Censuses of Production in the United Kingdom

Increase of Mechanical Power.

Another feature of im portance in the comparison of the two surveys is the increase of mechanical power provided. The information obtained regarding 1907 did not show what proportion of the engine power was not in use. In 1924 about 18 per cent. of the total was so classified. This percentage includes, in some cases if not generally, equip ment that may never be taken into use again, as well as engines unused for the time being, whether maintained as necessary re serve power, or idle for lack of orders. Even without making any deduction from the 1907 total in respect of reserve plant, the figures show an increase from about 1.7 horse-power per opera tive in 1907 to practically 2 horse-power ordinarily in use per operative in 1924, taking all industries together, and including workshop employees as well as factory employees at both dates. The information obtained for 1924 shows, too, a large use of power in the form of electric energy, whether purchased or gen erated in the works. The details furnished for 19o7 did not in clude data relating to electric motors used, but the information on this head furnished in respect of 1912 made it clear that the use of power in that form in 1907 was of comparatively small im portance. The total capacity of electric motors installed re ported for 1912 was, in round figures, 2,240,000 horse-power. In 1924 the capacity of the electric motors in use was nearly 7, 000,000 horse-power, and motors of i,i00,000 horse-power were in reserve or idle. These figures show an important change in the type of equipment in industrial establishments and may be in terpreted as meaning that, while the mechanical power available for direct application was not greatly diminished, there were im portant increases in the form of plant, the purpose of which was to provide electric energy for use in driving machinery, while installations of electric motors to be driven by purchased elec tricity represented a further increase of power available.

With this increase of mechanical power, it is important to com pare the output per head. It is, however, difficult to make this comparison with any precision, the restrictions of the Census Act and the difficulty inherent in the nature of the problem combining to limit the comparison of the mass of products constituting the output in years so widely separated as 1924 was from 1907. The intervening period was one in which prices had undergone large changes far from uniform in different classes of products. The measurement of products in terms of quantity units presents obvious difficulties in such cases as machinery and clothing, as well as in such less important cases as furniture and fancy goods. The figures given above show a net output averaging iioi per head in 1907 and £211 in 1924. The proportion of increase shown by a comparison of these figures does not represent increase of quantity, since prices have advanced greatly. The advance in the case of finished manufactured products has been greater than in that of materials, and the ordinary indices of price change are based mainly on records relating to materials. It is, therefore, a

matter of great difficulty to determine what is the measure of in crease due to price change that should be applied in order to measure the quantitative change which is indicated by the in crease of net output per head. The material at present available appears insufficient to solve completely the difficulties of this problem. Some increase in the volume of output per head, how ever, appears a probable interpretation of the figures.

Industrial Change.

The results of the enquiry relating to 1924 show a considerable change as compared with 1907 in the distribution of the productive energies engaged in industry in Great Britain. The following table summarizes some of the data relating to these changes, and relates to groups of manufacturing trades only, the numbers engaged in mines and quarries being omitted from the aggregates used in these comparisons.

Industrial Distribution of Persons Employed and of Net Output The male operatives in manufacturing industry increased in number by 4 per cent., the female operatives by 9 per cent., while the total numbers employed increased by just over 10 per cent., from 5,733,000 to 6,317,000. The great concentration of industrial employment for females in the textile and clothing trades is shown clearly in the table, 72.1 per cent. of all the fe male operatives being included in these groups in 1907 and 63.7 per cent. in 1924, the percentages in all other groups being in creased. Only 17.1 per cent. of the male operatives were employed in these groups in 1907 and 15.5 per cent. in 1924. In these groups the female operatives exceeded the males in number in 1924 by 473,000 and in 1907 by 479,00o. The largest numbers of males are shown in the iron and steel group of trades, which, as it in cludes engineering (the building of machines, ships, engines, motor vehicles, etc.), shows increased numbers in spite of the relative inactivity of certain sections in the trades concerned with build ing materials and building and in the public utility services (gas, water and electric supply, constructional and repair work of government departments and public local authorities. These three groups included 59.9 per cent. of the male operatives engaged in manufacturing establishments in 1907 and 6i.6 per cent. in The administrative, technical and clerical staffs were distributed, on the whole, in similar proportions in 1924 as in 1907 in the different groups distinguished in the table. The marked exceptions are a notable increase in the iron and steel group and a not less notable decrease in the clothing group. The transfer of much work in the garment-making trades from small workshops to fac tories may be a chief reason for this difference in the numbers in cluded in the administrative class, in which proprietors of small enterprises are grouped.

When the distribution of net output is examined in comparison with that of persons employed, as in the second half of the table, the contrary movements of the relative numbers and the net output percentages stand out in the case of the iron and steel group. (A. W. F.)