AMERICAN EFFICIENCY.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1921, Page 4

AMERICAN EFFICIENCY.

can ivk stand against it? i (By Ernest .1. I’. RmiiO q’ho coiiiiiie.n ambition of tlio Am, n- , :l „ is to Ik- efficient: nothing .-trikes till- stranger mure forcibly. The awful f:e-t is impressed upon tlie miml. ns one travels from eity too city. H-ut t ;,re 1 in.ODO.'HKI Itumnn u.-iugs. ell of them ns keen on efficiency :>■ we .11, on cricket. Kllii-ienev anil H“ 1Inry. service. uttnin to Hie dignity of ~ religion, to wliiell has lately been n:id_ ill a sarularv era/.e, Mid the coinbiun- : lion is inileeil fuimidnldc us an imliis- , trial foree. I The outst a riding 1 1 ill •'reine between it |,o workers of Arneriea ami ol I'.ug--1;,I„| j-. ,1 I nurse, th at Die former have Inlwais readily aeeepliil maihin-ry. j The I, suit of tills in the sOinnd ami thirl generation i- .i general merlmni- ' i,-a| sense. 1 lie ei|Ua I el w hi' h I I have neved set'll aw ii- re. ■-| |.| oxisieme 11f thjs poi uliur national Ipi.dilu at ion explains lie- remix n nl.it. iv. hieh i' t" he loiiiiif for all sorts lit • new d<-\ iees. patent gadgets. ststi m. 'stunts, and lime and labour savin;- ap-,,|i;l,n-es wliiell mnlil not. exist : i.y----v. here hut in Am-'i'i'ii. lie. \iiieriean workman is in* keen on doing tin hum j ipiiekly as an Englishman is on sharing ; a ioh with a toil. I walked D,rough

mam la,-lories and never saw anythin”lilted hy hand : overhead: eam'ors. mngm tie hoists. 1 1 axelling era lies and eh ctir 11 olle.Vs, are as miiiUlnn a." spade a - id shiiv.-l. In the nmtti r of his person. the Ameriean workman is pr-.mil to In- <• lliuioni. ! was a week in New York wnnd riii” where the xvnrkilig elasses hid l lu-niselvi s : I saw nolm-ly Dial i mild h- I lasSed as a l.il oilier : 1 moved jih,nit in lures and subways', Irollex-i-ai-s. and overheads, and nevcp timed a. . -,, t of eh it h»-s i-o-ntaet with whirl] v. mild he likely to "■ ,iI my In s| , ravelling rig-nut. Alter a week 1 disenvered the ski ret. Tin- American working n an. finin the lop to the hotloni. ones to work and eoin, s 'mime in his I,< s( i Im ins. lie rhanpes for his work or puts ou overalls: if his work is dirty hc- w ears ploves: helots- In* leaves ai. night hr generally takes a hath, :rlluiisl always a, shower, and turns out j for his Imnnnv.iril journey like a moml.er of the Stuck Exchange. I -paid a visit to the nailery of the cheapest. ! music-hall I (amid lind on Manleiitan Island, and I thonphl 1 was in the die- circle at 11 is Majesty’s-. Incidentally, (lie personal • fliriem y ”oes a lone way to explain ilie* ah•eme of classes mi the railwaxs of Aineriea. There is no need fin- them. The risk nf getting the dust inm a i nal-heax er on to one's white waistcoat simply does not exist over there. The length, (o which tin's determination to secure personal efficiency has gone is, of course, shown hy prohibition. Prohibit ion is nothin}' hut an cllieieiiey si-heine. Notwithstanding .all that is said to ihe contrary, I found it workin” well, and I found everybody enthusiastic about it. I did not .jiseover any earnest temperance advocate anxious to abolish liquor for moral reasons: I found none of the old loelertal arguments ; in fuel, most, of those with whom 1 discussed (he matter looked ii pc ill prohibit ion ns a sort of serious joke: hut it gave them more produet inn, and mi argument could appeal more sl.i-.n-.ply to the American worker than that. Probition is, therefore, in mv lodgment. an assured success from the American point of view, and there is no risk of a change of policy. It. is, without (|iiestio.il, the most serious industrial force in the world to-day. The sanitary craze is the latest, development of the science of clfiricney. You cannot he efficient unless you are ■lean and healthy, and the Americans ire determined to realise that ideal. Pints it comes about that all the drinkiig fountains and there are many, iiany thousands of them in the dry -liniale of those lands- have been alered and every one of Client fount t;prards, flips are no longer necessary, iYlioii requiring refreshment you putmu- inoiitli oyer the upward fountain ml take the' water without the sliglitst risk of contamination. Tn railway lalions. hotels, and clubs, where watr comes from filters and other rorepneles, you are provided with individal paper cups, so that each linker uses lids own recap-ii-le nine, The longlh In which lids . line idea lias been carried is in no , : i v hotter illustrated than ljv the u s,, drinking I roughs of New York late; these have been filled up with ml in order to make sure that each n-s<> shall drink from his own individual x

| bucket and thus avoid .the risk of gland- j t ws. I j! The dillerence between ourselves and ! tl u . Americans in this matter of per- . sonal efficiency is brought out by the i habits of the common people as on ! travels about in public vehicles. It ' takes not half the time to load and to I empty a team in New A prk that it I takes in 1-ondon: everhody enters at | jonc end and alights at the other, and ( it is mail necessary to placard the vehicle ' with Crrantic instructions to ensure this | ' simple time-saving practice. j I The ■efficiency idea breaks out in another way, which they call ‘■service.-' . The svord service, strange to say. is used , Jiv this capitalistic, individualistic pen- , ! T ,i,. on every possible occasion | }‘ Kverything is a service, every man 's | ] .cut to render servin', every service' is f , (boosted as an improvement on some ! .other service; indeed, the country is ! i|„U of service. When it conies to oflin', | warehouse, or factory, these dual nn-i-tiuns of efficiency and service form a j, combination which makes things rim at | a , r ,„.e and with a smoothness which l uses the heart of the Knglislimau to [ .ink when he thinks of the disgruntled j conditions at, home and the way m which ideals of a very dill'erciit kind fir. tiiw to destroy Until nud ! service i, |t j s easy to criticise Ihe Amj „ lias by no means succeeded in J reaching the highest- forms of efficiency, j 11,. interprets tlic term to mean timej. siring, and that is about all. Time is ji not only with him the essence of the jl contract hut it is the contract itself, j The universal race after efficiency in i tile time sense leads to shoddy work. A good proportion of the mass production - of America is shoddy work, looked at jf through Knglish spectacles. When f I! made that point I was told that the ! work was good enough for its purpose, land no doubt it was. she subject of discussion was a mowing machine, which had been dipped into a pool of paint and had bubbles and blobs all over it. | was t.dd that the paint was there to keep off the weather, and not to provide the buyer with a work of art. M** wanted to cut his grass and the 111a.•hiuc would iH'rform that function sat-

i-fnetni ily. The American workman no doubt likes efficiency because it nays him: measured either in money or 111 values he is even to-day the best paid workman in till- world Ilis money, after all tin- recent, drastic redm-linns, is still lit least twice the highest rates paid in England. Although prices are high, vciy nigh, he gets enough to cII;:l,!e him to buy some sort ol a mntnr-

s;ij- ;,ud to seeinv an interest in. it not complete ownership, of his house Notv, ithsiamling this. 1 am of opinion that American lahonr is cheap, far cheapei than mir lahonr An Ameriean worker max get mice the money, lint In- prude cs fmii or live times the goods, lie slues out x-.ni’k as hard as tin- Eugli-h-

liian. hul ill applies to his ioh a point ~f vi-.\ x\ lii' li iitlcrlv foreign to u«:

Pi- a: . pi- gladly and nattily nnv sue, ge-ti"lis for speeding; no alitl is tip most persistent foree in tie- land ha.in

moling for prodili lion. The American wni'lanaii is not orga-ni-ed. and (his is ufleu i epi esenti-d is due to the power Ilf capital. I question llmL, lie i-- not organised Ijv- £ cause In- dues mil feel the need ul oij gauisat ion. lb- i- tin- nios| ind- penilI. end, self-respeel ill”, self-assertive liigli- ' minded creature that il has been my pleasure 1,1 me,-I. and if he wanted : oig.niisal ion lie xxoidd “tlariud xx <ll h nv it”. If lie l.holi;»,lit lie would get auyI'thing hy il, lie would be organised Hid f per cent., but li.iving found lluxt Ik- can lead the world in lie- mallei' of xvages. I Mii-iiil position, and prestige, witluml ‘-ill,, aid "I nrgaiiisalioil II makes no pa 1 1 ii iilarly siroiig :i | pt-a I to him. lie lind- that offic ii-ney and product imi serve him better.

In sia-li eireiimstani'is, I is for uIn consider Imw long we shall lie able

to siaiiii up against such fori is, and what will happen to us when the American helpline* efficient in other mailers as Well as time saving We siilt hate' Jtiilis'i quality to our credit, but a nation wliiell xvill gladly o-eept prohibition in the interests of industry runout Is* long before it will absorb the qualilv idea also. London Export World.