5 2o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in a particular case where the same company had two factories, one in 

 Britain and one in the United States, seven hundred employees in the 

 former turned out fewer matches than four hundred employees in the 

 latter. The trades unions object to a man looking after more than one 

 machine, where it might be possible for him to look after two or three, 

 or possibly half a dozen. The trades unionists go on the assumption 

 that there is only so much work to be done and if one man does the work 

 of two he throws some one out of a job, forgetting that a small output 

 at a large cost to the capitalist precludes him from competing with out- 

 side employers in the same department, and lessens the amount of work 

 he can give to his men. 



Tenders were asked for a bridge in an English colony. Several 

 English firms and one American tendered. The lowest English tender 

 was by a firm employing six hundred men for whom there was barely 

 sufficient work. The English tender allowed for only five per cent, 

 margin for profit and contingencies, but the tender was not sufficiently 

 low, and the contract went to an American company. Within a month 

 the English firm was obliged to dismiss one hundred men. If the em- 

 ployees had realized the state of the case and had been willing to work 

 to their full capacity the contract might have been secured by the 

 English firm, the hundred men might have still been employed and pos- 

 sibly others added. 



Though American boots and shoes are invading Britain, two hun- 

 dred riveters and finishers lately went out on strike against shoe-lasting 

 machines. In America a hundred machines are used in the making 

 of one boot. In England labor-saving machines have been invented, 

 but very few have been suggested by operatives, and they are grudg- 

 ingly used. 



America has the advantage that the factories turn out large num- 

 bers of articles all upon the same pattern. For instance, the locomotive 

 makers build a particular st}de of locomotive, and will not make any 

 other style, except at a very great advance in cost. In England specifi- 

 cations are drawn up by some engineer, and these specifications must be 

 followed. It is complained that there is a colony of consulting engi- 

 neers in Westminster that have supervision of the contracts for bridges, 

 permanent way and railway stock. It is contended that these engineers 

 put restrictions upon English firms tendering for contracts to which 

 American firms are not subjected. It is said, for instance, that when 

 the Midland Eailway ordered American locomotives these would not 

 comply with the restrictions to which home made engines would be 

 subject. When an American firm is asked to tender according to spec- 

 ification, the usual reply is that such a locomotive can be made, but it 

 will cost a half more than one of the regular style that will be quite as 



