Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-12
SCHWAB AND AYRES
SEE BUSINESS GAIN
Both Predict Improvement in
Industry During 1880; Con-
ditionS Held Good.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.

NEW YORK; december 12.-CharleS
M. Schwab and Col. Leonard P. Ayres
are two American business observers
whose statements are followed closely
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation
chairman sees no letdown in business
for 1880. Better management, remark
able earnings, plentiful credit"-are the
factors that will do it.
Steel production for this year will
probably exceed by about 10 per cent
the record for 1928. Wealth is founded
in the industries of the Nation, for while
they are sound stocks may go up and
stocks may go down, but the Nation will
prosper" says Mr.. Schwab.
Col. Ayres, Cleveland banker, thinks
thu first three months of business in
1880 will move slowly. The next three
will show some improvement, but con-
ditionS will not be good. The third and
fourth quarters, he believes, will usher
in an improvement in general business
with a gradual uptrend.
Here is his summary: THE year 1880
promises poor start and good finish
for business, more bond flotations and
fewer bank mergers, more trust invest
mentS and fewer investment trusts, re-
newed speculation with decreased tribu-
lation, reduced profit margins and fewer
margin calls, neither so many shocks to
the nervous system nor so many warn
ings by the Reserve system"
DR.. Thomas T. Read professor of
mining at Columbia University, makes
the statement that the American work.
ingman does from three to seven times
as much work as the European-in
fact, half of the total work of the world
is done in the United States.
Prof. Read has just made complete
study of the relative amout of work
done in Is leading countries of the
world and his conclusions bear out the
above statements.
The European impression that Amer
lean prosperity is due to the unlimited
natural resources and an industrial SyS-
TEN with magic power is not correct,
according to Prof. Read. He contends
that the American workmen can be en-
ployed profitably at a daily rate about
equal to the weekly wage of the European
workman because the American work
man does three to seven times as much
work.
OF course, machinery is largely re-
sponSible. The electrical age has ar
rived in America, comparatively speak
ing. In Europe, it has not. Every per-
son in the United States" says Prof
Read has IS invisible slaves working
for him, and the most significant thing
is that these 35 slaves do not consume
anything, so that all the product is
available for the boss The American
workman is not a wage slave, but a
boss of a considerable force, whether
he realizes it or not"
High wages, therefore, are a necessary
result of the electrical machine age
Higher wages, too, will develop in Eu-
rope as more and more it puts under
control the enormous embarrassed
horsepower now available
So popular have "talkies" made in
Hollywood become in foreign countries
that many OF the European countries to-
day are concerned over the possibility of
the English language Supplanting their
native languages in the larger theaters
This week, in the French Chamber of
Deputies, CASTOR Gerard opened fire on
the American films, especially the
"talkieS," on the ground that the great
theaters OF Paris now show only films,
from which the French language has
been baniShed.
A check-up Of the principal motion
picture houses of Paris reveals that is
OF them are American, three or four are
Russian or German in origin, and only
one or two are French.
American film companies are watch
ing the situation carefully. Most of the
recent films sent abroad have been of
the musical comedy variety, which re-
quire minimum of speaking-mostly
singing. The handicap of the English
language in foreign countries has. there
fore, been minimized. But in the fu-
ture American film companies expect
to produce local films wherever the
countries themselves, within their own
borders, are able to support them.
Harvey A. Sweeter, American trade
commissioner in Toronto, reports that
more and more farmers are becoming
interested in the use of electric power
for lighting houses and stables, for
cooking, washing and ironing, for
grinding feed, filling silos and pumping
water. In a word, the farmers of
Ontario are shifting the drudgery of
their work over to the invisible slave
electricity"
The next great electrical expansion in
the United States will be on the farms
(Copyright, 1929 by North American News
paper Allanceo