Evening star., 1926-09-26

| he has no living wages, and he has no
living wages because he has no up-to-
date tools to work with tools that
would enable him to produce as
chea ply as other mines that hsve up
to-date machinery. The British coa'
mining industry needs consolidation
and new machinery. That is big 5usi.
ness. But the family tradition of re-
sista nee to anything consultative pre-
vents this.
Railroad Methods Old.
ION British railroads we are still
switching by horses. by ropes and
capstans. In America you switch by
machinery and electricity. We work
by hand and back and you work with
machinery. In England many of our
railroad coaches are so small and
stuffy that we have a good many acct-
dents yearly of people falling cut Of
them in an endeavor 20 get breath
OF fresh air. In America YOU would
! think 1t very unusual II a passenger
! falls eff Of a train.'
Then you think big business meth
ods will make England prosperous"
! | asked. You have faith in mass and
sta ndardized production. Many people
in America would be quite content to
have our business unscrambled. They
| see a great menace to liberty in our
consultations. Furthermore, mass
production, it is charged, has some
artistic drawbacks. 1t tends to Stere
otype material things. We gain in
quantity, but we lose in quality. Only
short while ago a speaker in the
| German Reich urged that Germany
save herself from the infection OF
American mass production. He said
1t was killing all artistry in the
world"
"A people can't live on art" replied
Sir Phillip. The need In the Old
World and England is to fill stomachs.
clothe backs. give better shelter. Those
are primary needs in production. After
the back of the human being is suffi-
ciently clothed and his stomach suff-
Ciently fed and he has a place to sh~l-
ter him comfortably. his next aspirn-
tion will be for quality. You will see
quality production after we have had
mass production. But mass produc-
ton is necessary first.
I'm Greece we did not have the age
OF Pericles and the era of culture un-
til Athens had developed her COM
, merce. When she had enough mate
rial wealth, then there was leisure for
art. Culture has to have a materia
basis before it flowers. In the last 40
years in Engla nd l have noticed al.
ready a liking for classical music
among the people. Forty years age
cheap music was all the rage While
in America / was surprised to see how
we'll classical music was appla uded at
your cinemas. The desire for finer
things in life comes in nation rs
primary production sets at rest the
demands OF empty Stomachs, un-
clothed backs and unsheltered heads"
Obstacles Are Cited.
But isn't Englan nd and the Old
World torn in two by the menace of
radicalism? Aren't workers trying
their best to smash capitalism and in
augurate Socialism? Won't that hold
up big business in the Old World?" l
queried.
The truth is that Socialism is dy-
ing all over the world. In England
when the Labor party came into
power the leaders of academic Social
ism saw the practical impOssibilities
of 1t. The world is learning by expert.
ence that Socialism is utterly imprac-
tiCal and that the road to PROSPERITY
is In learning how TO work the CAPT
taliStiC system rather than by demol.
ishing it completely and setting up
bra no.new system. Big business in the
Old World will produce more. That
will mean that workers will get more.
And is the productivity of capitalism
goes up the virility of radcalism
wanes.'
DO YOU think that Britain is in a
very serious Industrial situation?"
asked Il have heen hearing about
her army Of unemployed for quite
few years"
Yes. Britain is In serious trouble.
Ninety-two per cent of our people live
in cities and only 8 per cent in the
country and on farms. We are pre-
dominantly an industrial nation But
an industrial nation, especially a free.
trade nation. must find markets. And
England cannot get those markets un.
less she can produce more cheaply
than her competitors. 1t Is all oues.
ton of undermining British industry
eQuipping 1t with up-todate machin-
cry. consolida ting 1t into big business,
getting rid Of the tradition Of family
businesses. How will we do that
The sharp logic OF disaster will drive
us to do 1t.
Truth Sinking In.
The recent strike set people to
thinking in England as never before,
The truth about our baCkwardness in
business s compared with America is
are slow people to move. hut when
they wake up they get there We are
beginning to wake up. England is
due for tremendous business revol,I
ton In the next few wears. Either
that or we will so To the wall indus
trially. Between two such choices I,
is not hard to predict in what direc.
ton we shall move.
England does not need loans.
neither does Europe. What we need
is better business methods of produc
tion. Loans can't give us that. We
must do that for ourselves. The day
Of little businesses Is over in England
and Europe. 1t must go Just as II
did in America. II II doesn't, we will
get pushed to the wall just as the
stubborn little concern in America gets
put out Of business when II tries f.
hold out against the 42-centimeter
blasts of big business"