nation. The machine which they
direct is indeed a vast one, but so logical in its principles and direct and
simple in its workings, that it all but runs itself; and nobody but a fool could
derange it, as I think you will agree after a few words of explanation. Since
you already have a pretty good idea of the working of the distributive system,
let us begin at that end. Even in your day statisticians were able to tell you
the number of yards of cotton, velvet, woolen, the number of barrels of flour,
potatoes, butter, number of pairs of shoes, hats, and umbrellas annually
consumed by the nation. Owing to the fact that production was in private hands,
and that there was no way of getting statistics of actual distribution, these
figures were not exact, but they were nearly so. Now that every pin which is
given out from a national warehouse is recorded, of course the figures of
consumption for any week, month, or year, in the possession of the department of
distribution at the end of that period, are precise. On these figures, allowing
for tendencies to increase or decrease and for any special causes likely to
affect demand, the estimates, say for a year ahead, are based. These estimates,
with a proper margin for security, having been accepted by the general
administration, the responsibility of the distributive department ceases until
the goods are delivered to it. I speak of the estimates being furnished for an
entire year ahead, but in reality they cover that much time only in case of the
great staples for which the demand can be calculated on as steady. In the great
majority of smaller industries for the product of which popular taste
fluctuates, and novelty is frequently required, production is kept barely ahead
of consumption, the distributive department furnishing frequent estimates based
on the weekly state of demand.
    Now the entire field of productive and constructive industry is divided into
ten great departments, each representing a group of allied industries, each
particular industry being in turn represented by a subordinate bureau, which has
a complete record of the plant and force under its control, of the present
product, and means of increasing it. The estimates of the distributive
department, after adoption by the administration, are sent as mandates to the
ten great departments, which allot them to the subordinate bureaus representing
the particular industries, and these set the men at work. Each bureau is
responsible for the task given it, and this responsibility is enforced by
departmental oversight and that of the administration; nor does the distributive
department accept the product without its own inspection