Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

The minister of economy of Italy
Signor Belluzza, made speech las
Saturday in the Chamber OF Deputies
which. like the shot which started
the Revolution of America, will d.
heard round the world" He was
answering an Interpolation:
"Why is it that American industry
can compete with our own, though
paying it's workmen daily wage
which, in some cases, exceeds Wna
we pay them in a week.?
The query and answer are OF as
much interest in America as In ltaly
y = \ X
Signor Belluzza's answer was:
First. "The United States has such
a vast internal market that their
industries can specialize and organize
technically IN such way as 10 get
more work out of each worker.
That answer might have applied to
China, too, if size of population alone
created a profitable home market
The supporters of the Fordney- Nc
Cumber tariff act would say the
answer is inadequate.
Second. American workmen work
with an intensity, discipline and
speed that is not known in Italy
nor anywhere else outside of America
Some data on that point Will be
given below.
Third. American organization is
such that each worker must produce
to the utmost of his capacity; other
wise he is automatically eliminated.
That may apply to such highly de-
yeloped factories as the Ford auto
mobile works, but the answer Is mis-
leading in that it indicates generally
a. frenzied drive. rather than pro-
ductiveness through subdivision of
operations so that every move is
efficient" for it is not true that our
workmen are slaves driven by the
fear of discharge ever hanging over
their heads.
Signor Belluzza added that the fear
of some Italians that if they applied
American efficiency to Italian produc-
ton it would result In overproduction
and an increase OF Unemployment was
not sustained. He argued that 1t
would check the flow of agr1cultur1sts
into the industries and would cheaper
products and cost of living. He added,
1--WE must suppress industries that
cannot be organized in a. modern fash
ion, and we must standardize and
specialize our production"
Italy lacks natural resources ana
raw products, but that Is not the
whole secret Of why she pays less per
week than America pays per Gay 70 70
the producers. 1t is in efficiency or
her man power and lack Of modern
MANAGEMENT of quantity production,
according to officials of the American
Federation Of Labor.
That American supremacy Is not to
be wholly explained by improved
Iahor-saving machinery was Illus
trated in the war by bricklayerS'
Gathered from many regiments INTO
one unit were hundreds OF American
bricklayers. and they were set 10
building brick warehouses Tor the
ARMY supplies. They averaged laying
400 bricks a day-the regulation
stunt according to the AIneIicai.
A NV nav was $1.10 a day and ra-
TONS Alongside Of them, doing ident,
oaIIx- +he same work, were French ana
Encl;sh bricklayers doing their usual
. ~,s,-ae-e of from $50 to 45O bricks q
day. ,,;,a-s en- Indiana.
I,iinois and other regions or sorr coal
averaged 3.61 tons per man per uay
an 1e5S-now 4.56 tons; In England
the miners average less than one TON
(.98 toni per day: 10 t.
The Willimantic Thread GO. Is al,
r,aiisb CORPORATION, but 1t discovered
sn,,7e wears ago that it could estaD-
i;Sh q. factory in America, pay Amer
lean wages and produce thread more
cheaply than In its home Factory
where English wages were paid
Where American efficiency IS dem
onstr-ated It is not alone native-born
AMERICAN workingmen who produce
IN to American measures; foreigners
WORKING alongside American work
men with some exceptions, soon get
their rhythm" and produce double or
treble what they could in the OLD
countries. ,,,.,