Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-28

nL administration revealed tbe b;sb
ttnstaniiity of this Industry and tSa
Una mat II was functior:ng ar preas
n MAJ. loss. OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS T..
.srt neio Mr.. Hoover saws:
soc;a.i ousn cooperation OF trade as
consur OF the principal Industrial
,,,ar through chamber of COM
amo,,n4 anu pubic utilities ? large
mas been induced. Through the SSe
cooperation of the railways preatar
Equipment and terminal faciIitie..
nave Deen provided and car short
1 70 nave been largely eliminated
through cooperation by the denart
Inent with the unionied onerstors
ana with the leaders of the Trnitad
! lime Workers long term agreement
las peen entered upon. which insures
''" ~. peace In the industry.
,o - true that during the past few
,nonths the industry has been some
"nat uemorahzed by the large stocks
~ .oai accumulated in anticipation
VI possible strike last sprine and
by the lessened demand durinc tha
| summer. The broad result of gained
stapilty. however, has bcen that III.
pubic mas received its coal during
me Iast nscaI year at the lowest
price OF any year since before the
War. Inc past year, as compared IN
the year 1920, shows a saving IN tho
consumer Of about one billion dollars
Whlch must be reflected in decrras.
ing costs OF production in every ave
'Iue OF industry and commerce"
Inc program of the Northeastern
| Supefpower committee, under Mr.
aiooVers chairmanship. is discussed
a. ahotner effort in the direction OF
waste elimination. Revision Of fed
| crai and state purchasing specifica.
TONS under the auspices of the bu-
Ieau Oh standards, is still another
industrial research werx undertaken
ny the bureau, in cooperation with
tne industries concerned, and with q
: view 10 improvement in tecbnical
! processes. is still another. There was
also established in the bureau a di-
vision of simplified practice, to help
eliminate the wastes arising from I'M
! necessary diversificatioa.
soon after the division was es-
labiished the national brick manu-
lecturers brought to its attention the
neeu Tor simplifying the number of
! sizes OF paving bricks the secretary
continues. 1T developed that no Less
] than sc sizes were actually being
I manufactured and sold.
1his department promptly called
conference of all interested par
ties, with the result that varieties
OF paving brick were reduced by
mutual consent from G6 to II.
| Since TIM there has been a further
I reduction to five varieties. This is
! hut a sample OF the ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF this division. During the year
under review varieties OF files and
Iasps were simplitied from 1851 10
43S: range boilers from $50 TO IL:
sizes OF bed blankets from IS to II;
etc.
The Department of Commerce has
also moved in the direction OF elm
mating distribution waste. the re-
I port reveals. by conducting an ex-
hauStive investigation into the pro-
fesses of marketing perishable pro-
duce. After summarizing the wastes
OF the present-day system. Mr..
Hoover concludes
1t has been the departments
view that the best remedy for these
, evils lies in the extension of CO.
operative marketing and in the bet
ter organization of the distributors
at the terminal markets. The de-
partment has already proposed a
definite plan which I believe will
mobilize economic forces to reduce
these wastes with minimum of
governmental intervention"
Under the head of reducing hous-
ing costs. Mr.. Hoover says:
THE high cost of housing con-
struction brought to the front the
necessity for the elimination Of
waste in that field as n contribution
to lowering costs within the pur-
chasing power of the community.
and so maintaining activity. Aside
from the work of the department
upon the simplIication of building
materials. the Division of Building
and Housing was established to at
tack such problems as the develop
ment of uniform municipal building
codes. the investigation of losses and
wastes in financing home building.
and the study of city and town
coming
With the cooperation Of those di-
rectly concerned the division has
prepared a standard municipal
building code for small house con-
struction. n recommended plumbing
code. and standard state coming
enabling act which has already been
adopted by Is states. During the
past year officials of the department
Joined with private endeavor to form
Better Homes i'm America" as an
organization for education and pub
lie service. under the presidency of
Mr.. Hoover.
The report tells how the depart
ment recently took the lead in an
investigation of the tremendous hui
man and physical losses due to
traffic accidents. A number of COM
mittees of representative men from
all parts of the country have been
at work on preliminary studies. and
will make their reports to a national
conference on street and highway
safety to he held in Washington,
December 18th. A committee on
statistics has already brought in
report indicating that the deaths in
1923 were not less than 22,UU. the
number of people injured not less
than 67S.0O0. and the total economic
loss not less than 5000, 100000.
In the section of the report deal
ing with trade associations, Mr..
Hoover says:
zone of the most important asen-
cies through which the elimination
OF waste may he promoted is the
trade association. 1t is true that
small minority of these associations
have been in the past used as cloaks
for restraint of trade by Such ac-
tivities as open-price associations
and other attempts to control dis
tribution or prices. 1t is equally
true that the vast majority OF trade
associations have no such purpose
and do no such things. The divid-
ing line, however, between what &C
tivities are I'm the public interest and
what are not In the public interest
10 nnt today clearly defined either