Show THE GERMAN ADVANCE XIII GERMAN GERMAN BUSINESS METHODS BY FREDERIO J. J HASKIN FiHE HE German Gennan business man brings teI to te i F-i- THE the solution of oC the everyday e problems THE I ms lems of his affairs an e equipment ul ment of 01 technical education disciplinary or orderliness orderliness orderliness or- or dogged determination and unna unflagging Indu Industry try not lI possessed d by byc c either his British or American rival rl He rises at 6 S o'clock has his simple breakfast break break- fast of coffee and rolls and is at work as soon oon as he can reach the tho office or factory never later than 8 He Hp has his second breakfast a a. sandwich sand sand- SI in his pocket and he eats It someI some sometime sometime r I i time between 10 and ti 11 wherever ho he ma may happen to boo bo At 1 o a clock he goes he is home homo if a a. f family man not for f his lunch but for his dinner the largest meal of ot the day Ho data Cats this with hl his family leisurely and a afterwards after aeter- ter- ter wards ward lies down for forIn fora I In a a. short hort nap When he awakes he has a cup of coffee corree and a I cigar and then he hp goes Roea back to 10 tho ho office of of- oCI I flee fice and is at his desk by 3 ocl ck And there ho will stay until hl his work Is finIshed finished fin fin- In- In having corr coffee e at 5 even if 11 it Is Isor 0 9 or Dr 10 Then he goes home has his supper arid and goes to bed The Tho long midday rest seems odd to Americans with the quick lunch habit but It enables tho the German to get In four to five hours work in the morning and nyc five to seven se hours after dinner a total of or f nine to twelve twel working hours each da day This is tho the daily dally program of oC at least fourths of the tho Gorman German men of oC af at- at fairs rai Ills clerks follow Collow the same routine routine rou rou- tine Line except that they may not go JO home for tor dinner although they the will have an hour our and a half or two hours off ocr for tor that Important meal They too are expected to Lo stay tay at their work until it Is finished without regard to the coming of oC night Laborers skilled or unskilled do clo not work vork so long It Is a theory of the German German Ger Ocr man uan state that the labor of its people is Its ts principal asset and It pro protects Its Us working men b by a a. system of strictly en enforced enforced en- en forced la laws s 's designed to conserve their strength and to prevent pre tho the impairment of f the usefulness by overwork or unsanItary unsanitary tary environment Even if 11 the tho factory worker should be he willing to stay overtime over over- time imo the ever watchful police will at attend attend at- at tend end to It that the factory is closed down lown and that the workmen are all on their heir way home homo at nt tho the hour appointed b by law aw The Tho law pre prescribes Just how now much light ight a factory must mut have Just how many runny cubic feet of at air must be allowed to 0 each workman Just what arrangements for or ventilation and sanitation are aro deemed necessary and nd so on The enforcement of ot these hose regulations Is not left leCt to a T Inspector with an Inadequate staff but Is Isa Isa a L charge c upon the tho regular ular police force Inspection is not annual nor semi annual but ut dali daily Every erY factory and workshop workshopS Is S constantly under the tho vigilant surveillance lance ance of tho the police officers and th the tle slightest lightest Infraction of the strict and minute minute mi ml- nute details of oC tho the regulations will wUl be reported And furthermore the employer must each week pa pay into the public tr treas treas- as- as uT ury a certain moiety of each employee employ employ- ce ee s a wages to guarantee that employees employee's I old age Rge pension In return for this the business busine 8 man expects ex es to receive and does r receive thi the c Iro 1 loyalty of or ever every man in his em era plo ploy HO cannot discharge e a a. man excer except for good cause as the slightest disagreement disagree mont ment between employer and oce goes Into the Industrial courts not b by bythe the agreement of the parties but bul because the state d does 8 not permit the private settlement of or such differences On th the theother theother other hand the state tate is 18 quick to punish an nn employee who Is iB disloyal in any fashion fash fast ion ton This system strikes an American as be hI being be ing unbearably paternalistic but thi the German workman says it protects ku hIm from Crom oppression and the tho German employer employ employ- er or says Moys that It Insures him immunity from labor troubles trouble and strikes strikeR Comen teet by Irresponsible a agitators Tho The constar constant Interference by the authorities is not re rc regarded re- re a as obnoxious by hy either or employee but Is looked upon as th thi the natural and Inevitable bu business lne of oC th the I police It must not be forgotten that thai every ery business man In Germany German gre great or small and every laboring man skillet skille or unskilled has served his term In th thi the army wearing the kings king's coat and thu that there he learned habits of discipline oi order or or- der and unquestioning obedience and I t to subordinate his own will to that of a au- au au The military training and Its effect upon upon up ut on the German Gennan mind is responsible hot both for the strength and the weakness of oC th the German commercial campaign The gre grea s-reat manufacturer or the great merchant firs fin of all received a technical education anthen ant an and then got his military training He rose roseto ro roto roseto to his position as a general in the commercial com corr mercial army by promotion front thi tho hi ranks Ho plans his work with the sara care and nicety which he would use I It working out a a. problem of war Upon the basis of that thal plan he evolves a theory theory theory the the- ory and gives orders accordingly H i-I He knows that his orders will be obeyed literally and exactly Tho The result Is that tha J If the plans have ha been good the result results also will be good But if there was a a. defeet de defect de- de feet Ceet in the plans and if It evet every subordinate nato nate In the organization n recognizes it a as 0 a defect the orders will be carried o ou out will result nevertheless and the campaign resu In disaster It must be said that the greater number num aura her ber of oC German Gennan commercial generals hay been as unerring in their foresight as was wai Von Moltke and bis general 1 staff stat in planning plan plan- fling ning for tor and Sedan That Is la wb German Gorman Industries have forged ahead more rapidly than those of oC any other othe country that Is why Germanys Germany's foreign n trade has Increased at an unprecedented rate and that Is why industrial Germany German Germanis Is about to capture tho the supremacy of oC the th commercial world But the Germans often oCten make failure failures In business and tho the greater number c 01 oC that th Ui the these ma may be traced to the tho fact military discipline and highly organized organize rules for Cor the of every e detail detal have choked and stifled tho Initiative 01 c oC the men In the ranks and systemization arc arO the chic faults of the German commercial world It has made mado competent and efficient subordinates afraid to take tako action t li case of emergency It has made even en th the tho ht heads ads of business concerns pay more attention at attention at to petty detail than to broad prin For Instance a German business house ious paying a n bill by check will deduct from the check the amount of or the postage necessary necessary ne no to send the letter A German Germar business man will refuse to receive a letter let let- ter if It la is marked postage posta e due regardless regardless regardless regard regard- less of the fact that tho the letter may contain con tam tain an order or a payment He demands demand that his clerks fully prepay every piece of mall mail sent out of his office and he ho expects expects ex ox ex- ex poets his correspondents to exercise similar simi lar diligence No amount of ot argument will Induce him to change chanc this practice or oi sven even to admit the possibility of oC his being In the wrong Even In the retail stor stores s ordinary ordinal shopping shop ping Is hampered b by miles and miles of 01 red tape and the convenience con of or the customer cus tomer and the time of at the salesman both are re sacrificed on the altar of oC system Once the tho system Is established nothing can al alter niter ni- ni ter Ler Its Us processes and no exception to arule a arule arule rule of conduct will be made under an any circumstances however great the tho emer gency oncy The whole German business system tem on is constructed along aton military lines and German commerce is always under martial martinI law But this this this' does docs not noti mean that German business men lack adaptability They The have ave Instituted a German Gorman system for Cor u use uce useIn e eIn In n domestic commerce but the they have carefully avoided the error of their Erit- Erit Ish sh and American cousins who ho have In Insisted In- In Isted f up n enforcing the same flame business s system at home and abroad When hen the German herman business man reaches Into a foreign for for- eign eln country to got get business he formulates formu formu- lates latts a systematic campaign based blUed upon the tho he commercial practices practice or countr country England had a It monopoly of oC the Indian and nd Chinese trade for decades but always It t insisted upon doln doing business n In the English En En- glish hiah language lans according to English ices tices German trade emissaries always are arc quipped equipped with a R knowledge of oC the English language Inn so that they can meet met their chief hief competitors ou on th their own ground and nfl th they also learn Chinese In China Chinn Spanish in South America Arabic In Amis AraMa Am Ara- Ma is and in every ery land the tho tongue ton lie nf or that country The rapid growth of German Grman foreign rehn trade Is sufficient proof that the German lerman wa way of doing business according to 0 H a system has hu Its lis advantages over o the Saxon Anglo fashion of oC doing business ac- ac according ac cording cording- to a custom Germany Is no longer the la land nd of thinkers and poets It poets It Is a n nation of business busiC busi busl n ness C ss and battleships So 80 says lIas an tn aged d German erman writer In commenting upon the tho t transition of or his country countr from the day of oC the he the the hauers and net tho the to the tho a age c of the he whoso whose ships the iobe the Krupps who arm the tho nations tho he a who are ore bankers for tor tho the world orld the whOse WhOM locomotives rattle attic over o the graves CS of oC Israel and Ish Ish- aol and the tho Siemens whose electrical devices d have made alive tho he Jun Jungles of oC Africa and India The German business methods have made Germany a ft nation or of business I Tomorrow Tomorrow The The German Advance XIV The Tha Laboring Classes |