Evening star., 1926-05-10
STRIKE WILL CUT
WORLD PRODUCTION
Business Leaders, Attending
Chamber of Commerce Meet
ing, Outline Views.

The regrettahle phase of the British
general strike is that in the agSre-
gate il means lost production, Julius
II. Barnes of New York. former preSi-
dent of the Chamber of Commerce OF
the United States, said today. Mr..
Barnes is in Washington attending
the annual meeting of the chamber,
which opens tomorrow at chamber
headquarters, Connecticut avenue and
II street. Mr. Barnes was one of the
group of American business men at
tending the international chamber
meeting in Rome out of which grew
the Dawes plan. With several others
he drew up the agenda voicing the
thought of q group OF business men
from 33 countries, demanding a
prompt and effective settlement of the
reparations problem. He is a former
president of the United States Grain
Corporation, and is head of Barnes
AmeS co. of New York, the largest
nited States grain exporting firm.
The Immediate effect of the strike
in Great Pritain," he said, lis already
Shown in he stimulation of orders i'll
America from markets ordinarily
drawing on Great Britain. Apparent
ly the American steel industry field
is finding emergency orders, and, of
course, the coal field will expand into
export trades.
Means Loss to World.
But this will be offset by losses of
other American industry depending
upon the British market. The regret
able phase is that In the aggregate it
means lost production and, therefore,
some damage to the aggregate trade
of the world.
Perhaps even so high a price to
pay for a knowledge of sound eco
nomics and sound industrial relations
would he justified by the outcome,
British employment relations and
British trade missions to the United
States recently were amazed at the
conditions of workers here and their
living standards, and returned with
the declaration that all of Americas
amazing prosperity rested on indus
trial production. The British strike
is apparently q head-on collision be-
tween a labor concept, made effective
through strong unions with fallacious
ideal, that wages and hours of work
are the ultimate terms of welfare for
working peoples, instead of Americas
proven philosophy of the effective re-
suits of hours of work-namely. the
production of more and more goods TO
divide.
Modern Machines Needed.
There have come also on the other
side strong employer combinations
which have not vet fully appreciated
that modern labor saving machinery,
making work more productive, is the
truest path to industrial prosperity
and not alone the level of wage scales.
In the end, the economic truth that
mana gerial enterprise in equipping in
dustry and a worker realization that
results, not hours, mark their wage
value, will start Great Britain on
new and better day of industrial pros
perity.
I'm the meantime, every day of such
suspension of orderly employment Is
greatly to be deplored, but also to be
endured if there must be settled the
question as TO whether any particu-
lar section of a people, by the power
of organization, may force representa-
tive government against the free Judg-
ment of its elected administrators.
'sIf the British strike lasts six weeks
/ do not believe it would have serl-
Gus effect on American business IN
general, but it might slow down our
export trade in pork products" l.. ID.
II. Weld of Swift & Company. Chi
cago, declared.
Exports OF cotton are unfaVoraoly
affected every day the strike contln-
ues, George II. McFadden of Phtladel-
phia, a large cotton exporter, said
Frank Green, managing edltor OF
Pradstreet'S, sums up the general
strike situation in his monthly review
of business conditions for the Nations
business magazine as follows:
1.-THE British strike has not been IN
operation long enough to give fair
line on it's ultimate effects on Amerl-
can interests. The first effects here
were a sharp decline in stocks, cotton
and grain, but stocks rallied quickly,
then dulled. Cotton and grain came
back more slowly, mainly on Ameri-
can weather reports, however. Some
firming of pig iron prices is reported,
and there is some talk that American
coal, steel and coke, and possibly some
textiles NAV find wider markets II the
strike is prolonged. Prophecy IN a
matter like this is proverbially dan
gerouS and rather SaVorS OF dlVldlng
up the clothes of a sufferer before ne
is actually dead. 1t might be easier
TO figure out loss to Great Britain
from seizure of it's markets by other
countries than to say just how posi-
bic gains to others will be appOrtioned.
With reference to American par
ticipation in these profits it might be
well to remember that Great Britain
is a heavy consumer of American ma
terials which may or may not go else
where if that country is crippled.
Then too, some continental goods in.
tended for Britain but rendered sur
plus by strike might conceivably be
thrown on our own markets, to the
displacement of our own products.
1T may be that we stand to lose con.
siderable business in some directions
even if we gain in others, and the
margin of net gain to our business
interests given the possible early
settlement of the strike seems highly
speculative"