CHEMISTRY AND THE INDUSTRIES.
BY BENJAMIN BALL FREUD, B. S.
[Assistant Professor of Analytical and Organic Chemistry, Armour Institute of Technology.]
Chemistry has always been a utilitarian science, a science whose direct applications to our every-day interests has been on every side recognized. Even in the days of alchemy, that fantastic forerunner of our present science, her devotees were concerned with the changing of the base metals into the noble ones, of lead into silver, and of copper into gold, and also with the search for the philosopher’s stone, that mysterious something which would give perpetual youth.
From these workers arose in the course of the years, the facts and the theories which were incorporated into the science of chemistry. But it is not entirely to the alchemists that chemistry owes its development. By far the greater number of facts, if not of theories, came down to us through the traditional knowledge of the chemical industries. Numerous animal and vegetable products, such as sugar, starch, the oils, gums and resins, had been familiar commodities as long back as history records. And the ancients were informed in such typically chemical industries as that of dyeing with vegetable dyes, pigment manufacture, varnish making, soap making, paper making and the fermentation industries. In fact the science of chemistry as we have it today owes much more to these unknown workers in the industries who transmitted their chemical facts from father to son, than it does to the creations of the imaginations of those picturesque, if not so truthful, alchemists.
It is entirely impossible to divorce the science of chemistry from its industrial applications. The science owes much to the industries. The industries owe even more to the science. And if that relationship has been very close in the past, it is much closer now than it ever was; and it is getting closer all the while. The utilitarianism of our age makes it absolutely necessary that the two shall be so united that the utmost of good shall result from the union.
The application of science in general, and of chemistry in particular, to the industries has this one general result. It takes that industry out of the “rule of thumb” class, and places it firmly on a sound basis. It is no longer conducted in a haphazard manner, but according to intelligent design, based on the most accurate scientific information. Of course the fierceness of business competition has ordered this change, more than any other factor. The pure science of chemistry would have developed without industrial applications, because there are investigators who are seeking the truth regardless of any of its immediate applications. But in the industries, it is a matter of dollars and cents. The most efficient is the winner. And the most efficient is the one who utilizes in his business all the scientific information that can be brought to bear on the subject, and who is always looking for new facts that can be applied.
Chemistry, then, is applied to the industries in two distinct ways, the first in discovery, in finding a new substance which can be used, or a new process by which some useful or necessary substance can be made; the second in improvement, in making a certain product better, or cheaper, in utilizing wastes, or in starting from cheaper raw materials.
There are but two kinds of industries: (a) Those which are based on processes which change the form of matter, such as the manufacture of furniture for example, and (b) those which are based on processes which change the composition of matter, such as the manufacture of Portland
cement from clay and limestone. Now group “b” comprises by far the greatest number of industries, and since the science of chemistry concerns itself with just those changes in the composition of matter, it is evident that most of our industries are chemical in their nature. We have but recently come to realize this. A list of such industries and operations which are essentially chemical would be found to include almost every industry that we can think of. I need only make mention of the subject of fuels, gas and coke, of cement, mortars, brick and other building materials; of petroleum and its products; of asphalt; of the products of the destructive distillation of wood; of cellulose and of paper; of pigments, resins, varnishes; of rubber; of soap, fats and the fatty oils; of gums; of sugar and of starch; of the textile industries and of the dyes; of leather and glue; of explosives; of the heavy chemical industries, the manufacture of acids, alkalies and salts; of the manufacture of glass and the ceramic industries; of the fermentation industries; of the manufacture and standardization of medicines; of the subject of soils and artificial fertilization; of the subject of foods, and of nutrition; of the subject of water, sewage and sanitation; of photography; of all the electro-chemical industries and processes; of the production of steel, of copper, of lead and of all the other metals. I need only mention this formidable array of subjects and industries to convince the most sceptical one that chemistry does in fact, concern us, directly or indirectly, in all of our activities.
As I have said previously, chemistry influences industry in two distinct ways: First, in the discovery of new substances and new processes; secondly, in the perfection of known substances and known processes. In either of these fields the chemist is proud of his record. The conquests are so numerous that he is at a loss as to how or where to begin if he would tell of them. The whole field of industrial chemistry is one succession of chemical achievements,
mammoth industries that had their humble birth in the chemist’s test tube, his beaker, or his retort; the wealth of by-products saved to the world from what was a few years ago sheer waste; and above all increased efficiency in the manufacture of all products. The chemist does not claim more than his due when he points out that his activity covers the whole field of our daily experiences, and that his activity has always been for the lessening of waste, for greater efficiency, in a word, for the development of civilization. To illustrate the points which have already been brought out, the story of the soda industry, the beginning of the modern chemical industries, can be used. The beginning is far back in another century, so intimately is the development of the soda industry bound up with the advance of civilization.
The value of what we now call the alkalies as detergent substances, was known from the earliest times. The first alkali recorded in history is burned lime, and was called “caustic” on account of its characteristic property. Caustic lime is but slightly soluble in water, hence its use is greatly limited. History fails to tell who it was who first solved the problem of making a more soluble alkali, but some one, early in the Middle Ages, discovered that by the action of caustic lime on the so-called potashes, the ashes which remained on burning wood, a very soluble caustic was formed. And to this, the long since forgotten chemist gave the name “caustic potash.” The chemistry of the discovery is as follows: All plants take potassium, a very light metal, in some form or other from the soil, to form the so-called mineral, or bony structure, in other words the skeleton, of the plant. When these plants are burned the potassium in the form of a salt, chiefly potassium carbonate, is formed in the ash. These potassium salts can be extracted by water, and recovered on the evaporation of the water. These potassium salts, the so-called “potashes,” were extensively used in the industries of the time, for example, in making
soap, in making glass, in dyeing and in a score of other minor ways. But even as our forests cannot now meet the demand for timber, so they could not then meet the demand for the “potashes,” for it requires a large amount of wood to give a comparatively small amount of potashes, the percentage of potassium salts in wood being very small indeed. Simultaneously with all this, in northern Spain, on the seacoast, a number of towns were engaged in burning sea weeds. It was found that the ashes of sea weeds while not the same as potashes, nevertheless could be substituted for them. This is historically recorded as the “barilla” industry. Barilla consisted of 5 per cent of carbonate of sodium, a metal very similar to potassium. Sodium does for sea plants just what potassium does for land plants. Barilla was merely a substitute for potashes, and a very poor substitute at that. But it was destined to offer the key that solved the whole problem. The chemists of that time showed the chemical similarity between the active ingredient of potashes, carbonate of potassium, and the active ingredient of barilla, carbonate of sodium. The demand for these alkalies made by the industries was incessant and ever-increasing. The chemists realized that the direct natural sources of the two, namely, the wood of the forest and the weeds of the sea, were and always would be, inadequate to meet the enormously growing demands of the industries. They saw that some other source would have to be discovered, or the bodies would have to be prepared artificially. They realized that while potashes were better than barilla, nevertheless potassium salts, the ingredients of potashes, were much less widely distributed in nature than the sodium salts, the ingredients of barilla. So they set out with the definite object of preparing sodium carbonate. In 1791 LeBlanc took out a patent for his now famous process. He was not the only one who worked on the problem; he happened to be the successful one.
This was the first of the great triumphs of chemistry in the industrial field. The significant point in this story of soda, is that those industries which were using the alkalies had reached the limit of their development, because the supply of the alkalies was so limited. Remember, also, that those industries were fundamental ones. Some historian has said that you can measure the civilization of a people by the amount of soap it uses. And here, we see the soap industry of Europe, the seat of our present civilization, crippled for want of an alkali. The position of the chemist, his responsibility to society, is the significant thing in the story. Here was a crisis in the development of civilization, as important to us as the crisis of the battle of Marathon. Because the problem was solved in the retort, instead of on the battle plain, because the battle was fought by the quiet hand of the chemist, instead of by the fighting men of Greece, we do not hear so much of it. But it was a triumph, and the credit belongs to the chemist. To us, as much depended upon the result of the battle of the molecules in the retort, as upon the defeat of the great Darius.
Nor was this battle in the retort a tame one. LeBlanc’s method is an extremely complicated one. To conduct the process at all requires chemical knowledge of the most varied kind. And to apply the improvements that have been worked out in the laboratory, and to carry into practice the many subsidiary manufactures that have sprung from this main industry, demands so much technical ability that it has been said that this manufacture is not merely the foundation of the immense chemical industries of today, but is also the guiding spirit in them.
LeBlanc, of course, could not foretell the enormous development his industry was to attain. Nor could he conceive of the ramifications running from it into countless other activities of our present civilization. The manufacture of sulphuric acid, one of the most important products of modern industry, is intimately bound up with that of
soda. And, in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, nitric acid is required, and must be made. Hydrochloric acid is a by-product of the soda process, and was for a long time permitted to go to waste. Now it is one of the most valuable products of the LeBlanc soda process. It is used to make bleaching powder, potassium chlorate, and otherwise in the industries. Also, the alkaline waste from the soda process is rich in sulphur. This sulphur is now recovered and put on the market as such, helping to meet the demand for sulphur that the Sicilian mines cannot supply.
All those varied industries that were either created or fostered by the soda industry have made possible the almost fabulously complicated processes that are now carried out in the manufacture of the aniline dyes, the artificial odors, like vanillin whose complexity can be gathered from its formula, C6H3OHOCH3CHO, which tells many things to the chemist, but not much to the layman, and the artificial febrifuges like antipyrin, whose formula is C11H12N2O. All these chemical industries that are the outgrowth of the soda industry, and that are so dove-tailed with our civilization, have been built up on the science of chemistry, and worked out by chemists. I have selected this story of soda to show the commanding position held by the science of chemistry in directing the course of civilization. It shows, too, how the entire structure of that civilization is built around the contributions of the chemist.
As has been already said, it is impossible to separate chemistry from industry. The farther we go and the more we develop and the more complex our civilization becomes, the closer become the ties uniting science and industry. And as everything that deals with the change in composition of matter is chemistry, it is evident that chemistry is omnipresent. In the light of what it has accomplished, who shall say that it is not omnipotent?
The story of soda is a beautiful example of how industry and the need of civilization can act as a beacon light
for the science of chemistry. This illustration will show how the pure science has created new industries and opened up new activities for civilization. In 1838 in England, there was born a boy who afterwards was to be known as Sir Wm. Perkin. He came of a very intelligent family. Besides, he was gifted with a natural aptitude for chemistry. More than that, he was put under the direction of Professor Hofmann, one of the most brilliant of chemists. Perkin would have been called by any one, an ideal bit of raw material. Hofmann, like many others of those German chemists, had a faculty of instilling that enthusiasm that is necessary in the performance of an epoch-making advancement. Perkin caught that enthusiasm. He rigged up a laboratory in his house and worked at night and in his vacations on those interesting problems that Hofmann discussed in his lectures. During one of these vacations, he was trying to build up, artificially, the substance called quinine, which was up to that time a purely natural product. His work took an unexpected turn. Instead of building up quinine, he built what chemists call now phenyl-sufranine, or mauvëine. This was a new substance with properties that rendered it an excellent dye. Perkin established a factory in which the new substance could be prepared on a large scale; and within a year of its discovery, he had it on the market. This discovery of Mauve, the first of the artificial dyes, gave a great impetus to the study of coal tar, from which it was made. Coal tar, up to that time, was a waste product, made in the process of heating coal for the manufacture of gas. This coal tar is the raw material which is used in that enormous chemical industry, the manufacture of the derivatives of tri-phenyl methane, the so-called aniline dyes. There is invested in this industry alone, $750,000,000; and the whole structure, complex as it is, is built on the foundation of a pure chemical research that was undertaken merely to gratify the investigative desires of
a true scientist, with no thought of its financial results. This achievement of Perkin stands out as one of the great discoveries of chemistry. And the story of Mauve shows how science has led the way for industry, just as the story of soda shows how industry has pointed out the way for science.
Many more stories of the victories of scientific industry could be told. Much has been done. But the chemist does not live in the glory of the past. He lives in the possibilities of the future. Every advancement of the past has opened up many fields of possibilities. If much has been done, much more remains to be done. And the work of the future will require the services of the scientist more than did the work of the past. Those problems whose answers were obvious, have all been solved. The problems of today are deep ones; they require all the ingenuity, all the ability that the trained chemist can bring to bear upon the problems. And they will all tend to increased efficiency.
While chemistry is a fundamental science, while it covers such a variety of subjects, while the total amount of its established facts is indeed enormous, nevertheless, it must be said with frankness that this vastness is made up for the most part by details and more or less isolated facts and ideas. Chemistry can boast of remarkable achievements. But the greatest achievements are yet before it. And the reason is this: Chemistry is not yet a really unified science. The real fundamentals which will string together all of the isolated facts and ideas, material of which the chemist has, indeed, reason to feel proud, are for the most part lacking. That is why the future is so much larger than the past. And that is why the world can expect from the chemists much greater achievements in the future than it has seen accomplished in the past, great as they have been.
In the most fundamental terms, chemistry concerns itself with the changes which the different kinds of energy
produce upon matter. Chemistry concerns itself with two things, energy and matter. And yet chemistry must admit that it does not know the nature of matter or the nature of energy. And not knowing, it cannot appreciate.
In this direction lie the achievements of the chemistry of the future. As the nature of matter and the nature of energy gradually unfold themselves to the advances of chemical investigation, remarkable possibilities for future development are disclosed. We are beginning to see how really wasteful we have been. The frightful wastes which the movement toward the conservation of our natural resources has called to our attention, sink into utter insignificance when we consider what we have lost on account of our ignorance. We are just beginning to appreciate our wastefulness of chemical energy. A piece of coal, for example, has in it the possibility of doing ten times as much work as it is doing now. A piece of radium has stored in it an almost infinite amount of energy. How to change this internal or chemical energy into the other forms of energy with which we are familiar, into heat, or electricity, or ordinary mechanical energy, that is the problem of the future. The utilization of this vast amount of potential energy that is stored up in all forms of matter, the harnessing of it in the service of humanity, this is the problem which confronts the chemist. It goes down to the very fundamentals of his science.
But the start has been made. The point of the wedge has already found entrance. The discovery of radium, and the study of its decompositions, has opened wide our field of vision. The problem must yield, as the blows of chemical investigation fall upon the wedge and drive it home.
Chemistry has always been a utilitarian science. Its results have always been at the service of humanity. And if we can judge the future by the past, even discounting for the enthusiasm of the chemist, we can forsee improved
processes which will reduce our present wasteful methods; we can see new processes making for us such things as india rubber from starch, for which we must now depend upon the bounty of nature; and we can dimly see the time when we shall be able to utilize some of that energy which is hidden away in the recesses of matter, and whose vastness we have just begun to appreciate.
THE CLOSE RELATION OF THE PRODUCER-GAS POWER PLANT TO THE CONSERVATION OF OUR FUEL RESOURCES.
BY ROBERT HEYWOOD FERNALD.
[Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Case School of Applied Science.]
Official reports show that the coal placed on the market amounts annually to between 450,000,000 and 500,000,000 short tons in the United States alone. These figures, however, are somewhat misleading as they do not in any way show the tremendous wastes that are going on due to our present methods of mining and restrictions in qualities of coal that can be transported and placed on the market at a reasonable profit. Careful investigation has shown that the coal wasted or left in the mines in such form as to be inaccessible to future generations amounts each year to practically 100 per cent of that placed on the market, or in other words, at the present time some 450,000,000 tons are annually lost as far as commercial value is concerned.
If this condition is allowed to continue it is estimated by the United States Geological Survey that our available supply of bituminous coal will be exhausted within the next two hundred years.
A realization of the seriousness of this situation has led to a careful and systematic study of the present lack of efficiency in the utilization of fuels for both power and metallurgical purposes, to investigations into more efficient use of the present marketable grades of fuel, and to a consideration of methods of using the so-called low-grade fuels, lignites and peats.
The United States Geological Survey has for several years been investigating the economic value of coals and lignites as gas-producer fuel. This work, begun with tests
of coal and lignite at the coal-testing plant erected at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, was continued at St. Louis and at Norfolk, Va., and is now being carried on by the Survey at the fuel-testing plant in Pittsburg, Pa. The tests were undertaken because it was evidently desirable to determine the value of the gas producer as a means of increasing efficiency in the use of the coal supplies of the United States. The early tests proved decidedly encouraging, demonstrating that many coals now wasted or not mined because they are not satisfactory fuel for steam-power plants can, by conversion into producer-gas, be made to do from two to three times as much work as can be done by the best grades of steam coal burned in a boiler plant. In consequence, the making of producer-gas tests and the study of the processes that take place within the gas producer now form an essential part of the fuel investigations conducted at the Pittsburg plant under the provisions made by Congress for the analyzing and testing of mineral fuels.
Rapid Development of the Gas Engine.
It was not until late in the nineteenth century that the gas engine came into common use, and although many types have been devised within the last twenty or thirty years it is only within eight or nine years that large gas engines have been constructed. This development started eleven or twelve years ago in Germany, Belgium, and England, but marked progress has been limited to the last eight years.
For a long time the natural fuel of these internal-combustion engines was city gas, but this was too expensive except for engines of small capacity. It was seldom found economical to operate units of more than 75 horsepower with this fuel. Cheap gas was essential for the development of the gas engine, but the early attempts to produce cheap gas were somewhat discouraging, and for a
time it seemed very unlikely that the gas engine would encroach to any extent on the field occupied by the steam engine. The theoretical possibilities of the internal-combustion engine operating with cheap fuel promised so much, however, that the practical difficulties were rapidly overcome, with the result that the internal-combustion engine has become a serious rival of the steam engine in many of its applications.
The development of the large gas engine within the last few years has been exceedingly rapid. It was only ten years ago that a 600-horsepower engine exhibited at the Paris Exposition was regarded as a wonder, but today four-cycle, twin-tandem, double-acting engines of 2,000 to 3,500 horsepower can be found in nearly all up-to-date steel plants, and there are installations in this country containing several units rated at 5,400 horsepower each.
Development of the Gas Producer for Power Purposes.
The rapid advance of the large gas engine was made possible by improvements in the production of cheap gas directly from fuel by means of the gas producer. An early form of producer introduced in Europe, and now in general use both abroad and in the United States, is known as the suction producer, a name suggested by the fact that the engine develops its charge of gas in the producer by means of its own suction stroke. Although many producers of this type are now used, most of them are small, seldom exceeding 200 horsepower. A serious limitation to the utility of the suction producer has been the fact that, owing to the manner of generating the gas, no tarry fuels could be used, a restriction that prevented the use of bituminous coals, lignites, peats, and other like fuels. The fuels in most common use for producers of this type are charcoal, coke, and anthracite coal, although attempts are being made so to construct plants that they can be operated with bituminous or tarry coals.
To meet the demand for the concentration of power in large units, instead of operating a large number of separate installations of small power capacity, the pressure producer was devised. This producer develops its gas under a slight pressure due to the introduction of an air and steam blast, and the gas is stored in a holder until it is required by the engine. As the gas may thus be stored before passing to the engine, and as its generation does not depend on the suction stroke of the engine, tar and other impurities may be removed from it by suitable devices, and the use of bituminous coal, lignite, and peat thus permitted.
The pressure producer was closely followed in the course of development by the down-draft producer, which fixes the tar as a permanent gas and therefore completely uses the volatile hydrocarbons in bituminous coal, lignite, and peat.
A few scattered producer-gas plants were installed for power purposes in the United States before 1900, but the application of this type of power in any general sense has been developed since that date. During the first few years of this period of development anthracite coal, coke, and charcoal were used almost exclusively, although occasionally pressure and down-draft plants ventured to use a well-tried bituminous coal known to be especially free from sulphur and caking difficulties and low in both ash and tar making compounds. The rapid development of the anthracite plant was to be expected, but it remained for the United States Geological Survey in its testing plants at St. Louis and Norfolk to demonstrate the possibility of using in such plants practically all grades of fuel of any commercial value, without reference to the amount of sulphur or tarry matter which they contain. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the very rapid increase in the number of installations and in the total horsepower of the plants operating with bituminous coal and lignite since the beginning
of these investigations by the Geological Survey in 1904.
Owing to the fact that the dates of installation of many plants are not ascertainable, it is impossible to present the exact growth either in number of installations or in horsepower. The relative rate is, however, approximately shown by Figures 1 and 2, the data for which were secured from 375 installations. The points for the year 1909 are estimated from the returns for the first five months. These points have been checked by two or three methods and indicate only the normal increase established by the rate of development before the business depression of 1908. It is probable that the actual figures for the entire year may exceed those indicated.
Relative Results of Steam and Producer-Gas Tests.
In considering the relation between the economic results of plants of the two types under discussion, namely steam and producer-gas, the fact should be remembered that today, in the ordinary manufacturing plant operated by steam power, less than 5 per cent of the total energy in the fuel consumed is available for useful work at the machine.
In this connection it is of interest and value to glance at the possibilities of the best-designed and most skilfully operated commercial plant now in use. The data concerning the steam plant selected for this determination are derived from a table prepared by Mr. Stott, superintendent of motive power, Interborough Rapid Transit Company, New York City, which, as Mr. Stott says, shows “the losses found in a year’s operation of what is probably one of the most efficient plants in existence today, and, therefore, typical of the present state of the art.”
Figure 1.--Annual increase in number of producer-gas power plants in the United States.
Figure 2.--Annual increase in the total horsepower of producer-gas power plants in the United States.
Average losses in steam plant of the Interborough Company in converting 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.
| British thermal units. | Per cent. | |
| Loss by friction | 138 | 1.1 |
| Loss in exhaust | 7,513 | 60.1 |
| Loss in pipes and auxiliaries | 275 | 2.2 |
| Loss in boiler | 1,000 | 8.0 |
| Loss in stack | 1,987 | 15.9 |
| Loss in ashes | 300 | 2.4 |
| Total losses | 11,213 | 89.7 |
| Energy utilized | 1,287 | 10.3 |
| 12,500 | 100.0 |
Mr. Stott further presents a table showing the thermal efficiency of producer-gas plants, concerning which he says:
The following heat balance is believed to represent the best results obtained in Europe and the United States up to date in the formation and utilization of producer gas.
Average losses in a producer-gas plant in the conversion of 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.
| British thermal units. | Per cent. | |
| Loss in gas producer and auxiliaries | 2,500 | 20.0 |
| Loss in cooling water in jackets | 2,375 | 19.0 |
| Loss in exhaust gases | 3,750 | 30.0 |
| Loss in engine friction | 813 | 6.5 |
| Loss in electric generator | 62 | .5 |
| Total losses | 9,500 | 76.0 |
| Converted into electric energy | 3,000 | 24.0 |
| 12,500 | 100.0 |
The thermal efficiency of such plants, as given by different writers, runs as high as 33, 36, and 38.5 per cent, and for some plants figures as extravagant as “above 40” are boldly published. Although the present aim has been to give the figures for a producer-gas plant that may compare favorably with those of the steam plant of the Interborough Company, an effort has been made to keep well
within obtainable efficiencies. Attention is also directed to the fact that the producer-gas plant considered should be large enough to compare favorably with the steam plant. This precludes comparisons with suction plants, which are relatively small but give higher proportional efficiencies than the larger pressure and down-draft plants, for these require more or less auxiliary apparatus.
Mr. Stott seems ready to accept a thermal efficiency of 24 per cent for the best producer-gas plants for comparison with 10.3 per cent efficiency for his steam plant, but a careful study of the problem has led to a more conservative estimate for the producer-gas plant, namely, 21.5 per cent.
The tables just given show the comparative efficiencies reached in plants of the best type, both steam and producer-gas, but these are seldom realized in common practice. The results obtained in the government plant at St. Louis are probably more nearly representative of the ordinary type of apparatus. These results are as follows:
Relative economies of steam and gas power plants at St Louis in the conversion of 1 pound of coal, containing 12,500 British thermal units, into electricity.
| Steam Power. | Gas Power. | |||
| British thermal units. | Per cent. | British thermal units. | Per cent. | |
| Losses in exhaust, friction, etc. | 11,892 | 95.14 | 10,812 | 86.5 |
| Converted into electric energy | 608 | 4.86 | 1,688 | 13.5 |
12,500 | 100.00 | 12,500 | 100.0 | |
The ratios of the total fuel per brake-horsepower hour required by the steam plant and producer-gas plant, under full load, not counting stand-by losses, are presented below as derived from 75 coals, 6 lignites, and 1 peat (Florida).
The curves in Figure 3 show graphically the great economy secured with the producer-gas plant. The figures
for the producer-gas tests include not only the coal consumed in the gas producer, but also the coal used in the auxiliary boiler for generating the steam necessary for the pressure blast—that is, the figures given include the total coal required by the producer-gas plant.
Ratios of fuel used in steam and gas plants.
| Average ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 2.7 |
| Maximum ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 3.7 |
| Minimum ratio, coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 1.8 |
| Average ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 2.7 |
| Maximum ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 2.9 |
| Minimum ratio, lignite and subbituminous coal as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to lignite as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 2.2 |
| Average ratio, peat as fired per brake-horsepower hour under boiler to peat as fired per brake-horsepower hour in producer | 2.3 |
In considering the possible increase in efficiency of the steam tests with a compound engine, as compared with the simple engine used, the fact should not be overlooked that a corresponding increase in the efficiency of the producer-gas tests may be brought about under corresponding favorable conditions. Not only is the producer passing through a transitional period, but the gas engine must still be regarded in the same light. In the larger sizes the vertical single-acting engine is being replaced by the horizontal double-acting engine. Other changes and improvements are constantly being made which tend to increase the efficiency of the gas engine, as compounding and tripling the expansions have already increased the efficiency of the steam engine.
As has already been stated, the gas engine used in the tests here reported is of a type that is rapidly becoming obsolete for this size, namely, the vertical, three-cylinder, single-acting.
A brief consideration of these points will lead at once to the conclusions that a comparison of the producer-gas plant and steam plant used in these tests is very favorable to the former, and that any increase in efficiency in the steam tests that might result from using a compound engine can be offset by the introduction of a gas engine of more modern type and a producer plant designed to handle the special kinds of fuel used.
Figure 3.—Comparative service of coals and lignites in gas-producer and steam-boiler plants.
It should be noted that many fuels which give poor results under steam boilers have been used with great ease and efficiency in the gas producer, which thus makes it possible to utilize low-grade coals and lignites that have
heretofore been regarded as practically useless. Several of the poorest grades of bituminous coals have shown remarkable efficiency in the gas producer, and lignites and peat have been used with great facility, thus opening the way to the introduction of cheap power into large districts that have thus far been commercially unimportant owing to lack of industrial opportunities. Experiments with “bone,” a refuse product in bituminous-coal mining, have given excellent results, showing an efficiency in the producer equal to that reached by good steam coal under boilers. Recent investigations with other low-grade fuels, such as mine roof slabs, culm, and washery refuse, have also demonstrated the possibility of using such material to advantage in the producer under proper commercial conditions.
Number and Class of Plants.
A list of producer-gas power plants recently secured indicates that at present there are over 500 such plants
in operation in the United States, ranging in size from 15 to 6,000 horsepower.
Figure 4.—Summarized data of producer-gas power plants in United States.
| No. of plants. | Horsepower. | Per cent of total number. | Per cent of total horse-power. | ||||
| Total. | Average. | Minimum. | Maximum. | ||||
| Anthracite coal: | |||||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 8 | 7,550 | 950 | 600 | 1,500 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 407 | 40,550 | 100 | 15 | 500 | … | … |
| 415 | 48,100 | 116 | 15 | 1,500 | 88 | 43 | |
| Bituminous coal: | |||||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 20 | 49,000 | 2,450 | 750 | 6,000 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 17 | 5,150 | 300 | 35 | 500 | … | … |
| 37 | 54,150 | 1,460 | 35 | 6,000 | 8 | 49 | |
| Lignite: | |||||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 3 | 7,275 | 2,430 | 525 | 3,750 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 19 | 1,725 | 90 | 25 | 250 | … | … |
| 22 | 9,000 | 410 | 25 | 3,750 | 4 | 8 | |
| All plants | 474 | 111,250 | 235 | 15 | 6,000 | 100 | 100 |
| No. of plants. | Horsepower. | ||
| Total. | Average. | ||
| Anthracite coal: | |||
| Over 500 horsepower | 8 | 7,550 | 950 |
| 500 horsepower or less | 407 | 40,550 | 100 |
415 | 48,100 | 116 | |
| Bituminous coal: | |||
| Over 500 horsepower | 20 | 49,000 | 2,450 |
| 500 horsepower or less | 17 | 5,150 | 300 |
37 | 54,150 | 1,460 | |
| Lignite: | |||
| Over 500 horsepower | 3 | 7,275 | 2,430 |
| 500 horsepower or less | 19 | 1,725 | 90 |
22 | 9,000 | 410 | |
| All plants | 474 | 111,250 | 235 |
| Horsepower. | Per cent of total number. | Per cent of total horse- power. | ||
| Mini- mum. | Maxi- mum. | |||
| Anthracite coal: | ||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 600 | 1,500 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 15 | 500 | … | … |
15 | 1,500 | 88 | 43 | |
| Bituminous coal: | ||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 750 | 6,000 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 35 | 500 | … | … |
35 | 6,000 | 8 | 49 | |
| Lignite: | ||||
| Over 500 horsepower | 525 | 3,750 | … | … |
| 500 horsepower or less | 25 | 250 | … | … |
25 | 3,750 | 4 | 8 | |
| All plants | 15 | 6,000 | 100 | 100 |
Data secured from this list are summarized in the table on the previous page according to the type of fuel used, and separately for all plants above 500 horsepower and for those not exceeding 500 horsepower.
It will be observed from this table that about 88 per cent of the total number of installations in this country are operating on anthracite coal (a few using charcoal or coke), and that bituminous coal and lignite are used in the remaining 12 per cent. Of the total horsepower approximately 57 per cent is derived from bituminous coal and lignite and 43 per cent from anthracite coal, charcoal, and coke. In point of size it will be noted that the bituminous plants average 12½ times the size of the anthracite plants.
In 1906 a large number of these plants were carefully inspected in order to secure definite information from the owners and operators regarding the more or less successful operation of such installations. Similar inspections were made in 1908.
Deductions from Visits of Inspection.
The deductions made from the visits in 1906 were as follows:
1. The plants as a whole are giving remarkable satisfaction considering the very brief period of development that has passed since the introduction of this type of power.
2. The most serious difficulty seems to arise from the lack of competent operators to run the plants rather than from defects or troubles in the plants themselves.
3. Incompetent salesmen are undoubtedly to blame for serious misrepresentations and misunderstandings.
4. The neglect shown by some manufacturers in respect to their plants after they are installed and paid for has not been farsighted, and the failure of the manufacturers
to give the purchasers or operators of plants full information regarding their construction and method of operating has certainly been detrimental to the business.
At the present time (1910) the following modifications might be advantageously made to the above statements:
1. Unchanged.
2. This situation still prevails, although there are many more competent operators today than three years ago. Time will eliminate this difficulty.
3. With stronger companies this situation is greatly improved.
4. Experience has shown that such neglect produces serious troubles and financial loss to the manufacturer, and a very decided change for the better has developed in the last few years. There are, however, a few small concerns still operating in the producer field on what may be considered a false basis.
Centralization of Power Development and Distribution.
Central stations for power and lighting are springing up all over the country. Electric lights are now in general use in towns numbering their population by hundreds only. Electric transmission for street-railway service is practically universal and electric power for shop drive is in great demand. The substitution of the electric locomotive for the steam locomotive for terminal service and even for line duty by several leading railway systems is no longer a mere expectation but is an every-day working reality.
These changes and developments in every section are, to a large extent, tending to do away with the individual small steam equipment, whether stationary or locomotive, and are bringing to the front the central power station, ranging in size from lighting and pumping plants of less than 100 horsepower in the smaller towns to those of 100,000
horsepower or more required to meet metropolitan demands.
European Examples of Advantageous Location.
In the development of central power plants and the reduction of the cost of power, the producer-gas power plant is an important factor. In this connection the question of locating such plants directly at the mines is well worth careful and unbiased attention in the engineering profession. The advantages to be derived from such a location have already attracted the commercial interests of Europe. As examples worthy of thoughtful consideration, the general conditions of operation of three typical European installations are here described:
Plant A.—This plant, although not situated directly at the mines, is but a short distance away, and the company owning the plant also owns the mines from which the fuel is secured. The plant is of the Mond by-product type and consists of eight pressure producers of 2,500 horsepower each. The fuel used is a run-of-mine bituminous coal said to contain 8 to 9 per cent ash and 1 to 2 per cent sulphur. This would indicate that they are utilizing the best grades of coal from their own mine in the local gas plant and allowing the lower grades to remain unmined, a fact which I verified before leaving the plant.
The plant is designed for the recovery of the sulphate of ammonia and for supplying gas to the neighboring towns for both metallurgical and power purposes. As one unit is always held in reserve, the plant is called 16,000 horsepower. The main distributing line is 3 feet in diameter, and at the time of my visit there were 37 miles of main, the longest single run being 6½ miles. Each producer gasifies, on an average, 20 tons of coal per twenty-four hours. The report of the engineer in charge indicates that the plant had been in operation twenty-four hours a day, seven
days a week, for two and one-half years without a shut down.
Plant B.—This plant, which is located in the center of a peat bog, proved of especial interest. It has a capacity of 300 horsepower only, and is about 3 miles from the town to which the electric current is supplied. One-half of the plant (150 horsepower) was installed in 1904 and the remainder in 1906. This is probably the first as well as the smallest producer-gas installation to be located at the mine and transmit high-voltage current to a point some distance away. This installation, in 1909, consisted of two suction producers (special peat type) rated at 150 horsepower each, and two horizontal twin single-acting four-cycle gas engines of 150 horsepower each, direct connected to alternating-current three-phase generators, which were running splendidly in parallel at the time of my visit. The 3,000-volt current is transmitted to the town, where it is used during the day for lighting shops and for shop motors. At night the plant supplies the lights for the streets and residences. The charge for residence light is 9 cents per kilowatt hour. Both units are in operation from 5:30 a. m. to 6 p. m., and one continues to 11 p. m. each day.
A 35-horsepower peat machine is used for preparing the fuel. This is driven by an electric motor supplied with current from the power plant on the bog. As only 750 tons of dry peat are required per year there is no attempt to work the plant to its maximum. Local farmers are employed and they work as little or as much as they please, as there is no difficulty in getting out all the peat needed for a year during the working season, which in this locality is from April 15 to September 1. As a result 14 men are employed more or less of their time. They receive about 50 cents per day each and get out about 20 tons of peat per day.
Coal at this point in Europe costs $3.75 per ton. The dry peat delivered on the operating platform of the producer plant costs only 80 cents per ton.
Plant C.—This plant is installed at the collieries. At the time of my visit it was under full operation, using roof slabs that gave little indication, on casual inspection, of containing any combustible material. It was claimed that this fuel averaged over 60 per cent ash—a claim which seemed entirely reasonable. At the time of this visit (1908) the producers were not only supplying a number of furnaces with gas, but were also operating a 1,000-horsepower and a 250-horsepower gas engine. A 500-horsepower engine was being added to the equipment. The engines in use were direct connected to electric generators. The 10,000-volt current is used for operating the local mine machinery and also for furnishing lights for neighboring towns and power for a street railroad. The plant was reported to be using over 100 tons of this low-grade fuel per day.
Favorable Conditions in the United States.
In the United States cheaper power is constantly sought. The water-power possibilities of the country are being realized and the hydro-electric power plant is a wholesome cause of competition. The supply of fuel of marketable grades is not unlimited. Prices for such fuel must necessarily increase. The cost of transporting coal from the mines is high, and the possibility of obtaining a sufficient supply of cars to handle low-grade fuels is questionable. The power demands of the country are increasing, and this power must be developed at a reasonable cost. The time is approaching when the cheapest fuel obtainable must be used to the best economic advantage in order to develop power at a unit cost consistent with commercial progress.
Consideration of the conditions indicates that in order to keep the price of power developed from fuel down to a consistent figure—
(a) Grades of fuel which warrant transportation, or which may be defined as “marketable,” should be used with the greatest possible practicable economy.
(b) The very large percentage of coal of so-called low grade which today is left at or in the mine must be utilized.
(c) Advantage must be taken of the large deposits of lignite and peat which are found in many sections of the country.
It is undoubtedly true that in general, under conditions which do not require the use of steam for other than power purposes, the producer-gas power plant meets the requirements of (a).
At present the only method of advantageously handling the fuels mentioned in (b) and (c) is in the gas producer, and the utilization of these lower grades of fuel on an extensive scale demands concentration of the power plants within close proximity to the fuel supply.
The logical conclusion from a careful study of the producer-gas power situation is that the time is not distant when financial interests in power production will be directed toward the centralization of the producer-gas power plant at the mines and the distribution of the energy developed either by high-voltage long-distance electrical transmission or by pipe systems for conveying the gas.
EFFICIENCY IN SHOP OPERATIONS.
BY H. F. STIMPSON.
[Consulting Efficiency Engineer, New York. Published in The Iron Age, Jan. 6, 1910, and reproduced by special arrangement.]
Managers of industrial enterprises will undoubtedly agree that there are few qualities which are more to be desired in equipment, methods and men than that of efficiency. From an extensive study of this subject in various parts of the country, together with interviews and correspondence with several hundred concerns, the writer has become convinced that there is a general lack of definite comprehension of what efficiency is, whence it springs, how it may be measured and developed and the results which its cultivation will produce. The object of this monograph is an endeavor to throw some light upon these things and to afford a new viewpoint from which to study industrial operations.
The Evolution of Industrial Management.
In the first place we must realize that the management of industrial enterprises is in a state of evolution. The tremendous growth of the past few years has caused certain previously satisfactory methods to become inadequate to present needs. Many details which in the days of smaller affairs could be absorbed by personal inspection and mentally stored for use when needed must now, because of their very volume, be made matters of record.
The character of these records has much to do with their value. Because financial records are so ancient they have exerted an undue influence upon the character of all other records. While under our present civilization, the ultimate object of industrial operations is to create financial profits, there are many highly important records which
cannot be adequately expressed in terms of money. The business of manufacturing consists of a repetition of mechanical operations. Mechanical operations necessarily involve considerations of weight, distance, time and effort, but not of money.
The reason for the failure of so many cost systems to serve the desired end is that they are based upon a wrong unit. These systems become useful only beyond a certain point. Other systems have been the result of a blind craving for aid, but being without broad underlying principles and not properly tied together and simply, in many cases, disjointed attempts to improve isolated details, they too have failed. The result is that attempts by specialists to improve industrial conditions have been often looked upon with suspicion and this is not altogether without reason. These very failures, however, have drawn the attention of men in certain lines of engineering to the rapidly developing needs of manufacturers. They have attempted to solve the problems by the use of engineering instead of by accounting methods, and the results which have been attained prove conclusively that a material advance has been made.
What Is Efficiency?
With this understanding of the present conditions, let us consider what efficiency really is. It has been defined as “the ability to produce certain results,” and this at the very outset necessitates the existence or creation of a standard of measurement. Our perception of efficiency, therefore, is correct only in proportion to the precision of the standard, which must be accurately developed from data which are not only exact, but complete. A machinist, believed to be operating at high efficiency, was observed while turning a shaft. His cut, feed and speed seemed to be beyond criticism. When the shaft was finished, however, he had to spend half as much time in hunting up a chain
and pad to remove the shaft from the lathe, as he had taken in turning it. This cut his actual efficiency from 100 per cent down to 87 per cent, yet the man was not at fault. His normal work was to operate a lathe and not to hunt for things which should have been provided for him. The points to be observed here are not only the importance of using the right standard of measurement, but that the efficiency of the man depended very largely upon his surrounding conditions over which he had no control. These conditions depend upon the efficiency of the management in securing proper equipment from the owners. This in turn depends upon the efficiency of the management’s records in enabling it to state clearly and accurately what increase in output and consequently in profits will result from improving the conditions—thus justifying the expenditure required. We see from this that the true standard is not the possibility under existing conditions, but that which can be obtained under other and more desirable conditions.
Managerial Opposition to Change.
The management, which immediately controls the records and conditions should be the prime source of efforts towards the increase of efficiency throughout the plant. The opposition of managers to progress in this respect is exceedingly great, yet not altogether surprising for these reasons:
1. There is a widespread fallacy that so-called practical experience in the manual operations or technical processes of a business is the chief essential to success in its management. This is due to the fact that perfection of workmanship, of which he knows much, is more important in the eyes of the artisan than the actual cost of the operation, of which he knows little, or than the cause of this cost, of which he knows less.
2. It is only recently that educational institutions have afforded any opportunity for adequate instruction in the art of management, pure and simple, a principal feature of which is the intelligent regulation of cost.
3. There has been, and now is, as a result of these two things, a failure to appreciate the necessity and value of exact data, in proper terms, of refined and scientific methods of collecting and using it and of logical reasoning in the solution of industrial problems.
The highest degree of efficiency, therefore, is only to be realized in a shop where executive methods have reached a high stage of efficiency, for in these is unquestionably its source.
Time Measurement Important.
The first step is to recognize the necessity and value of a proper measurement of time, as a guide not only to the executive but to the workman. A man was observed during 8 successive repetitions of the operation of making a machine mold in a foundry. The unit times varied 5.2 to 23.6 minutes, the total time for the eight being 104 minutes. Under the method of timekeeping in use at that shop it was only ascertained that the eight operations took 1¾ hours or an “average” of 13 minutes each, and the labor cost and distribution of burden were made on that basis. Because of the absence of any standard time whatsoever it was not realized that had the man done each of the eight in 5.2 minutes, they would have been completed in 41.6 minutes, resulting in a saving of over 60 per cent of the total time. Had the man received a proper work ticket bearing this standard time, before he began the work, there is no doubt that he could have easily performed the work in the shorter time and a marked difference in proportionate burden and cost would have resulted. Under the existing methods the management could not know of the waste, and so was helpless to prevent or cure it.
Every item of time, therefore, is capable of division into two parts: A standard or necessary time and a (more or less) preventable waste, which latter is the easier thing of the two to determine.
An Example of Increased Efficiency in Riveting.
A gang of four were engaged in riveting some steel plates. By the use of a stop-watch it was found that a large proportion of the total time of the riveter and bucker-up was not utilized; yet some one was always at work. The reason was that the men proceeded along the work in such a way that the bucker-up covered with his body the holes as yet unfilled by rivets, he moving from left to right. When, therefore, a rivet was driven, these two men had to stand aside until another rivet was placed by the rivet passer. Upon the instruction of the engineer, they reversed the direction of their movements so as to cover only the filled holes, thus enabling the passer always to have a rivet ready for them and making their speed in driving the real gauge of the speed of the operation. Furthermore, when they encountered a hole that needed reaming (as was sometimes the case, until the fault was located with the fitters and remedied), the riveter would lay down the gun, pick up the reamer, ream the hole, lay down the reamer, pick up the gun and drive the rivet. When persuaded to test consecutively ten or more holes after driving the first rivet in a seam to anchor the plates and then to drive the ten consecutively, they progressed faster with less effort. These men, receiving not only a standard from the engineer, but kindly instruction as to how to attain it, and being stimulated, not by abuse, but by a scientifically determined bonus—increased their output over 150 per cent beyond the original amount.
In this plant, by the use of these methods, and in about seven months, the general increase in efficiency of the men was such that the force was reduced 67 per cent without
reduction in volume of output, but with a great reduction in net total unit cost, even after paying the bonus alluded to and the cost of the expert services which alone produced this result.
The Use of Bonuses.
It is proper to say a word here on the subject of bonus as a means of increasing efficiency. The principal merit of this motive lies in the fact that immediate personal gain is the strongest incentive to immediate personal effort. It operates just as strongly on the employe as on the employer. Hope of promotion is too vague and the actual chances too limited to exert much pressure, but an extra sum in the pay envelope—or better still, in a separate one—for the disposal of the “old man himself,” will do wonders. To be most effectual a bonus must not begin at the point of standard efficiency, but at the point when average efficiency ceases and extra effort begins; and it should increase on a curve faster and faster as the point of standard efficiency is neared, because the accompanying effort will be correspondingly greater.
Efficiency Methods and Department Heads.
So much for the individual operator. And now for the executives. From foreman up to and including the highest official the same methods can and should be applied. Under ordinary circumstances, the workman in need of material, tools or instruction keeps his skirts clear by a more or less indefinite and unintelligible request to the foreman. He thinks it the foreman’s duty to look after him, but that if he does not do so it’s no business of his. Put that man on standard time and bonus and if there is anything he thinks the foreman should do or get for him he speaks loudly and directly. This the foreman does not resent—as would ordinarily be the case—for his efficiency is determined by the combined efficiency of his men and
upon this his bonus depends. Anything, therefore, that interferes with the progress of the men touches him closely, and he will move heaven and earth to eliminate it. All kinds of defects which were previously hidden from the superintendent are now brought to his attention, and he welcomes them for exactly the same reason that actuated the foreman. Thus the change that comes over a shop when efficiency is accurately measured and adequately rewarded is often astounding.
But this is not all. The possession of exact data as to standard and actual times makes possible a certain great improvement in, and addition to, the executive staff and a material increase in the efficiency of the foreman and department heads. By this is meant the installation of a planning department, by which the apportionment of the time of men and machines is controlled. The advantage, indeed, the positive necessity, of the services of engineers and draughtsmen in apportioning the different parts of the product is well understood. The requirements of each part, the strains to which it will be subjected, the kind, quality and quantity of material required to resist these strains, the shapes of the pieces, their relations to each other and many other things are all given most careful attention. The value of fully constructing the design on paper, as a means of discovering possible errors or difficulties, and of correcting or overcoming them before large expense for material and workmanship has been incurred, are too well realized to need more than a simple statement for their acceptance. No sane executive would expect his department heads to take a copy of his customer’s order and individually work out the details with which they are particularly concerned and expect the parts to fit. Yet this is just exactly what is being done as regards the apportionment of productive time; and a tumult of broken promises of delivery, excessive cost of production, enormous
wastes of time in changing jobs, etc., is the immediate and unavoidable result.
What Can Be Done.
It is perfectly possible, but only to one trained in the particular art, to schedule the different operations on all of the different parts of the product; to plot the productive times required, so that each may begin at such a time in relation to the others that all will arrive at the point of assembly at the proper time and in the proper sequence; to combine these studies of the different productive orders on a chart which will show the disposition to be made of all the men and machinery; to prepare advance programs for each man and machine engaged in productive labor; and thus to give to the superintendent and foremen the advantage of the same predisposition of time that they now have of material.
As it is now, the time of these persons is entirely too much occupied with this problem of the disposition of time for which they are only partly equipped, having, it is true, much of the necessary information, but no training in the scientific handling of it. They are, therefore, unable to devote the time they should to the immediate study of the operations and the provision of tools, material and instruction to the men. They try to be all over the shop at once and they depend on getting their information at first hand, and consequently fail more or less clearly to cover the ground. Having such schedules and programs as are above described, and with the proper work tickets distributed on a dispatching board, each one in the division representing the work upon which a man or machine is engaged, having the time of commencement and the standard time thereon, the foreman can see at a glance without leaving his office what men will shortly finish their work and what steps must be taken to see that the drawings, tools and materials for their next work are ready for them
in time. Having seen to this he has some leisure to give his attention to matters immediately requiring it, knowing, if anything is obstructing the other men, that their anxiety to earn their bonus will cause them promptly to bring such matters to his attention. Having this schedule, moreover, the foremen are enabled to order material, etc., ahead and to do so intelligently, thus making the work of the shop transportation department much simpler. In one case by this means 25 men were able to handle the intra-shop transportation in a more satisfactory manner than 75 men had previously been able to do.
The planning department also greatly aids and is in turn aided by the purchasing department, for the times when material must or can be got can intelligently be determined to their mutual advantage. The sales department, too, when it once gets the idea that the shop is not working miracles, but has its limitations, can make delivery promises which really mean something and can be kept, and this is a trump card of no small importance when the fact becomes realized among the customers of the concern.
Responsibility of the Management.
In the opinion of those whose opportunities have enabled them to get at the facts, the inefficiency in manufacturing, which undoubtedly generally exists today, in spite of the prevailing impression to the contrary, is only about one-fourth due to the things over which the employes have control and three-fourths to conditions imposed upon them by the management. The methods outlined above have achieved results whenever they have been faithfully and honestly tried, with proper co-operation by the management and under the direction of skilled specialists, and the results have continued and will continue as long as the methods are followed. The effect upon the men is that
from being often listless, indifferent and antagonistic, they become energetic, ambitious and loyal friends.
One thing more: Much has been done and overdone in the line of so-called welfare work. It is a highly creditable and necessary line of effort, when confined to attempts to remove from the path of the employe any obstacle which prevents him from developing his skill and efficiency to the highest degree. An uncomfortable, unhappy person cannot be efficient. But as steam is necessary to the engine, so is incentive necessary to the worker to get him to make the best use of the facilities provided for him. Under our present civilization, the same incentive which pushes on the master will push on the man, and that is direct personal gain in dollars and cents, not for itself, but for and what that gain will bring. It must come to him quickly after the exertion which its expectation calls forth, for if long delayed, the effect is lost. It must also come to him separately from his regular wage that its amount may be the more readily realized.
Moreover, the results of efficiency methods, within the writer’s knowledge, are sufficient to convince him that their general adoption would so increase the purchasing power of the employe, by increasing his wages and decreasing the cost production, as to have a markedly beneficial and steadying effect upon the business of the country.
Efficiency methods, however, cannot be successfully designed or installed by those trained in other lines and prejudiced by other associations. After these methods have been scientifically developed to suit the existing conditions and actually put into operation by those skilled in the art, they may gradually be relinquished into the control of those who have been educated in the process of installation, with some hope of success for their future operation.
THE BRIDGE BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL.
BY JOHN MITCHELL.
[Former President United Mine Workers of America.]
If the interests of labor and capital were identical—as some contend—there would be no chasm between them to bridge; and if the interests of labor and capital were irreconcilable—as others contend—any effort to unite them would be futile. From an experience extending over a considerable period, I am quite convinced that neither of the foregoing propositions will stand the test of close analysis. My judgment is that the interests of labor and capital, though divergent in some respects, are nevertheless reciprocal and inter-dependent.
To elucidate in a practical way the subject of the proper relationship between employer and employe, it is necessary to review the activities of these two factors in the field in which their interests are common and to mark the point at which they diverge. The employer and the employe are mutually interested in the successful conduct of industry; the profits of the one and the wages of the other obviously are contingent upon it, as both profits and wages must be paid from the earnings of the enterprise in which the capital of the one and the labor of the other are jointly invested. This being true, the workman and the employer are equally concerned in the character of the product which is manufactured and sold by them, just as they are interested equally in good markets and regularity of employment. Having worked in co-operation up to the point of turning out an article that commands a wide and profitable sale, the question of dividing the earnings of their joint efforts presents itself. It is the failure of the attempt to adjust satisfactorily this controversy
that gives rise to the differences between employers and workmen and is the basis of the labor problem as we have it today. True, there are many questions of discord apart from those of wages and profits, which result in serious industrial conflicts, but followed back to their source, it will be found that these issues are inseparably related to those of wages and profits. In other words, the demand for a shorter workday, for healthful, sanitary surroundings, has its origin in the irrepressible desire of the working people for a progressive improvement in their conditions of life and labor.
In ancient and mediaeval times when the structure of society was simple and each family consumed all the things it produced; or even at a later period when the master and the journeyman worked together side by side, and when the master had been a journeyman and the journeyman expected to become a master, there was little cause for controversy, and the problem of labor was not difficult of solution. It was not until the invention of machinery, the advent of the factory system, the use of steam, and the application of new processes that the question of the relationship of employer and employed grew so complex and impersonal that new methods became necessary in the proper adjustment of industrial affairs. As step by step industry developed from the stage of the privately owned factory to the firm and corporation, to the combination and the trust, the real employer was removed further and ever further from personal contact with his employes. As a consequence of this transition, the salaried manager took the place once held by the actual employer, and the simple and friendly relations of early days gave way to the intricate and complex industrial life of this generation.
Coincident with the development of industry which has revolutionized the whole life and history of our people and our civilization, have come the local, the district, the national, and finally the international organizations of
labor. These gigantic associations and federations of workmen are the logical and the inevitable consequence of an industrial development which threatened the subjugation of the individual workman and forced him, in self-defense, to merge his interests and his identity with those of his fellow workmen. The momentous change in the status of the workman which accompanied the revolution of industrial processes, transformed the whole problem of labor from the question of production to that of distribution, and it is the effort to find an equitable adjustment of the problem of distribution that is taxing to the utmost the ingenuity of economists, philosophers, and statesmen.
In the search for a panacea to heal the industrial ills against which society so justly complains, many suggestions are made and innumerable remedies proposed. On the one hand are found forces that would deny to labor the right of organization and combination, although exercising and enjoying the benefit of these rights themselves; on the other hand are forces at work advocating and demanding the abolition of the whole competitive system; between these extremes stands a great army of workmen and employers earnestly striving to find grounds of mutual agreement upon which the rights and obligations of each may be defined and brought into harmony. With all due respect to the opinions of others, I submit that the path of safety, progress, and justice lies in the middle course—in the recognition of the right of organization on the part of both labor and capital, by which and through which these factors in our industrial progress may work out their inevitable destiny, contracting freely each with the other upon all questions of mutual concern.
The trade agreement is the bridge between labor and capital. It restores, so far as it is possible to do so, the personal relationship, the mutual interest which existed prior to the advent of the factory system. It is an acknowledgment of the inter-dependence of labor and capital,
a recognition of the reciprocal interest of employer and employe. When the right of organization among workmen and employers is fully recognized and freely conceded, and when these forces adopt and practice the policy of collective bargaining, the day of the strike and the lockout, of the boycott and the blacklist, with their attendant evils, losses, and hardships, will have largely passed away.
THE UNEMPLOYED.
BY JOHN BASCOM, D. D., LL. D.
[Formerly President University of Wisconsin.]
A striking feature of the industrial world and one well fitted to occasion alarm is the large number of persons thrown, from time to time, out of employment. We are forced by it to accept one or other of two conclusions; that the economic world is mismade, incapable of a quiet and successful run, or that our handling of it has been in some way unskillful and misapplied. This fact of unemployment has become very conspicuous, and to those who suffer from it, and to those who sympathize with them, exceedingly grevious. A certain portion of the human family, and that in the most progressive nations, find themselves superfluous, out of connection with the means of living though others are obtaining support, comfort and luxury. They have nothing to do but to die in their tracks. Like the feeble ones in a forced march through an enemy’s country they first fall behind and then perish. This state of the case does not arise by accident and then pass away, it has periods of severity which frequently return, and stands among those constant dangers which may at any time overtake a few. This evil comes especially to industrious countries, like England, and to portions of our own country, like Pittsburg, noted for their enlarged production. The causes and remedies of this state of things become, therefore, subjects of anxious inquiry. We may assert that the want of employment is due in a general way, to the deficiencies and vices of men, but this assertion does not sufficiently point out the immediate occasion of the difficulty, nor furnish us its remedies.
Failure of the means of livelihood arises from indolence, ignorance, vice and unfavorable conditions on the part of those who suffer from it, conditions often of the nature of accident. But while the recipients of this disaster are plainly recognized, the disaster itself comes to them in a measure independent of their failures. We need to know not only those who are likely to suffer from a given disease, but how the disease itself arises. The central and most productive cause in this series of provocations is indolence; the others accompany indolence and more or less arise from it. By indolence we mean a want of life and hence a weakness of all the functions of life. We may mean physical inactivity or intellectual sluggishness or moral indifference, or may mean them all blended in one or other of the various ways in which a weak and perverted life manifests itself. The tramp is physically indolent, he hates work. This indolence readily extends to intellectual activity; the indolent person is ignorant of the value of success, of its motives and of its means. The world reveals few incentives to him and makes few appeals. This indolence and ignorance do not wholly arrest the wants and desires of men, and hence vice, as in the case of the thief, enters as the most ready and immediate means of gratification. The torpid nature of the moral judgment lends itself to this result, and nothing but fear, itself weak and vacillating, stands between the indolent man and habits of gross indulgence, inconsistent with personal and with social welfare.
The accidents, misjudgments and disappointments which are liable to overtake us all owe the injury which they inflict to the weak personality on which they fall, and so misfortune seems to follow and persecute those who are least able to bear it. The indolent, passive mood is a good medium for the accumulation and transfer of every form of disaster. The class of the helpless is much enlarged by
this flow of every form of evil to these low places in conduct and character.
We may clearly recognize these facts and suppose them a sufficient explanation of the farther fact, that so many are thrown out of employment and find themselves the waifs of society with no secure attachment to it. They do, indeed, make conspicuous the failure of occupation and determine the direction it will take. Their numbers are seriously increased by it, and their very presence gives the conditions of its recurrence. They are both causes and effects. They stand on terms of action and reaction with all the embarrassments of production. They help to reduce wages, and when wages are reduced, they are the first to be driven out of employment. They are the symptoms of the disease, the product of the disease and the means by which it is carried farther. All failures in the productive process extend, in their worst results, to this class of defectives. They are the recipients of past evils, of present and of coming evils. They arise in connection with a false form of production, must be treated with it and removed with it. They are a composite product, their faults not being wholly their own but in part the faults of the economic system with which they are associated. They are not the scapegoat on whose head the sins of the people may be laid and then be borne into the wilderness.
In discussing the causes and remedies of unemployment, we shall see how far and in what way these feeblest workers are involved in it. We cannot improve society by simply striking off the evils that have been developed under it. Healthy growth alone can rid itself of failures. It often happens in physical disease that what is accepted as a remedy in the end aggravates the difficulty.
One dislikes to use the word pauper, it so frequently carries with it an unreasonable and cruel contempt. Yet there are paupers in the human household, and when the temper is once present it is most difficult of removal. It is
a form of leprosy that eats out all vital power. The pauper temper indicates a disposition to secure immediate ease with no reference to the comfort of others. It accepts any advantage that offers without the slightest wish to return it. Yet even this spirit may offer some excuses for itself. The evils of society which may have originated far off in the action of the leaders of men, are apt to go booming downward till they reach, in their most distinctive form, the pauper class, or those but little above it. Diligence, thrift, skill, ward off the blow and escape with only a partial loss. Those who are always in the way of it are the weak ones, to whom prosperity brings but little and adversity occasions immediate overthrow. When those who at best are but partially occupied, find that labor is altogether failing them, the question of relief becomes most difficult. There is no profitable labor at disposal, and to provide labor means farther loss; it is charity in its most disguised, expensive and unrequited form. The worst lesson we can teach those already inclined to negligence is that a form of labor may be put in the place of real labor, and that the question of adequacy is one to be answered by society, not by the needy, recipient of favor. Whatever we may do for men of feeble productive power we are not to lead them still farther on in the direction of indolence and worthlessness. Actions are not to be separated from their normal results. We may frequently be called on to bear the injury which proceeds from another man’s wrongs, but we are never called on to disguise the wrong itself. A portion of the wrong is our own; that we should correct. While the evils are in the process of infliction we are to bear them sympathetically, but not in a form which disguises their true character.
Something of the same danger inheres in old-age pensions. Workmen of usual diligence should receive a return for their labor which would enable them to provide
for age. As long as workmen, reaching the age of three score, generally become dependent on the public, it is perfectly plain that their wages are too low, that the returns of production are not fairly distributed. A pension acknowledges the evil, but does not remove it, it tends rather to confirm it. That the losses which accompany industrial accidents should be divided between workmen, managers and the community at large is plainly just, and is no temptation to remissness. The accident is not the fault of any one person or class of persons. If it falls upon a large number, it is more readily borne and increases the motives to care. Our machinery is operated for the benefit of the entire community, and it is only fair that the entire community should help to bear the increased dangers. That injuries should be still left with the workmen on whom they have accidentally fallen is another proof of the slight hold they have on the public mind.
Any remedy for the lack of employment which is prompted simply by compassion and still leaves the evil to overtake the workman is not social hygiene; is not a recognition of the partiality and disproportion which still inhere in our productive methods. Labor should be successful and rewardful when left to its own development. It is bad to create a pauper temper and most difficult to contend with it when it has once been called out. Men should be subject to their own incentives of hope and fear, success and failure, as far as possible. The same discipline which comes to the active, is the natural spring of action in the sluggish. Any compassion which reduces the motives of effort that should come to the entire community, or which leaves the community satisfied with a maladjustment of duties, can never provide an adequate correction of bad distribution. We are placed between a narrow and a wide humanity, between an immediate reduction of suffering and a removing of its conditions. The final result is the test of our wisdom and good will.
There are partial remedies of the failure of employment which are fitted to give relief without endangering the future or disturbing the general conditions of employment. Occupations especially irregular, like that of the stevedore, may receive especial attention, or may be united to other forms of labor so as to secure greater uniformity. In these occupations the employer may frequently have but little motive to correct an evil from which he prospers by reduced wages. Excess and deficiency in the various branches of work should be made, as far as possible, to correct each other. Workmen are often not in a position to meet successfully these evils. They accept the drift of the labor market with small power to control it.
Bureaus of intelligence should be established so that the variable demands for labor of different localities may be quickly met. This is a public service, and should have the ease and certainty of such service. The same reasons which lead the Government to take the direction of immigrants should lead it to render similar aid to workmen. Workmen are often ignorant of the extent and character of the employment offered in the distance, and are subject to the exactions which arise in connection with this want of knowledge. The greater one’s want the more difficult is the change of locality. Quickness of response demands both intelligence and nobility.
Savings banks and insurance, while not directly affecting the demand for labor, tend to equalize and reduce the losses which accompany variability. They also tend strongly to call out that forecast of evil and preparation for it which belong to thoughtfulness. The strokes of fortune lose something of their unexpected and injurious character, and men are put on voluntary and better terms with the world.
We are not, however, to look on these reductions of danger as covering the whole problem. Life has its accidents and we can greatly reduce the evil results of them
by patience and prudence, but there still remains the more thoroughgoing effort by which the evil is anticipated and turned aside.
There should be that general harmony of effort, that proportion of its several parts to each other, that recognition of the common welfare, which fortify us against disaster, and force it in the background when it comes. There is a wise method in production, and a just relation of its agents to each other, which should greatly reduce the liability of a want of labor, and should ultimately remove it altogether. A true democracy should be exempt from this general failure in the results of activity. Much of our political economy has rested on inferences drawn from a faulty state of society, as if it and the conclusions contained in it expressed the real laws of our being. Society, in its most civilized forms, has always developed a proletariat, it has suffered drainage, and we have come to think this a sort of necessity, a natural result of social growth. With this starting point and expectation we are ready for periods of unemployment, and look at the misery which arises from them as a corrective. Superfluous lives cannot be gotten rid of on cheaper terms. We might as well suppose that disease is an inevitable attachment of physical life and must be left to go with it. Society never has too many workers, and when they are not wanted it is because they have been in some way misdirected. Strong men, industrious and intelligent men, are the wealth of society. There is never a time in which there is little or nothing to do in the world; if we think so it is because we cannot see, or see falsely. Our intelligence determines what is to be done and our diligence performs it. The world is never deficient in occasions for labor, no matter how defective we may be in performing it. Nor is well-devised labor wanting in its returns; intelligence and diligence, in full exercise, always contradict the notion. The world could not be the home of man on any other terms.
Human life begins to be superfluous the moment labor miscarries, and the miscarriage sinks down to those who have the least intelligence and industry. The constitutional disease of society, that which it has propagated with most show of knowledge, is ignorance and indolence. When we reach this stratum we are always in difficulty; the more in difficulty because we come to it in a sluggish rather than in a corrective temper.
Incident to indolence and ignorance are those vices of temper by which we wish to reach results without labor, or to reach them by the labor of others rather than by our own labor. As long as these vices are prevalent among men, whether in the upper or the lower strata of society, or, as is sure to be the case, in both, periods of arrest will come. Men will be baffled in their narrow aims, and will have no broader, more generous ones to put in their place. For a time they will lie idle till the customary impulses revive and once more set them in action. Industrial inactivity is like a financial panic. It is the result of the transient suspension of habitual feelings, and does not relax till men return to their usual frame of mind. These distrustful and apprehensive periods are liable to return as long as men are not pursuing sound purposes in a sober way. Any deficiency in fairness, integrity and mutual confidence divides society against itself, and renders a portion of its efforts futile. This is the more true as the division and subdivision of labor increases, and the final adjustment of returns is made by complicated exchanges. When a portion of the community finds its share of good things much reduced, when in the distribution of the rewards of labor, custom or cunning or force has robbed them of a reasonable portion, the motives of labor are greatly lessened, the means of exchange are lessened and the sense of unity and integrity of society is lost. There is in civilized society a large body of just and honest production which goes far to sustain the mind in renewed effort, and
keep firm the ties which bind men together. Yet the element of distrust, as in a financial crisis, extends through the community and weakens the points of life.
The first condition of social, economic strength is that all the members of society shall find suitable occupation and by means of it become the givers and receivers of aid. This plain, simple fact has been much obscured by accepting competition, often in an unethical and unsocial form, as the general law of economic activity. This law it is not; and it needs at all times to be held in check by ethical impulses and by the welfare of the community. It is this welfare which is the supreme law. Labor owes much of its degradation to a rigid and unreasonable application of competition. As we go down in the scale of occupations, and in efficiency in those occupations, the greater is the injustice and injury that attend on competition till we reach a point at which large numbers are pressed by it to the very verge of life. Then comes in that mischievous generalization which tends to make human degradation a permanent product of nature. The increase of human life is said to be geometrical, the increase of the means of life arithmetical, and so the two tendencies grind eternally against each other. Our best sympathy is expressed in letting this collision come to the quickest, shortest results. Some of this crushing process obtains between ill-trained and sluggish, well-trained and active men. Let it have way.
Yet the agricultural products of the world have not only never given out, they have never been brought near a maximum. Food, raiment and shelter are most varied in kind and abundant in quantity where men are most numerous. The Algonquin Indian wandered in the forest in the winter, unfed and unsheltered. The foundation of his trouble was his indolence and ignorance. The inhabitants of India may perish by famine in large numbers. The distress arises not from the fact that the people have
outstripped the productive power of the world, but because they have outstripped their wisdom in handling those powers.
Let men covet wealth, and at the same time use narrowly and competitively the means of attaining it, and the two strata of society, upper and lower, will shape between them a human life in which want will stand over against luxury, hatred over against contempt, and the two classes, oppressed by spiritual destitution and physical poverty, will wage with each a variable and hopeless warfare such as wisdom and good will can alone leave behind us.
A first remedy for unemployment is to make employment remunerative; so remunerative that the workman shall be the buyer of many things as well as the seller of one thing. When his single sale of labor stands in equipoise over against his many purchases, we shall have buyers as well as sellers and our production and traffic will never cease. We have in trade-unions a first step in the adjustment of exchange. Workmen strive to escape the competition of the incompetent and shiftless, to redirect distribution in ways more just and equal, and by this means to be able to play their own part in economic life more advantageously for themselves and for all. This effort is new in its breadth of application, but has never been new with the wise and thrifty. Personal skill and professional attainments have always lifted themselves above the storm-swept plain of competition, and gathered about themselves a prosperity and comfort resting on special and superior exertion. So long as we subject ourselves to the fortunes of the indolent and set up our standards of life at the very foot of the slope, we shall have a competition like that of the Chinese to contend with. We shall march so near the verge of the precipice that many will be pushed over it, and the least flurry will be disastrous. A sufficient return for diligence is the first claim and the
safety of labor; it enhances its motives and fortifies it in the possession of what it holds.
With paucity of pay on the one side goes the superabundance of profits on the other side. The returns of management should be more moderate, more uniform, more consonant with the general welfare. We can hardly doubt that an industrial community, well-organized, with a fair share of intelligence, diligence and honesty, will commend reasonable prosperity extending to all its members. Indeed this is what actually takes place in the midway forms of effort. The very poor and the very rich complement each other. Healthy and wholesome activity is as possible to the community as to the individual. The chief difference lies in the increased complexity of communal action and the ease with which results are misunderstood and misinterpreted. The instinctive and voluntary life of the individual is replaced in the community by divided counsels. Men shape opinion and interpret results in view of their own interests rather than in view of the public welfare. The public welfare is as much within the scope of human thought, when attention is directed to it, as is individual well-being. Indeed the universal and stable prosperity of economic society is as much dependent on the diligence and sobriety of its members as is individual welfare on well-ordered labor. The qualities which enhance success in the one direction are much the same as those which cause it in the other direction. Extreme and intemperate action work the same mischief in the one field as in the other. Society is sufficient unto itself when its purposes and methods are truly social. A sudden suspension of labor, a large number out of employment, are the result of disturbing causes which have found their way into the ordinary processes of production. These causes are an unreasonable accumulation of power in single hands, speculative ventures and a social philosophy which holds in light esteem the immediate interests of
the mass of the community. I have in mind a peculiar manufacture which had provided the needed buildings, and surrounded itself with the homes and help called for. There came a combination of those engaged in this industry. The works, comparatively new, were discontinued. Production sought a new center and the old community was left to suffer the loss of slow dispersion.
We are protected against theft and criminal violence, but we are not protected against the unprovoked losses which come to us from the speculative aims of the adventuresome capitalist, though these losses may greatly exceed those of robbery. The stability of labor and the returns of labor are often affected in the great centers of production by opportunities, fanciful or real, which offer themselves to a few of achieving large wealth; opportunities not so much of creating wealth as of raking it together. The mass of men do not so much as conceive that they have any ground of complaint of operations which sweep out from under them the supports of well-devised industry. Wealth which in its making and use tends to break up the ordinary methods of industry, to throw off the minds of men from the familiar reconciliations of industry and, above all, to weaken the sense of responsibility which lies between labor and capital, must, from time to time, issue in industrial disaster to the confusion and loss of labor. Do the best we may and we cannot anticipate every disturbance, but we are inexcusable for overlooking the disasters we bring upon others who are working with us. Much of what is called enterprise renders those engaged in it almost wholly negligent of the incidental injuries which fall to those about them. The equilibrium of labor is dependent on the equilibrium of productive enterprises, and when these accept no restraints the disturbance will reappear here and there in the productive world very much at random. Labor presses at one point and is relaxed at another, subject to the speculative schemes of capital. Extreme wealth in the
hands of a few lacks the economic and social and moral motives which make it a calculable and reliable means in the hands of many. When it is in the process of accumulation it is lawless; when it is accumulated it sinks into indolence.
While some gains are pretty sure to accompany the acquisition of great wealth, once acquired, it disturbs the even flow of economic forces, and may easily give rise to irregular occupation that brings serious disturbance to those whose daily wants are to be supplied by labor. It may be thought that these fluctuations in production arise from its very nature, and that if we leave men of very different degrees of intelligence to contend with each other for the prizes of industry, great inequalities of prosperity are sure to appear. We can escape them only by forcing back enterprise and making the moderate, medium men the standards of achievement. This presentation seems plausible, and will always be urged by those who are willing or eager to take large risks. Men of large productive power are easily stimulated, and their resources are kept, in reference to the community at large, in the most fruitful form when they are compelled to moderate their efforts, and are not left to the extreme and eccentric ways normal to them. The community is interested in habitual lines of industry more than in those which disturb the minds by sudden profits which cannot be emulated or repeated. Men will separate themselves from their fellows in the rivalries of production. Only thus is the power of intelligence fully disclosed, yet the ordinary arrangements of society, its privileges and opportunities, should be made as equal as possible; no unfair advantage should be given to one or another form of production; nor methods be allowed to the successful in achieving wealth which are not admissible in the community at large. The laws of the game should be wisely framed and firmly preserved. It is the able and ambitious who bring the most strain to safe restrictions,
and for whom they are chiefly made. Equality of opportunity is the cardinal principle, and cannot be sacrificed in favor of enterprise. The enterprise that is wholesome keeps within this law. It may also be thought that this rigid restraint would deprive the community of some of the most prevalent means of welfare as well as of some of the most illustrious agents in prosperity, and that those great and efficient combinations which we have come to designate as trusts would be lost to us; that as the result of this loss we should quickly settle down into a sluggish routine, mediocre ideas ruling the public mind, and so miss that very prosperity of which we are in search. Industrial corporations are most efficient agents in wealth-making. We cannot for a moment think of throwing any real obstacle in the way of their formation. But while we need their aid, we should also remember the evils which are liable to come with them. They are the creatures of law, and the law in giving birth to them should assign them the form and restrictions which are most consistent with the public welfare. They are not to be allowed to fall into speculative hands, an instrument of unrestrained power.
Industrial corporations afford ready means by which small capital and moderate men are compacted into a service quite beyond the range of individual producers. The difficulty has been that much dishonesty has entered into the formation of corporations, and that unreasonable power has been exercised by those who have had them in charge. The responsibility of a corporation to the community, expressed in a sound financial organization and in the relation of its officers to its stockholders, would in no way restrain the usefulness of these industrial agencies, and would make them wholly consistent with extended and equal opportunities in production. Immense wealth has often been acquired in connection with corporations whose usefulness to the public has been thereby restricted and the profits of stockholders disregarded. Nowhere is the eagerness of personal
enterprise so tempted, nowhere does it display itself more disadvantageously than in the large and oftentimes obscure undertakings of corporations. It is not in reduction of these agencies, but in behalf of their safe and profitable use, that the claim arises for uniform and well-regulated action. In large corporations, as in insurance companies, when the business itself has fallen into routine, extravagant salaries have been resorted to as a means of increasing the returns of officers. Oftentimes the plea for raising salaries is one which is self-propagating. Expenses have been greatly enlarged and the remuneration must keep pace with them. Yes, but will not this very increase lead to increased expenditure? Industrial corporations have been, in the present generation, a conspicuous means of production, but they have also conspicuously promoted a bad distribution of wealth, and so helped to promote irregularity and ultimate suspension in the productive process. There may never come a time in which the adventuresome capitalist will not magnify his own usefulness to the community, but there may come a time in which men shall see that the wealth of a few may be purchased at the expense of that general comfort which is the proper return of industry.
A possible rapidity in the acquisition of wealth inflames the speculative temper. We mean by the speculative temper, purchase and sale, not in reference to production but with the hope of making large profits independently of production. Speculation is an expression of a venturesome spirit which, in its impatience, lays light emphasis on the usually slow methods of increase, and promises itself a rapid road to success. This hope is often disappointed, and when disappointed carries with it a more or less extended retardation of business. When the annual losses by bankruptcy in the United States reach $200,000,000, the distress of those whose means of livelihood have been involved in this overthrow must become a very sensible
factor. Such a sum would, in its successful use, provide for many households.
The temper which goes with sanguine and unscrupulous methods is a careless, and often a cruel, one. The democratic notion of equality is overridden, is pushed aside as of no significance in the business world. The same persons who insist on an open shop, and give free play to competition when it depresses labor, regarding it as a familiar and convenient principle in determining wages, may combine with each other to control products and enhance profits. The general welfare, which is the controlling idea, is lost sight of or readily forgotten. They have one standard when they look out on the community at large, and another standard when they are preparing the way to make and hold fast their own gains. The directors of business come easily to think that the welfare of the community is identical with their own welfare, and that the enterprise with which they sustain their own affairs is identical with that on which the public prosperity depends. They readily come to the conclusion that their activity, so essential to the community, should be cherished by the community. How possibly can production progress without them. Discrimination in their favor is a short cut to the common prosperity. Men of comfortable means and the poor even owe what they have to the enterprise which scatters wealth everywhere. There is sufficient truth in this feeling, when not too boldly put, to hide its failures. The expenditures of the very rich in the purchases and exchanges they involve do carry a measure of advantage to all, but they also bear with them an unjust distribution, a luxury and a poverty, which weaken the unity and sap the strength of society. It is the very gist of democracy that each man shall count one; that in spite of the diversities and the advantages among men they shall still remain units of the same value in the freedom and propagating power by which the gains of the race are stored. It is
neither identity nor arbitrary difference that is admissible, but every man and every class of men carry with them the potentialities, the social and spiritual possibilities, which are the germs of historic development. This is the principle with which all petty social distinctions and all civic tyrannies have been at war.
While, therefore, the evil of monopolies may appear in various forms and be met in different ways, they cannot be permanently removed except by social conditions which equalize opportunities and compel wealth and power, in all their activity, to conform to general safety. Production in all its forms and in all its agents must be subject to that temper of fairness, and come under those principles of equal rights, which bind the parts of the community together, and make them one producing and one enjoying agency. Every assertion of settled superiority in persons, classes and races must be set aside, and the world in its physical, intellectual and spiritual wealth be left open to all. Thus history has treated men, and is more and more treating them, in their claims to consideration. This birthright of men is not to be denied or stolen; for they who steal it have nothing more than this same birthright to plead in extenuation, the combinations which look to the defense and extension of these original gifts are in order, and all combinations which carry them beyond the bounds of their own territory are another outbreak of anarchy.
The soundness of this assertion has been recently exemplified in the history of Pittsburg. Pittsburg is the center of an industry which has come, perhaps more than any other, under the domination of a few leading men. In the Homestead strike they succeeded in dealing a heavy blow to workmen in their efforts to secure something like a fair hold on production. A little inquiry into a community built up for a few and ordered by them discloses conditions quite at war with general well-being. Wages are kept down by the constant presence of the unemployed:
the accidents of a dangerous occupation are left to fall upon workmen; the health of the community suffers great neglect, the remonstrances of workmen are met with the response, If they do not like the method let them quit; and the general good order and comfort of citizens receive but little attention. Here is an object lesson in which work, sure, skilful and unflinching; wealth, eager, unscrupulous and unsympathetic, have divided the world between them; no right gained, no power lost. Men may make wealth under these conditions, withdrawing it from the fitting returns of labor, but they cannot, wise as they may be or generous as they may seem to be, restore that wealth to the community in a form in which it will subserve the same living purpose it might have subserved if it had never been withdrawn. The life of a community is achieved where its activity is most intense and constant. Failing in our service at these vital centers, no extraneous effort will cover our fault. We might as well draw sap from a tree and then pour it out on its roots.
We have now given three constitutional remedies for the want of employment. The first is a more equal distribution of the rewards of production, thus making the demand for products as extended and uniform as their production. The second is increased restraints, especially in connection with corporations, in the action of the leaders of industry, rendering them more amenable to the wants of the community to which they belong. The third, arising from the other two and supporting them, is more unity, more harmony between the several agents of production.
There was a report not long since in England of an industrial commission, which had given protracted attention to the irregular demand for labor. The remedies offered were chiefly palliative. It may be thought that this form of cure is all within our reach; that what is here offered as constitutional correctives are beyond our power.
There is some truth in the feeling, and would be much truth in it, were not the actions and the sentiments now enforced under urgent consideration for reasons of public welfare, not directly involved in unemployment. We cannot expect to remove so grave an evil as this, the wavering demand for labor, short of some important change in the organization of society. Society is a structure of so many and such delicate dependencies that its perfect action must include the general integrity of the current relations between men. Unwholesome results of frequent recurrence are the most direct proof of an unsound system. Palliatives may soften the evil but cannot overcome it. We should aim immediately to reduce the difficulty and ultimately to remove its causes.
QUESTIONS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
BUSINESS ECONOMICS.
| The Modern Industrial System. | ||
| 1. | Describe the three-field system of agriculture. | Page [2]. |
| 2. | What were the significant characteristics of a manorialsociety? | Page [2]. |
| 3. | What is said to justify the institution of privateproperty? | Page [4]. |
| 4. | What is competition in modern industrial life? | Page [4]. |
| 5. | Why has the name “capitalistic production” been appliedto modern industry? | Page [6]. |
| 6. | Compare the domestic system of industry with thefactory system. | Page [7]. |
| 7. | What are the fundamental conditions of our economiclife? | Page [8]. |
| The Agricultural Resources of the United States. | ||
| 1. | What has been the policy of the Government in itsdisposition of the public domain? Illustrate. | Page [9]. |
| 2. | What has been the unique and characteristic featureof the land policy of the United States? | Page [9]. |
| 3. | What has been the result of the land policy of theUnited States? | Page [10]. |
| 4. | What was the first effort toward the solution of farmingin the arid soils of the West? | Page [10]. |
| 5. | Explain what is meant by dry-farming. | Page [11]. |
| 6. | How do the farms of the United States compare insize with those of European countries? To what isthis difference due? | Page [11]. |
| 7. | What does the movement of the population from thefarm to the city indicate? | Page [13]. |
| 8. | What change in method is agriculture undergoing inthe United States? Give the reason for this change. | Page [14]. |
| 9. | Discuss the cereal production of the United States. | Page [15]. |
| 10. | Upon what question does the future of the cottonproduction depend? | Page [17]. |
| 11. | What movement is now put forth to aid in the preservationof our forests? | Page [18]. |
| The Mineral Resources of the United States. | ||
| 1. | Into what groups may the natural resources of a countrybe divided? Illustrate. | Page [19]. |
| 2. | What two answers are given to the problem of theconservation of a limited supply of resources? | Page [20]. |
| 3. | What steps have been taken towards stopping thedevastation of our resources? | Page [21]. |
| 4. | What estimates are given as to the amount of coalin the United States and as to how long this supplywill last? | Page [22]. |
| 5. | What is the most favorable situation for iron deposits?State reasons. | Page [24]. |
| 6. | Where is the most wonderful iron-mining region inthe United States? What makes it such a remarkableregion? | Page [24]. |
| 7. | Of what importance are the precious metals? Whatis the practical problem confronting American gold-miningcompanies at present? | Page [25]. |
| 8. | To what use was copper put in Homeric times? Whathas caused it to rise to the front rank in recent years? | Page [26]. |
| 9. | How does the present-day application of water powerto machinery differ from its application prior to 1890? | Page [28]. |
| Capitalistic Production. | ||
| 1. | What five causes does the census report give for therapid industrial development in the United States? | Page [30]. |
| 2. | Give Carroll D. Wright’s definition of a factory. | Page [31]. |
| 3. | Illustrate the two meanings which “division of labor”may indicate. | Page [32]. |
| 4. | Show how the subdivision of labor brings about theextension of labor-saving machinery. | Page [33]. |
| 5. | Name the economies of a large-scale production. | Page [36]. |
| 6. | What improvements have made large-scale productionpossible? | Page [36]. |
| 7. | In what lines of business is there little or no developmenttoward large-scale methods? State the reasons. | Page [37]. |
| 8. | What is meant by standardization? What are theadvantages of such a system? | Page [38]. |
| Trusts and Monopolies. | ||
| 1. | Enumerate the phases through which combinations forthe purpose of fixing prices, have passed. | Page [40]. |
| 2. | What is the advantage of the corporation? | Page [41]. |
| 3. | Give a brief history of the trust movement. | Page [42]. |
| 4. | What economies are secured by a combined or federatedindustry? | Page [43]. |
| 5. | Name some of the savings which are peculiar totrusts. | Page [44]. |
| 6. | Give an illustration showing the profits of a successfultrust promoter. | Page [45]. |
| 7. | What is the effect of industrial combinations uponcompetitors? Upon producers of raw material? | Page [46]. |
| 8. | Explain the two phases of the relation between trustsand labor. | Page [47]. |
| 9. | What conclusion as to the power of the combinationover prices, does the Industrial Commission reach? | Page [48]. |
| 10. | From what two sources do the evils of combinationcome? What remedies have been suggested to meetboth classes of evils? | Page [50]. |
| Speculation and Crises. | ||
| 1. | How does the speculator reduce for the merchant thespeculative risk attaching to price fluctuations? Illustrate. | Page [52]. |
| 2. | What social value lies in the service of the speculator?Illustrate. | Page [53]. |
| 3. | Explain the difference between legitimate speculationand illegitimate speculation (gambling). | Page [54]. |
| 4. | What is a crisis? | Page [55]. |
| 5. | Discuss the immediate occasion of a crisis. | Page [56]. |
| 6. | What is W. S. Jevons’ theory as to the causes ofcrises? | Page [58]. |
| 7. | Explain the over-production theory which is givenas a cause for crises. | Page [58]. |
| 8. | What is the credit theory of the cause of a crisis? | Page [59]. |
| 9. | Where is the true explanation of a crisis to be found? | Page [60]. |
| 10. | Is it possible to prevent the recurrence of crises? | Page [60]. |
| The Modern Wage System. | ||
| 1. | Give some beneficial results and some abuses of thefactory system. | Page [61]. |
| 2. | Name five points which Mr. Hobson gives to show that,in the transition to the factory system, the positionof the laborer has been one of increasing dependence. | Page [62]. |
| 3. | How does President Hadley define wages? | Page [63]. |
| 4. | Describe the systems of labor which preceded themodern wage system. | Page [64]. |
| 5. | How has the extreme individualism of Adam Smith’stheory been modified? | Page [65]. |
| 6. | What are the three peculiarities of the sale of labor? | Page [66]. |
| Labor Organizations and Collective Bargaining. | ||
| 1. | Why have labor organizations grown more rapidly inthe United States and England than on the Continentof Europe? | Page [69]. |
| 2. | What are the two types of trade unions in the UnitedStates? | Page [69]. |
| 3. | Describe the two most important national organizationswhich have been in this country. | Page [70]. |
| 4. | What are the methods by which labor organizationsmonopolize the labor market? | Page [71]. |
| 5. | Why do labor leaders object to piece work? | Page [72]. |
| 6. | What are the two arguments in favor of shorterhours put forth by the trade unionist? | Page [73]. |
| 7. | What is the economic justification of the shorterworking day? | Page [74]. |
| 8. | Give illustrations where unions have directly limitedthe amount of output. | Page [75]. |
| 9. | What is the attitude of the majority of the employersin the United States toward collective bargaining? | Page [77]. |
| 10. | What erroneous ideas exist as to the purpose of labororganizations? | Page [78]. |
| 11. | Describe the method of settling an industrial disputeby conciliation. Why is the principle of arbitrationfast going out of favor? | Page [79]. |
| Women and Children at Work. | ||
| 1. | Describe the evils of the early factory system in England. | Page [80]. |
| 2. | Are the women crowding the men out of their occupationsand taking their places? | Page [81]. |
| 3. | What is the most important reason for the low economicposition which woman occupies in the industrialworld? | Page [83]. |
| 4. | How does George L. Bolen justify the employmentof women? | Page [86]. |
| 5. | How can the evil arising from child labor be cured? | Page [87]. |
| 6. | What obstacles have been in the way of efforts toimprove labor conditions by legislation? | Page [88]. |
| 7. | Name, and give examples of, the two classes intowhich the factory acts may be divided. | Page [88]. |
| 8. | What has been accomplished in the United States inthe way of labor legislation? | Page [89]. |
| Unemployment and Insurance. | ||
| 1. | Classify the unemployed. | Page [91]. |
| 2. | What are personal causes of unemployment? | Page [92]. |
| 3. | Name some industrial causes of unemployment. | Page [93]. |
| 4. | In what does the remedy for the normal unemploymentin modern industry lie? | Page [95]. |
| 5. | Suggest some methods of alleviation of the evils ofunemployment. | Page [96]. |
| 6. | State briefly the common law doctrine regarding liabilityfor accident. | Page [98]. |
| 7. | What have foreign countries done toward placing theburden of industrial accidents upon the industry itselfand not upon the laborer? | Page [99]. |
| 8. | Describe the establishment of compulsory insuranceagainst sickness and old age in Germany; in GreatBritain. | Page [100]. |
| Machinery and Industrial Efficiency. | ||
| 1. | What three evils are charged against machinery? | Page [101]. |
| 2. | How does the reabsorption of labor displaced by machinerydepend upon the demand for an article? | Page [102]. |
| 3. | How may machine methods cause irregularities inwages and employment? | Page [104]. |
| 4. | Show the need of a system of industrial educationin the United States. | Page [107]. |
| 5. | Describe the system of industrial education which existsin Germany. | Page [107]. |
| 6. | How does the English system of industrial educationdiffer from the German? | Page [108]. |
| 7. | What is the character of the industrial schools of theUnited States? | Page [108]. |
| 8. | How have the people of the United States been aidedin their industrial development? | Page [109]. |
| 9. | What two obstacles have been met by the movementfor better industrial education in the United States? | Page [109]. |
| Profit-Sharing and Co-Operation. | ||
| 1. | Name the three principal methods of profit-sharing. | Page [110]. |
| 2. | What is the economic theory of profit-sharing? | Page [111]. |
| 3. | What are the objections against the profit-sharingsystem? | Page [112]. |
| 4. | Why is the system of profit-sharing comparativelylimited? | Page [113]. |
| 5. | According to President Hadley, where is there morechance for the success of profit-sharing? | Page [113]. |
| 6. | How does co-operation differ from profit-sharing? | Page [114]. |
| 7. | What are the reasons for the lack of success of co-operationin this country? | Page [115]. |
| 8. | Describe the methods of the Rochdale Society. | Page [115]. |
| 9. | How does producers’ co-operation differ from consumers’co-operation? | Page [116]. |
| 10. | Give three examples of successful productive co-operationin the United States. | Page [116]. |
| 11. | Enumerate the advantages of co-operation. | Page [116]. |
| 12. | What is the ultimate ideal of enthusiastic co-operators? | Page [117]. |
| 13. | Discuss the defects of co-operation. | Page [117]. |
| Problems of Distribution. | ||
| 1. | What are the three great problems of economic society? | Page [119]. |
| 2. | Define functional distribution; personal distribution. | Page [119]. |
| 3. | What views are given as to whether functional distributionis actually governed by natural law? | Page [121]. |
| 4. | Discuss briefly the distribution of rent. | Page [122]. |
| 5. | What is the socialists’ idea as to the profits which abusiness manager receives for his services? | Page [123]. |
| 6. | State three theories which have been developed toexplain the distribution of wages. | Page [124]. |
| 7. | How was the wealth of the United States distributedin 1893? | Page [125]. |
| 8. | Are the poor becoming poorer? | Page [127]. |
| Saving and Spending. | ||
| 1. | What is the relation between saving and spending? | Page [129]. |
| 2. | What is the real goal of all rational economic endeavor? | Page [130]. |
| 3. | Give the arguments which are put forth condemningluxury. | Page [132]. |
| 4. | What arguments are put forth to show that luxuryis an indispensable stimulus to progress? | Page [133]. |
| 5. | What is the attitude toward luxury taken by economists? | Page [133]. |
| 6. | What is meant by “a socialization of luxury”? | Page [135]. |
| 7. | Give an illustration of a waste in consumption dueto lack of knowledge and training. | Page [135]. |
| Money and Banking. | ||
| 1. | What determines the value of money? | Page [137]. |
| 2. | Give the attempts made in the United States to createa slow, steady inflation. | Page [139]. |
| 3. | State three arguments in favor of bimetallism. | Page [139]. |
| 4. | Where can we find a sufficient answer to the argumentsin favor of government paper money? Statethe answer. | Page [141]. |
| 5. | Of what does the money of the United States consist? | Page [141]. |
| 6. | What essential quality of good bank money do banknotes lack? Explain. | Page [143]. |
| 7. | Enumerate the suggestions which have been made asto a new basis for the issue of bank notes. | Page [143]. |
| 8. | Name two other problems connected with the bankingsystem of the United States. | Page [144]. |
| Transportation and Communication. | ||
| 1. | Describe the three kinds of discrimination. | Page [147]. |
| 2. | How do the state commissions differ in power? | Page [148]. |
| 3. | Explain the monopoly character of express companies. | Page [149]. |
| 4. | Show the importance of the internal natural waterwaysof the United States. | Page [151]. |
| 5. | What problem is offered by our canal system? | Page [151]. |
| 6. | Show why the causes for the decline in tonnage ofAmerican vessels are economic rather than political. | Page [152]. |
| Taxation and Tariff. | ||
| 1. | What is John Fiske’s definition of taxes? | Page [154]. |
| 2. | What rules of taxation were laid down by AdamSmith? | Page [154]. |
| 3. | What is the benefit theory of taxation? How doesthis theory fail? | Page [155]. |
| 4. | What is the faculty principle of taxation? | Page [155]. |
| 5. | What measures have been suggested as to how tomeasure ability? Give the objection to each. | Page [155]. |
| 6. | What are the arguments supporting progressive taxation? | Page [156]. |
| 7. | Where does the Federal Treasury derive its revenue? | Page [157]. |
| 8. | What tax is the main reliance of the state and localgovernments? | Page [158]. |
| 9. | Describe an ideal system of taxation for the UnitedStates. What is the advantage of such a system? | Page [159]. |
| 10. | What is the character of the considerations in determiningtariff policies? | Page [160]. |
| 11. | Explain the home market argument in support ofprotection; the wages argument. | Page [161]. |
| 12. | What is the doctrine of comparative costs? | Page [162]. |
| 13. | How do free traders answer the home market argument?The infant industries argument? | Page [162]. |
| The Functions of the Government. | ||
| 1. | Name the economic functions of the Government. | Page [163]. |
| 2. | What is the theory of anarchism? | Page [165]. |
| 3. | Explain Herbert Spencer’s theory of extreme individualism. | Page [165]. |
| 4. | What is the theory of government most generally heldby economists and writers in the United States? | Page [166]. |
| 5. | In what country is the culture state theory very generallyheld? Explain the theory. | Page [167]. |
| 6. | What does the view known as state socialism advocate? | Page [167]. |
| 7. | Give Professor Ely’s definition of socialism. | Page [167]. |
| 8. | Explain the cardinal and distinctive element of socialism. | Page [168]. |
| 9. | Enumerate the socialists’ criticisms of our presentmethods of production. | Page [168]. |
| 10. | What do socialists urge as bases of distribution?What basis do socialists of today agree is the best oneto meet the requirements of justice? | Page [170]. |
| 11. | What were Henry George’s arguments against privateownership of lands? | Page [171]. |
| 12. | What is the real issue as to the municipalization oflocal public utilities? | Page [172]. |
| Economic Progress. | ||
| 1. | What improvement has been made in the condition ofthe working class in the United States? In GreatBritain? | Page [173]. |
| 2. | What factors have aided in the enormous expansionof production? | Page [174]. |
| 3. | Give two reasons why labor has not profited moreby the great increase of wealth. | Page [175]. |
| 4. | State some lines along which reform is needed. | Page [176]. |
| Manufacturing. | ||
| 1. | How does the word “manufactures” as it is ordinarilyused today differ from its original meaning? | Page [180]. |
| 2. | What conditions have made western Europe and theeastern part of the United States great manufacturingsections? | Page [183]. |
| Modern Manufacturing Systems. | ||
| 1. | What new occupations did the factory system develop? | Page [186]. |
| 2. | How did the use of steam affect the location of factories? | Page [187]. |
| 3. | What factors made the price of silk so high beforethe nineteenth century? | Page [188]. |
| 4. | Why is Gary, Indiana, an advantageous location fora manufacturing center? | Page [189]. |
| 5. | How is it possible to operate by water power, a factorylocated a hundred miles from a waterfall? Givetwo examples. | Page [190]. |
| 6. | Illustrate the use of electricity in a typical modernfactory. | Page [192]. |
| Use of Machinery in Manufacturing. | ||
| 1. | Describe the first machine used in the making of yarn. | Page [193]. |
| 2. | Enumerate some of the machines invented in theeighteenth century. | Page [195]. |
| 3. | How did the invention of machinery affect the importationof cotton? | Page [196]. |
| 4. | Show the need of machinery in the iron and steel industry. | Page [197]. |
| 5. | Describe the earliest process of making pig iron. | Page [198]. |
| 6. | What is the Bessemer process of making steel? | Page [201]. |
| 7. | What have been the causes of the great developmentof the iron and steel industry? | Page [201]. |
| 8. | What is the difference between English and Americansteel works? | Page [202]. |
| Development of the Factory System. | ||
| 1. | State reasons for the early development of the factorysystem in England. | Page [204]. |
| 2. | Why was the United States slow about developingmanufacturing industries? | Page [205]. |
| 3. | Why is any comparison of the value of the manufacturesof the United States with that of other countriesdefective? | Page [210]. |
| 4. | Name an article which is the product of one factorybut which becomes the manufacturing material of another. | Page [211]. |
| 5. | What factors have contributed toward making theUnited States the world’s greatest manufacturing nation? | Page [212]. |
| 6. | How can it be judged as to whether the value of manufacturesof a country is in excess of the consumingcapacity? | Page [214]. |
| Capital in Manufacturing. | ||
| 1. | Show the part capital plays in building up a company. | Page [214]. |
| 2. | What are the advantages gained by having a businessin the hands of a company or corporation? | Page [215]. |
| 3. | Compare the durability of gold with that of otherproducts. | Page [217]. |
| 4. | What was the amount of capital employed in manufacturingindustries in 1850? In 1905? | Page [218]. |
| 5. | How did the Census of 1905 differ from previous censusesin the matter of manufacturing establishments? | Page [219]. |
| 6. | How does the growth in capitalization rank with thatof the other important branches of manufacturing? | Page [220]. |
| Trusts and Combinations. | ||
| 1. | What principle was the cause of the origin of the moderncompany or corporation? | Page [222]. |
| 2. | Explain the provisions of a pool. | Page [223]. |
| 3. | How were the defects of the pool overcome? | Page [224]. |
| 4. | What are the advantages of a trust or combination? | Page [225]. |
| 5. | What has been the effect of trusts on prices? Onwages? | Page [226]. |
| 6. | Name and classify according to product the companiesof which the United States Steel Corporation wasformed. | Page [228]. |
| The Iron and Steel Industry. | ||
| 1. | What was the number of establishments for the ironand steel industry in the United States in 1880? In1905? What does this show? | Page [233]. |
| 2. | What method was used by the early Germans forextracting the iron from the ore? By the Englishin 1700? By the early American colonists? | Page [236]. |
| 3. | Why was coke used in the smelting of iron ore inEngland much earlier than in America? | Page [238]. |
| 4. | How did the development of railways aid in the preservationof our forests? | Page [239]. |
| 5. | What is the puddling process? Why is it necessary? | Page [240]. |
| 6. | What process took the place of the puddling process? | Page [241]. |
| 7. | What is steel? How is iron obtained by the Bessemerprocess made into steel? | Page [245]. |
| The Textile Industry. | ||
| 1. | What is the most important of the textile industries? | Page [247]. |
| 2. | Compare the value of textile manufactures in the principalcountries of Europe during the period from 1800to 1896, inclusive, with that of the United States duringthe same period. | Page [247]. |
| 3. | Define textiles. How are they made? | Page [251]. |
| 4. | What were the so-called “Manchester cottons”? | Page [254]. |
| 5. | Who invented the spinning jenny? What was its use? | Page [255]. |
| 6. | Up until the invention of the water frame, why wasthe making of cloth entirely from cotton impracticable? | Page [256]. |
| 7. | What was the spinning mule? By whom was it invented? | Page [257]. |
| 8. | What is the purpose of the cotton gin? | Page [257]. |
| 9. | What factors have made cotton the most importanttextile? | Page [258]. |
| 10. | Why is the cotton industry moving toward the South? | Page [262]. |
| Manufacturing Industries of the United States. | ||
| 1. | Why was manufacturing neglected by the early settlersof the United States? | Page [263]. |
| 2. | What manufactories sprang up in the nineteenthcentury? | Page [266]. |
| 3. | Name the four greatest producers of manufactures forexportation. | Page [270]. |
| 4. | When was the largest growth of agricultural exportsin the United States? Of exports of manufactures? | Page [272]. |
| 5. | What articles are the chief requisites of manufacturing? | Page [272]. |
| 6. | How do you account for the rapid growth of copperas an export of manufacture? | Page [277]. |
| 7. | Illustrate the fact that the United States does notneed to invade foreign markets with its manufactures. | Page [278]. |
| 8. | Distinguish between the gross value of the factoryproduct of manufactures and the net value of the same. | Page [284]. |
| 9. | Compare the growth of the exportation of manufactureswith that of the production. | Page [286]. |
| 10. | Under what head does the Bureau of Statistics classifyboots and shoes; flour; salted meats; illuminatingoil; pig iron. | Page [287]. |
| Concrete and Steel. | ||
| 1. | How do concrete and steel supplement each other? | Page [322]. |
| 2. | Of what is the standardization of concrete applicationsindicative? | Page [323]. |
| 3. | What is a corrugated bar? | Page [324]. |
| 4. | Give an example showing the durability of the Hennibiqueconstruction. | Page [326]. |
| 5. | What advantages over the wooden bearing pile hasthe concrete bearing pile? | Page [327]. |
| 6. | How may the resistivity of usual concretes be reinforced? | Page [329]. |
| 7. | Explain the use of wales in reinforcing a water front. | Page [331]. |
| 8. | How are the bearing piles of a wharf in the tropicsmade? | Page [332]. |
| 9. | Enumerate various uses to which concrete has beenput in construction. Pages 333, 334. | |
| 10. | What is the problem of the concrete telegraph pole?How may this be overcome? | Page [336]. |
| 11. | How is the Corell tie made? The Percival tie? | Page [337]. |
| 12. | What part does steel play in the construction of theGatun Locks of the Panama Canal? | Page [337]. |
| 13. | Give an illustration of the use of steel for moldingconcrete. | Page [339]. |
| Chemistry and the Industries. | ||
| 1. | Why has it been necessary to put industry on a scientificbasis? | Page [342]. |
| 2. | Why is chemistry so closely related to the industries? | Page [343]. |
| 3. | Tell in your own words the story of the developmentof the soda industry. | Page [344]. |
| 4. | Name three important industries which grew out ofthe soda industry. | Page [346]. |
| 5. | Give an example of how science has led the way forindustry. | Page [348]. |
| 6. | What are the great achievements before the chemistryof the future? | Page [350]. |
| The Producer-Gas Power Plant. | ||
| 1. | What was the drawback to the early development ofthe gas engine? | Page [353]. |
| 2. | Why was the suction producer not practical? | Page [354]. |
| 3. | What led to the introduction of the pressure producer? | Page [355]. |
| 4. | What is the advantage of the down-draft producer? | Page [355]. |
| 5. | What is the ideal relative efficiency of the producer-gasplant and the steam plant? The actual relativeefficiency? | Page [360]. |
| 6. | What defects in producer-gas plants were learnedfrom the inspection in 1908? | Page [364]. |
| 7. | Where are the producer-gas plants of England located? | Page [366]. |
| 8. | How can the price of power developed from fuel bekept down? | Page [369]. |
| Efficiency in Shop Operations. | ||
| 1. | What is the reason for the failure of many cost systems? | Page [371]. |
| 2. | Upon what does the efficiency of a workman depend? | Page [372]. |
| 3. | What should be used as a standard for the measurementof time? | Page [373]. |
| 4. | When should a bonus begin? | Page [375]. |
| 5. | What effect does the giving of bonuses have on theefficiency of the foreman? | Page [375]. |
| 6. | What advantages are gained from having proper timecards for the workmen of a concern? | Page [377]. |
| 7. | To be successful, how should efficiency methods beintroduced? | Page [379]. |
| The Bridge between Labor and Capital. | ||
| 1. | What is the chief cause at the bottom of all labordisputes? | Page [380]. |
| 2. | When and how was the labor problem brought about? | Page [381]. |
| 3. | What three methods of solution are proposed for thepresent problem of distribution? | Page [382]. |
| 4. | In your opinion which method is the best? | |
| The Unemployed. | ||
| 1. | What is the central cause of the want of employment? | Page [385]. |
| 2. | Show the evil effect of ill-advised charity upon theunemployed. | Page [387]. |
| 3. | What does the practice of giving old-age pensions indicateas to the fairness of the distribution of the returnsof production? | Page [387]. |
| 4. | Name three ways in which the problem of the unemployedcan be reduced. | Page [389]. |
| 5. | What are the effects of ignorance and indolence uponsociety? | Page [391]. |
| 6. | If employment were remunerative, what would be theresults? | Page [393]. |
| 7. | What lines of industry should society court? | Page [396]. |
| 8. | What are the evils connected with industrial corporations? | Page [397]. |
| 9. | Summarize the remedies for the want of employment. | Page [401]. |
INDEX
BUSINESS ECONOMICS
- ANARCHISM—
- theory of, [165].
- AREA—
- land, of U. S., [9].
- BANKING, [142]-145.
- BAR—
- corrugated, [324].
- BARGAINING—
- collective, [77].
- BONUS—
- use of, [375].
- BRIDGES—
- construction of, [324]-326.
- CEMENT—
- Portland, [340].
- CEREALS—
- production of, in U. S., [15].
- CHEMISTRY—
- CHILDREN—
- at work, [86]-89.
- CLASS—
- wage-earning, [61].
- COAL—
- waste of, [352].
- COMBINATION—
- COMPANIES—
- express, monopoly character of, [149].
- CONCRETE—
- CO-OPERATION—
- CORN—
- production of, in U. S., [16].
- CORPORATION—
- COTTON—
- CRISES—
- DISCRIMINATION—
- kinds of, [147].
- DISTRIBUTION—
- DOMAIN—
- public, [9].
- DRY-FARMING, [11].
- EDUCATION—
- industrial, [106]-110.
- EFFICIENCY—
- ELECTRICITY—
- applied to manufacturing, [190]-192.
- ENGINE—
- gas, development of, [353]-356.
- EXCHANGES—
- of natural products, [182].
- EXPORTS—
- from U. S., [269]-288.
- FARMS—
- number and size of, [11].
- FREE TRADERS—
- arguments of, [162].
- GOVERNMENT—
- functions of, [163]-172.
- INDUSTRY—
- LABOR—
- American Federation of, [70].
- and capital, bridge between (article), [380]-383.
- child, [80], [86]-89.
- division of, [32], [33].
- Knights of, [70].
- legislation, purpose of, [68].
- organizations, [68]-77.
- previous systems of, compared with modern wage system, [64].
- sale of, peculiarities of, [66], [67].
- woman, [80]-86.
- LIVE STOCK—
- production of, in U. S., [16].
- MANUFACTURES—
- MANUFACTURING—
- application of electricity to, [190]-192.
- application of steam to, [187]-189.
- areas of the world, [181].
- (article), [179]-320.
- capital in, [214]-222.
- cotton, [247]-262.
- establishments, [219]-222, [233].
- growth of, [205]-214.
- growth of investment in, [218]-222.
- industries of the U. S., [263]-288.
- machinery in, [193]-203.
- statistics of, [229]-321.
- systems of the world, [185]-192.
- MARINE—
- merchant, [152]-154.
- MONEY—
- MOVEMENT—
- trust, [42].
- PARTNERSHIP, [41].
- PENSIONS—
- old-age, danger in, [387].
- POWER PLANT—
- PRODUCTION—
- PROFITS—
- of promoters, [45].
- PROFIT SHARING—
- PROTECTION—
- arguments in support of, [160]-162.
- RATES—
- railroad, [147].
- RESOURCES—
- REVENUE—
- sources of, [157]-159.
- ROTATION—
- three-year, [2].
- SERVICE—
- Forest, work of, [18].
- SOCIALISM—
- SPECULATION, [51]-55.
- SPECULATOR—
- social value of, [53].
- STANDARDIZATION—
- system of, [38].
- STANDARD OIL TRUST—
- when formed, [42].
- STATISTICS—
- accidents in German industries traceable to different causes, [97].
- cause of idleness, members of trade unions (1900), [93].
- cause of poverty, [92].
- course of wages during 19th century, [173].
- expenditures for different purposes in different places, [128].
- growth of manufactures in 19th century, [30].
- hand and machine methods compared, [103].
- industrial and commercial gas trusts in U. S., (1860-1900), [42], [43].
- of commerce in U. S., [308], [309].
- of manufactures, [229]-321.
- of population engaged in manufacturing in U. S., [310].
- STEEL—
- SYSTEM—
- TRUSTS—
- UNEMPLOYMENT—
- WAGES—
- iron law of, [124].
- WATER FRAME, [256].