The Haslingden Gazette. — 1910-04-23 (Haslingden, Lancashire, England)

Heredity in Industry.  The resolution passed by the House of Lords relinquishing the hereditary right of peers to a seat in ilie legislative assembly is significant from the social standpoint, as well as from the political point of view. With the latter we arc not here concerned, but it is opportune to consider the case of hereditary succession in the management of industrial establishments. Is it conducive to our continued supremacy as a manufacturing nation that suns should follow their fathers by right of birth, without acrupulous care to ensure that they possess the necessary technical and personal qualities? This question cannot be considered impertinent. In the earlier stages of handicraft the issue was a simple one. - a often as not, heredity and environment had great. influence in developing that deftness which was 20 important factor in efficiency. Moreover, when the business was ultimately handed down to a succeeding generation, the penalty of failure had to be borne almcet exclusively by the author of failure. With the evolution of the factory system—with the development successively of hydraulic power, steam, and electricity—a new order has arisen. Instead of individualism we, have a system of collectivism in its most perfect form. The ingenuity of the mechanic has devised means of production which demand co-operative c Port, and the successful development of •the factory system is a mere or less direct result of the recognition on the part of the loaders of industry of their responsibility to the workers and to the nation.  We have reached a stage in the development of factori,, and notably in the extension of the limited liability company system, when it is of increasing importance that the captains of industry should, even more fully than in the past, realise this responsibility to the nation. Herein indeed lies the tine aignifieance of a discriminating in.erpreiation of the hereditary right to suceeesion to the captaincy of industry. It is because of the insepprabk inter-dependence of industry and the national welfare that we seek for a more intense recognition of the importance of efficiency in management, rather than of mere patrimonial succession. That nation which does not utilise to the moat efficient degree its win al and physical, as well an its mineral and mechanical resources, must become decadent; there is no other basis on which to found a true economic standard. It follows that mipotisin in any form, in the preferment of an individual owing to heredity or consanguin:ty, or in the acceptance of a scheme of mechanics, merely because it is promoted by relative or friend. is not defensible on sound economical grounds. Any such preferment, o far as it results in lessening efficiency, is disadvantageous to the State. Successful control of factories is probably a factor which mcst affects general industrial efficiency, and if this control be placed in the hands of anyone deficient in necessary qualities injury is done, not only to the capitalist but to all the workers. By -capitalist," of course, we mean every shareholder. Not only may profits be reduced, but the probabilities are that the cost of production will be increased, with the result that the seller of the nation's products is more or leas handicapped in foreign marketi, and the demand for labour, and probably its rate of remuneration, is affected.  Of course, heredity can never be a disqualification. As in politics, no in almost any branch of mental or, indeed, physical activity, there are numerous excmples of representatives of succeasive generations c /shill/ling a pre-eminence in one or other brand, of learning or applied science. We have, for instance, the fourth generations of the Vickers. of Sheffield, the sixth generation of the Scotts, of Greenock. and many other similar examples. where heredity has in successive generations produced the qualities which make for suenest Many other names will similarly occur to the reader of families who have yielded bounteous results; amongst them are the Thomsons (Kelvin), the Parsons (Reese), the Tangyes, and the Fronds*. Nor is this quality confined to any nationality. We have the Carnets in engineering, the Becquerel-) in physics, the Bernouilli in science, and the Bachs in music. There must be a presumption in favour of heredity. Again, some may contend that the enterprise of the progenitor confers some prior claim upon succeeding generations. This, however, is a dangerous doctrine from the national Taint of view. and unless the requisite character/sties of the leader of industry are present, those claims ought, in justice to shareholders and to workers, to he limited to a fair return on the capital created by the progenitor's enterprise.— Engineering."  A Russian does not beoome of age unt ill he s twenty-six.  After training, a good circus horse is worth from £6OO to £l,OOO.  Of 1,000 German families, 173 keep servants, ay,ainit 207 in England.  In fifteen years a locomotive will run 240,000 nele4, and earn £60,000.  In proportion to its sine the horse has a smaller stomach than any other quadruped.  The popular belief that a drowning person riqes to the surface three times is unfounded.  In Norway the average length of life is g,reater than in any other country on the globe. In Finland the women consider a kiss n the bps as the greatest insult, even from their own husband.  Life insurance office returns show that more suicides take place on Tuesday and Thursday than on other days. A man feels drowsy after a hearty dinner because a large part of the blood in the system goes to the stomach to aid the digestion, and leaves the brain poorly supplied. 

Article type: NotIncident