| community, as result, evolved it's
| own standard for wagons. The fac
| tory supplanted the blacksmith, but
| manufacturers were still expected to
supply a particular locality with
| wagons of the exact dimensions and
| shapes that had become popular
| there.
| The factories amiably struggled
along trying to suit everybody as far
as humanly possible. But the futility
| of the attempt may be seen from the
statement made by a wagon maker
who did some interesting figuring.
He found that to supply the various
! forms of farm equipment demanded
in various parts of the country a
manufacturer would have to have in
stock $40 different styles Of gears
157 different sets of wheels, and lac
different kinds of wagon boxes. This
means that one wagon might be or
dered in 14,a67,200 different combi.
nations, ana the wagon maker suna
up the condition as appalling.
Nothing Compulsory About 1t
The war showed the needless
waste in industry, and 1t showed thai
the best way of attacking it was by
cooperation between the indiyiduali
producing, distributing, and using
any product Herbert Hoover, seere
tary of commerce, believed that thii
policy could be carried over into nor
mai times with great effectiveness
One result of his idea is the Division
of Simplifed Practice which he or
gaAized in the Departm ent of Com
meree. For more than a year thi
division has been assisting variou
Industries to find the most practica
and profitable way Of simplifyni
} production.
1t should be understood that tn
government is making no attempt t.
| compel any industry to use simple
or more efficient methods. The ex
7 perts of the Department of Com
meree merely stand ready to he'll
those industries that desire to worl
9 out a program of simpiified practice
Suppose that there is a request TO
: government aid frem a group o
. manufacturers of a certain line. A
practically all industries of any i'm
q portanee are organized in trade asso
! Citations, the Division of Simpiifie
= Practice may ask 8 representative G
n the association to act as Seeretar
Hoover's representative in making
preliminary survey to show the stu
q alton In the industry. Then con
ference is called, to which producers
Y distributors, and Representatives c
!, consumers concerned are iRVitet
l' The situation is discussed, and tn
4 government representatives. explai
tsimplifcation methods and show ho'
q they are being applied to industr1e
and with what results.
~ q satisfactory program is eUi
NneA by the confeFence, the recon
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