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work, so that there is no question of them having to seek orders in the open market, and being subject to all its variations and fluctuations. They know the average amount of work they have to produce nearly every week and, therefore, organize accordingly.

They may not need to advertise, to employ travelers, nor pay commissions in order to secure a supply of work, nor to give discounts from their charges. The work usually comes to them automatically, consequently it is produced in a regular systematic way; they know just what is needed, and when it is needed, and employ just the number of workmen to produce accordingly.

But an ordinary trade house has to accept all kinds of work, whenever it comes to hand, and has to employ agents, canvassers, travelers, etc., to get work. Moreover, it has to advertise in order to make itself known, and all these services have to be paid for, and make a great hole in what would otherwise be profit, out of which bonuses could be paid; and, beside this, has to keep a staff sufficient to meet their utmost requirement, even though this staff will at time be idle or working below the mark because orders are not forthcoming.

The houses that save all these expenses are put in a position far more favorable than the trade house, consequently they can afford to pay bonuses, etc.; in fact, it would be somewhat of a shame if they did not.

We are Suspicious

Yes, we were told quite openly, that the workers were suspicious, and the representative who told us this did not hide himself behind his fellows, but came boldly out and told us that he, like the rest was suspicious, but if we could dissipate his suspicions he would tell his fellows so, and we believe he was sincere.

But what are your suspicions? Just table them, let us see what they are, and we will answer them, or candidly confess that there is genuine ground for them, but unless you reduce them to a plain, straightforward statement in a very matterof-fact manner, we are powerless. Moreover, suspicion that cannot be tabulated is unworthy.

Get rid of these suspicions, table them, and let us all look them in the face. Probably you may be wrong, possibly there may be some ground for them, but how is it possible to attack them unless we all know just what they are.

But when you come to deal with them, be sure they have some bases, and are not some hair-splitting theories dressed up as suspicions, or far-reaching ideals that may take centuries to reduce to practice, if ever they can be so reduced.

Of course, when the subject of suspicion is up for treatment, it may be found that the employers could produce a few that might need attention.

You are Profiteers

It came as a great surprise when, at one of these meetings, one of your delegates blurted out the fact that the employees looked upon their employers as profiteers, and ventured to say that he believed such was the case.

It may be that process engravers would not have been any better than employers in other trades, had the opportunity presented itself, but the opportunity has never materialized. We therefore ask on what ground is the charge made? The representative in question could not tell us, but contented himself by saying that the employees believed it, and he believed it, but such a belief, if it is general,

should surely have some reasonable ground to account for it; but the fact is, there is no such reasonable ground, consequently it would not be possible for anyone to prove such an assertion.

If employers acted as it is sometimes asserted they do, viz., discharge their employees as soon as ever work falls a little bit slack, they might make a decent profit, but the employees know that the employer is too anxious to keep his staff intact in anticipation of orders arising, consequently men are kept on when the volume of work is insufficient to keep them busy.

Of course, such exceptional times as we have passed through during this last twelve months, cannot be taken as the standard, for if full staffs had been kept on in all departments in the process houses it would have meant bankruptcy for very many of them ere this; for whatever reserves they might have put by during the busy period that preceded the slump, were soon dissipated by the terrible effects of the subsequent period, and it is very questionable whether there is a single trade process house that has made any reasonable profit during the greater part of this year. Yet we are Profiteers!!

Amalgamation

For some reason or other, the fact that certain firms had amalgamated has caused them to be looked upon with a kind of suspicion, and the question is asked, "Did you not amalgamate for the purpose of cheapening production?," and assuming that statement to be fact, your representative goes on to ask, "Why is it these amalgamated firms are asking for a lessening of the cost of production?"

Now, why anyone should assert as a fact a matter, about which he has no particular knowledge, and then proceed to argue a case from such premises, is, to say the least, very questionable, at any rate in this case. What is asserted as a fact is very fictitious, consequently it goes without saying that the argument founded upon that assertion must be valueless.

But why complain about the endeavor to cheapen production? As a matter of fact the proposal to cheapen production was for the very purpose of helping to increase wages, as was carefully pointed out at the time. What there is in such a proposal to call forth animadversion seems difficult to determine.

A very successful way of cheapening production has been found where payment by results has been adopted. This method gives every worker an incentive to give of his best, knowing that thereby he is securing for himself a fair share of the reward.

Has it never occurred to the more thoughtful among the workers that payment at so much per hour, whether the employee does much or little, is an absurdity? Is not payment for production the only sound method of payment? Why should a slow and incompetent worker, and an expert one sitting side by side, be paid the same wage? Should it not be possible to set up some standard by which results might be gauged, and by which the product of each worker might be measured, and so secure that the better and more skilled worker should get, as a matter of justice, a larger share of the product than the inefficient worker.

This was the idea underlying the suggestion, that seems to have caused so much anxiety to the representative in question, and the sooner the officials of the Men's Society tackle the problem, the better we think it will be for the workers, the employers, and the public.

How Is Business? A Special New Year Survey of Conditions as They Really are

ARCHER WALL DOUGLAS

In the story of business conditions which comes to me from the four corners of the United States the recital of things agricultural but one burden bears that of continuing stagnant markets for all farm commodities coupled with prices below the cost of production.

It is the same story borne from the endless pampas of Argentina, the sunscorched veldt of South Africa, and the trackless bush of Australia, where grain, wool and livestock still await adequate demand, while hungry Europe starves and suffers. It hints at that world-wide problem upon whose solution our prosperity waits expectantly; of how to furnish food and work for those teeming millions who continue to multiply despite famine, pestilence and death, and how to co-ordinate to demand a productive potentiality of supply that is now scarce half occupied.

With us the agricultural situation differs as to localities in degree rather than in kind. Farmers are not buying save only things of immediate and pressing necessity, and for the very good reason that most of them have neither ready money nor credit. Also they are in an economizing mood that has taken grim hold upon them. Country banks have loaned all they deem it safe, and the statements of many of the observers is, that "getting money from banks for any purpose is impossible," and others add, "it can't be done." Business is rather quiet in the spring wheat States, especially where the harvest was poor or where the quality of the wheat was not good, and consequently brings reduced prices.

Also much the same situation prevails where corn is the principal money crop, and where its price is so low that it is tragic in its effect upon business and upon the needs of the farmer, since it is now about one-tenth of what it was during its high period in war times.

These conditions account for the wide splash of "Poor" on the map in the spring wheat States of the Northwest and the corn-growing sections of the Middle West. One reason for the lack of a better demand for corn is the enormous crop of this cereal produced this year by the South, more than enough for its own needs, when in the past it drew upon the surplus corn states for much Livestock, wheat and oats are only a trifle higher proportionately in price than corn, and consequently there is no especial reason save necessity to sell them. That is about the only reason that agricultural commodities are coming to market in such volume as now prevails. For the farmer must have money to make some purchases, since credit is very difficult for him to obtain from the dealer. But the scanty returns he receives for his products offer no inducement for him to sell, and consequently business upon the countryside continues in moderate volume, though it is really larger than would seem likely under prevailing conditions.

Matters are somewhat better in the Southern States although the recent decline in cotton put a crimp in that general buying which had gotten well under way. This buying was also affected by the revelation that the official estimate of this year's production of cotton is apparently wide of the mark, added to which there

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consequently ensued a lot of wild guesses as to what the crop really is, all of which upset previous beliefs and necessitated new grounds for action. Despite our many disillusions, we seem to be trusting souls regarding "estimates" about most economic matters from most any source, not realizing that a large proportion of them would find their fitting place on the comic page of the newspapers. Then the census returns come along every decade and further spill the beans by so totally disagreeing in many particulars with all official estimates that there is naturally raised the questions as to which is right.

The growing winter wheat is generally in most excellent condition, the only exceptions being scattered spots where lack of moisture has hurt growth. There seems to be some less acreage than last year.

As always, however, there are many minor causes which relieve and alleviate the stringency in the agricultural situation. There is the dairy cow and the poultry bird of high pedigree, whose products furnish much money to the farmer on the whole and whose results still shine out like a little candle in a naughty world. There are fruits in the northwestern mountain and desert States and in California. There is garden truck in the Gulf States and coming afar from the Pacific slope. There are many minor crops, rice beans, cranberries and sweet potatoes, whose use and market are being extended by drying and preserving processes. There is tobacco, where it is selling, as in North Carolina and Virginia. But where it is pooled, as in Kentucky and Tennessee, there is a deadlock between buyers and sellers, with nothing doing, and consequent stagnant business. There is the oil business in many States, undeniably on the upgrade both as to production and prices, though prospecting and drilling seem to be generally quiet, save in a few localities, notably the Mexia field in Texas.

There is more building going on than is generally realized, because it is very local and much scattered. Also there is much more looked for next spring, as it is believed by that time that high-priced labor and material will have "got theirs."

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There is likewise general expectation that with the opening of spring it will be easier to obtain money for construction in the country districts than is now possible.

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But scant comfort can be had from the shipbuilding industry, for it mostly is not existent at present. Nor does mining in general offer much encouragement, for, as one observer remarks in common parlance, "it blowed up on account of price.' Phosphate mining in Florida adds an international tinge to the narrative by being mostly shut down because of lack of demand from Germany, its principal customer. Coal mining, save in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, is as eagerly awaiting a (cold) gale to blow from the north as did Patrick Henry in revolutionary days. Meanwhile the fear of a threatened strike in the bituminous coal regions next spring casts its shadow over all buying for the future in such sections.

The gods seem still to be very busy making some people mad. The lumber business has helped the situation much in localities, especially in the yellow pine districts. Just now it is slowing down because of the approach of cold weather but expects all sorts of business next spring, especially if the handicap of high freight rates be removed.

Lower costs of transportation are among the matters of moment that add hope of better business in some lines after the coming of the year. In agriculture it means a moderate increase of price to the farmer, though not necessarily to the consumer, on farm products. Industrial life, where active, adds distinctly to the welfare of such communities. That is why there is such a proportion of "Fair" in the map coloring of New England and of North Carolina because of textile mills that are doing well. That likewise accounts for better business in many scattered localities where shoe factories are full of work, or because of the presence of furniture factories that are fairly busy despite lack of active and general construction.

Throughout the nation these local industries, of one kind and another, which happen to be an exception to the general dullness in industrial life, are the saving grace in an otherwise intolerable situation. The thing of much moment is this far-reaching and all-embracing survey is the veracious and moving tale of how the multitudinous many regard the future and its likelihoods. On the surface it is a matter of environment and that principally.

The cotton planters, for instance, in those portions of South Carolina and Georgia where the boll weevil is just appearing, are in a panic of apprehension as to the future, since all the ways of farming, of buying and selling will have to be cast into the scrap-heap for all time to come. For, like the foolish virgins, the growers' lamps were not lighted when there appeared the terror of cotton production that had been slowly approaching for three decades. Wherein they do not differ from any other people. In sections of the South where the boll weevil is accepted as one of the decrees of an inexplicable fate, to be fought accordingly, there is much hope, often belief, that the coming year holds better fortune than the twelve months now gone, largely because of the conviction that cotton will gradually reach higher levels in the coming months.

In some parts of the grain regions where there have been two or more poor harvests, there is small hope of any material improvement until after another crop is made. So the varying thought leans to better things after the first of the year or else postpones it till the beginning of spring, or even to the middle of next year

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