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"Keep the Wheels of Industry Turning."

3rd September 1914
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Page 1, 3rd September 1914 — "Keep the Wheels of Industry Turning."
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Our State-of-War Volume : No. XX.

This issue is the first of our twentieth volume. The indications of the day point to its being wholly produced vvhile the country is engaged in the greatest war that has been sent to help the inhabitants of this world to realize the blessings of peace. The present European strife has been aptly termed " The war that will end war," but that is not yet. Volume XIX has closed with four state-of-war issues, beginning with that of the 6th ult. in which, only six hours from the time of England's unavoidable Declaration against Germany, we published the only illustrated war-transport article of the week. The last three issues of Vol. XIX have given valuable leads in putting forward comprehensive plans for practical work in connection with: (I) Employment Bureans, (2) Freight Exchanges, (3) Schedules of Delivery Dates, (4) Re-establishment of Industrial Motor Transport, and. (5) Extensions of Use for Light Vans and Steam Wagons in their Proper Spheres of Application. All these activities are in the programme of conduct for Vol. XX which is now opened. The war is going on. Lord Kitchener, the best-informed man in the country, has repeated his warnings hereanent. His advice in effect is that each and every person shall be prepared for a long period of hostilities, for a succession of months all tending toward and requiring better organization, undiminished alertness, greater and wider activities coupled with the creation of new powers both of reserve and resistance. We reassert our belief that the military and naval authorities can themselves, without sporadic interference from busy-bodies, carry to successful issues the duties which their professions impose upon them, for which they have been paid in the past and are still paid, and about which they know more than outsiders. We continue, with a sense of satisfaction that we have for many years fostered the growth of commercial motoring, to keep steadfastly before us our declared function of concentration upon services which have their inspiration in the avowed determination to KEEP THE WHEELS of INDUSTRY TURNING so far as in us lies. If we thereby help to build up any resources of use to the military authorities as a stand-by, quite apart from their essential and immediate place in the disturbed commercial occupations of a resolute nation, we shall feel doubly rewarded for not having lost our normal balance a month ago, and for not having forgotten that it is at all times a, golden rule to" MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS."

"Mind Your Own Business."

The proverbial admoni'cion which we use as the title to this article, and which we are also employing, for use during the ensuing seven days, upon our posters, is one pregnant with meaning at the present time. The word " mind " may here be rendered by the use of the words " pay heed to " and again " take care of." It is every man's business to be mindful of his nation is welfare, but it is not given to every man to be engaged actively with the Army or 'Navy, or upon the staff in one or other of those Services. He can none the less be mindful of his country's business by trusting those officers and. officials who are engaged by the country to carry out necessary duties, and the proof of his reposing such confidence in those men is best shown by his leaving them alone as far as possible. The, average member of the public may safely rely upon the utilization by the Government, by the heads of Departments, and by the executive Chiefs and other officials, of all the resources—as they are wanted—which the country can provide. Nobody knows better what those resources are than do the people in authority, and they have the whole power of the Constitution behind them to requisition such assistance as they may need. Whilst, therefore, it is clearly the business of every man to take a genuine interest in current events, it is even more the duty of the individual civilian to put into practice by his own conduct the-accepted construction of the saying which we have quoted. Far be it from us to pretend that the duty of fighting for one's country may not, if certain events happen, become. our willinglyaccepted occupation. Until and unless those events happen, our business is to help to KEEP THE WHEELS OP INDUSTRY TURNING.

There will be a day of reckoning, hereafter, for everybody in this country who has not minded his own B9 business truly and well. There are some, of course, who have an r'estate'' the worth of which cannot readily be assessed, if it possess any value at all, but the clear duty of the individual is to make the best. of the materials to hand, as well as to create fresh openings. Lord Kitchener, for example, has announced that he will utilize to the fullest extent the organization of the Territorial Army, but he and the country are well aware that Lord Haldane is responsible for that branch of the military arm. The head of our military organization is, none the less, striking out on his own lines in other directions, and the forcefulness of his lead may well have its lesson for many of our readers. The lesson for us is, to use that which is to hand, and also to strike out along our own new lines. In. so far as we invite readers of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR to take to heart the necessity to apply to themselves in all the simplicity of their significance the words " Mind your own bursiness,." we feel that we should be explicit Our desire is to add such influence as we may possess to the volume of the official request, uttered by all in authority from the King downwards, that eizilian activities shall b7maintained to the fullest possible extent. The business of the State is being minded for us, and every voter in this country will, after the conclusion of peace, however long that day may be deferred, have the opportunity to give effective expression to his views as to the manner in which: the State business, including the preparation for and the conduct of the war, has been carried on. Thef must turn away from their cornmural interests, as represented by the King and his Ministers, who are but the collective, tangible, and adminirstxative expression of the peoples of the Empire, and think in detail of their own occupations—of the sources and continued supply of their own means of existence. Let them pay heed to such matters, and take the greatest care of them, and Iet•them particularly examine closely the direct effect which the use of commercial motors of one type or another can have upon the earning of their daily bread and that of others who are dependent upon them. It is here that we feel we can give paint to the signallyappropriate behest which we are seeking to illustrate. In minding one's own business, one is contributing in the most sensible way to the tranquillity of the country at large. Meddling with other peoples' affairs adds' to the sum total of distraction for which many thousands of people are responsible, and contributes to the undoing of one's country•by swelling the ranks of unwanted busybodies. As those who have for years been associated with military training and requirements know best what they are about, so will it pay civilians in the highest sense of the word to cleave to the things which they understand, and to the connections in which they can be most useful both to themselves and to those who have to•deal with them.

Motor Transport in Relation to Business, Capital and Wages.

Few businesses nowadays are of any profit value if their transport 'needs are not adequately met. Uncertainties of transport, in business life as in warfare, may be fatal to the project in hand. Some of the older means of transport involve enormous capital expenditure, and bring about comparativelysmall disbursements in wages. Interest oft capital and the 'provision of money to meet the sinking-fund charges swallow up too much to leave a satisfactory percentage to be spent on wages.

The method of transport which at the present time makes a call upon the intending owner for the smallest amount of capital in '.relation to usefut.:pciformance, and which at the same time enables him to pay out wages in a high ratio, is clearly the one of a nature for which the country at large is calling in resistless fashion. Any transport which is undertaken by means of a commercial motor, be it a parcel

Transport in Relation to Business, Capital and Wages—con.

car or a five-ton lorry, answers to the full both these requirements Considered on the basis of loads conveyed and distributed from point to point, the capital sums at stake are smaller than for any system or combination of systems by which point-to-point delivery is effected„ and the proportion of the annual expense which is devoted to increasing the wages of the country is satisfactorily high.

The alternatives to motor transport are: horse transport, rail transport, horse-cum-rail transport, canal or coastwise transport. Horse transport involves a smaller capital sum per unit than does motor transport per unit, but the ratio of the capital to the work done is enormously lower in the case of the motor. Rail transport and the other modes of conveyance which we have named, in that they introduce capital charges in respect of permanent works, again put the ratio of capital wanted on their account to work done by them very greatly in excess—anything from 200 per cent. to 500 per cent.---of that which is needed for motor transport. They, however, are in existence, so our comparisons cannot properly be extended beyond the horses and the vehicles which they draw.

The situation, so far as wages are concerned, is self evident when one considers that a driver and at least one other man are in charge of each unit, varying with load capacity and class of service. This call for labour compares with, in the case of a railway, three men in charge of a whole goods train, although allowances have to be made for the handling, marshalling, and other terminal services, which are cut out when a road motor is employed. The two men on a motor vehicle count for anything between 26 per cent. and 35 per cent, of the total outgo, inclusive of maintenance. When all the duties of the road fall upon the driver alone, the incidence of wages is reduced by nearly half, but the ratio still remains a high one.

The L.G.O.C. Motorbus Fleet.

We are sorry to gather, from a succession of comments in the daily Press, that our cartoon of the 13th ult. (page 597 of Vol. xix) has conveyed the impression that '.arge numbers of double-deck motorbuses have been sent out of England for the purpose of transporting troops in France or.elaewhere. This is not the case. We have never made any statement of the kind in any of our issues, although we agree, on reflection, that our cartoon can be held to suggest that occurrence. As a matter of fact, we made it clear in our text pages that such was not the case, that the L.G.O.C. had suffered by impressment in respect of only some 35 single-deck motorbuses, which were taken for ambulance purposes, and that any deliveries of standard three-ton chassis from the Daimler or Associated Equipment factories were not fitted with double-deck motorbus bodies, but with wagon bodies. In so far as any of our textual references have dealt with the likely use of doubledeck motorbuses for any purposes of the present war, we may remind our readers that these references were atrictly confined to the suggestion, based upon the test of December, 1908, that they might, in case of invasion, be found extremely useful to convey as many as 69,000 sharp-shooters from London to any point on the south, or south-east coasts of this country. It is the loss of drivers, due to the calling-up of reservists, that has, as we have twice explained, caused large numbers of L.G.O.C. motorbuses to be withdrawn from service. The vehicles are in the garages, not away in France or Belgium. Their idleness is but temporary, and we have found a proportion of the new drivers to man them.

Payment for Commandeered Vehicles.

We have taken the opportunity, during the past week, to ascertain the views of the War Department in regard to any owners of impressed vehicles who consider that they have a grievance in respect of valuation, or who have any other grounds of complaint thereanent. We correctly stated the official view, in our leading article of last week, when we suggested that matters of the kind should be referred to judges of the County—in Scotland, of the Sheriff Courts. Patriotic owners may at once divest themselves of any hesitancy in regard to the prosecution of such claims, because they will not be viewed by the military authorities in any disagreeable light. We are able to state that the Treaeury will not oppose any claims for adjustment of acquirement prices, unless there is reason to believe that imposition is intended by the applicant. A neutral attitude will be adopted, both by the War Department and the Treasury, and the judges of the County and Sheriff Courts will be regarded as undertaking an arbitration, rather than in their usual role of settling a dispute between litigants. No appearance will be entered on behalf of either the War Department or the Treasury, unless there is grave reason for suspecting something in the nature of deliberate unfairness on the part of a claimant We have already noted the entry of various actions in Scotland, in order that a fair review of the facts may be made by judicial authority, and we have no doubt it will prove, in a relatively small number of cases, that the valuation officers did not, in the unavoidable pressure which attended the securing of vehicles for the despatch of the Expeditionary Force, have time to look as fully as they otherwise would have done into all the circumstances. It is contrary to the wish of all parties concerned at the War Department, that any commercial owner should continue to nurse a grievance in regard to any matters connected with the impressment of non-subsidized vehicles Points of the kind have not arisen under either of the subsidy schemes.

Unpatriotic Drivers.

The behaviour of certain of the London omnibus and taxicab drivers during the past week has been characterized by such mean and unpatriotic spirit, that we feel it our duty to place on record the fact that the whole of the circumstances are known to us in the case of both classes of men, and that it is to be hoped that they have already been shamed into a better frame of mind by the great majority of their broaderminded mates. In the case of the bus employees, instances have been made known to us in which a number of these well-paid drivers have indulged in active opposition to the initiation of a relief fund to which they were asked to contribute for the benefit of the wives and children of those of their mates who had been called up on active service. They considered that this should all be done by the employers ; and these are the men many of whom can earn £3 10s. a week for a comparatively-unskilled job !

In the case of the taxi-drivers, those men who :refused to display the enlistment bills will all now have either been shamed into active co-operation, by the caustic and ever-ready criticism of their mates, or they will, as is more likely, have realized that their attitude would have affected their pockets, and that very promptly—a sure spur to that class of man. There is a certain type of public-vehicle driver who considers his duty to include the adoption of an antagonistic and surly attitude towards any innovation.

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Locations: London

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