July 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



LIHWAI^Y 



New >(>«jc 



»t;rANlCAfc 



715 



Reg. United States Pat. Off. 



Reg. United Kingdom. 



Published on the 1st of each month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



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Telephone — Bryant 2576. 



CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON, F.R.G.S., Editor 



Vol. 64 



JULY 



1921 



No. 4 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING 



STATISTICS, STANDARDIZATION AND SAVING 



COMING as quite an ironic commentai-y on our 

 vaunted national efficiency is the statement from 

 the Executive Board of the Federated Engineers' So- 

 cieties that sheer waste costs the United States a stag- 

 gering sum. Instancing alone the matter of prevent- 

 able diseases, the board says that the nation's annual 

 loss through this source is $3,000,000,000. The same 

 authority has data showing that 75 per cent of the 

 serious accidents in industry are avoidable ; that lui- 

 reasonable exactions, restrictions, etc., will cause the 

 country a loss of $500,000,000 in the building trades in 

 1921 ; that the textile industry has been getting only 35 

 per cent efficiency over a term of years through strikes 

 and other wastes, not to mention numerous other indus- 

 tries that are suffering considerably through similar 

 causes. 

 ^Z Over 50 per cent of the losses are laid at the door of 

 ""industrial managers, and less than 25 per cent are debited 

 t>*gainst labor. Human energy is still too largely squan- 



dered or unutilized, and progress and prosperity must be 

 delayed while 3,000,000 men are idle and consuming 

 their savings. We are forcibly reminded that we must 

 not relax in the least in the general policy of conserva- 

 tion if we are to pass comfortably through the present 

 period of reconstruction and to fortify ourselves properly 

 for the inevitable conflict among the nations for com- 

 mercial supremacy. Thrift must ever be our watch- 

 word, and we must put into practice every possible meas- 

 ure conducive to more efficient production. 



Secretary of Commerce Herbert C. Hoover, who is 

 also president of the organization aforementioned, has 

 already shown during his brief incumbency many ways 

 in which the Federal Government can on a large scale 

 not only lessen waste, but actually .speed up the work 

 and increase the service of various departments so as to 

 benefit numerous industries particularly and the nation 

 generally. In order to formulate a program for the re- 

 duction of waste he is seeking all available information 

 on standardization and simplification ; and from the lead- 

 ers of the major industries or others he welcomes any 

 suggestions that may in any wise be helpful. Particu- 

 larly has he called upon the Federated Engineers' So- 

 cieties, which may be fairly said to represent the interests 

 of both capital and labor, to make a careful, impartial 

 survey of the productive agencies of the country, a work 

 which they have promptly undertaken. 



It has been remarked by the Secretary that none of the 

 fourteen active bureaus in Washington covers such im- 

 portant items as production, stock, percentage of indus- 

 trial activity, prices, and monthly reports ; and by neg- 

 lecting to obtain and quickly disseminate such data — the 

 Secretary hates stale statistics — much loss and retarda- 

 tion is occasioned in the nation's business. Apropos to 

 the situation in the rubber industry, the Secretary is of 

 the opinion that — 



If there had been an accurate monthly statement 

 of the current ratio of production, capacity, and 

 operation in the different branches of the industry, 

 and of the stocks of major manufactured and raw 

 materials in hand, they would have been saved 

 tremendous losses, not only in over-accumulation of 

 goods, but also in over-expansion of equipment. 



Briefly, the plans for lessening the waste evil are the 

 formation of a national industrial information service, 

 a statistical bureau to report on employment conditions, 

 a national health policy with plans for the employment 

 of defectives, revision of Federal laws retarding stabiliza- 

 tion in industry, and a program for the adjustment of 

 labor disputes. 



FINANCING FOR EXPORT 



STILL further swelling the nation's bulging coffers, 

 about a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of gold has 

 been shipped from Europe to the United States since 

 January 1 of this year to settle trade and war bond debts ; 

 and so greatly favorable to this nation is the foreign trade 





