The American small-business policy in the 1930s was intended to protect small business, which was believed to be disappearing and much weaker than big business. There were two types of small business, as only a few researchers have noticed. One type had a competitive character, while the other had an anti-competitive character that accorded with the activities of trade associations and had common interests with big business. This difference in behavior between the two arose from the change in the industrial structure that brought about the decline of old capital-goods industries and the growth of new consumer-goods industries. The aim of this paper is to examine that true purpose of American small business policy by looking at the small-business problems and policy in the 1930s from the viewpoint of the two types of small business.
The NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) Code system prevented many small businesses from failing by organizing the market on the initiative of trade associations, which implied a protective policy for anti-competitive small business. However, the code system aggravated the business conditions of competitive small business, preventing new businesses from joining the market, so that many complaints from small business poured into the administration. After the NIRA Code system ended, the policy for small business totally changed. The administration undertook a policy to correct the concentration of economic power, since anti-monopolists, who believed such an anti-monopoly policy would save small business from withdrawing American economy, persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to do so.
In spite of the change in policy for small business, complaints from small businesses did not stop. That was because the two types of small business existed. Then Roosevelt convened a small business conference in Washington in order to ask small businessmen what their problems were. The conference produced a resolution that consisted of contradictory recommendations. The contradiction was derived from the two types of small business : the competitive recommending financing and establishment of an organization for small business by the government, the anti-competitive a balanced budget and no intervention in business by the government.
With all the contradictory recommendations in the resolution, the administration undertook a small-business policy based on recommendations of the competitive small business. The policy was to be established as the small-business policy in World War II and the post-World War II period. Thus, it dawns on us that the American small-business policy is not to protect weak small business but to ensure fair conditions of competition where small business can compete with big business as well as with each other.

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development of Mitsui Zaibatsu's affiliated companies in the coal-mining industry in Hokkaido after World War I, and intercompany relations between the direct-line companies, Mitsui Bussan Kaisha and Mitsui Mining Company, and the collateral-line company, Hokkaido Coal & Steamship Company (HCSC).
In the 1910s, Mitsui Zaibatsu entered the Hokkaido coal-mining industry since it controlled HCSC. In order to sell coal, these three companies (HCSC, Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, and Mitsui Mining Company) established a common sales organization named Sansha Baitanbu. At first, HCSC could not sell and transport the coal by itself, and Mitsui Bussan interfered in these duties because direct-line companies were concerned that HCSC would withdraw from Mitsui Zaibatsu. In the latter half of the 1910s, however, Mitsui Mining increased holding stocks in HCSC, and direct-line companies sent staff to the executive board and middle management of HCSC, thus giving Mitsui Zaibatsu stronger control over HCSC than before. Consequently, the concerns about HCSC decreased, and at the same time HCSC was able to carry out its duties autonomously.
In the 1920s, when Sekitan Kogyo Rengokai tried to control the shipment of the coal, both HCSC and Mitsui Mining increased their market shares. Mitsui Mining increased its production because it actively invested its capital and often exceeded the quantity stipulated by Sekitan Kogyo Rengokai. On the other hand, HCSC almost always kept within the stipulated quantity, and Mitsui Zaibatsu regulated its capital investment. Its gradual growth of production controlled the shipment of the coal in Hokkaido and had supported the growth of Mitsui Mining in Hokkaido.
Thus, HCSC was located within Mitsui Zaibatsu in the 1920s, though some restrictions still remained, and the relationship between HCSC and Mitsui Mining became more meaningful.

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A huge capital investment by Japanese cotton-spinning companies in Qingdao gave incentive to the development of modern industries in this region. Qingdao became well-known as a cotton industrial region and one of the most prosperous cities in China from the 1920s to the 1930s. With respect to the textile industry, the favorable regional condition of Qingdao-an abundant supply of raw cotton, cheap coal and labor, facilities for transportation, and a large market for consumption-provided the foundation for a cotton-spinning industry. The composition of the labor force in Qingdao and the labor management of Japanese companies, for instance the availability of male laborers and the training system within the companies, played an especially significant role in the development of the cotton-spinning industry in Qingdao. With the rapid growth of Japanese cotton-spinning companies, technically skilled workers and a rational labor management system became widespread in the region, and other industries also grew, and the economic and social conditions in Qingdao improved.

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Although a great deal of effort has been made to apply the “scientific management” devised by Frederick W. Taylor, little attention has been given to the “scientific office management” of William Henry Leffingwell. The purpose of this paper is to examine early phases of scientific office management in the life insurance industry during the interwar period, and to indicate its effects on the relationship between “office management” and “personnel management.”
As the first step in my analysis, the scheme of scientific office management needs to be examined in detail. Scientific office management was the first unified theory of office management and clearly copied “scientific management, ” that is, a total system initially designed for industrial applications. Its essence was reflected in the Examination and Rating Plan proposed by Leffingwell in 1923 to evaluate, as justly and accurately as possible, the efficiency of any office.
In the following pages, to test the validity of its claim, I explore the impact of the examination and rating plan on the life insurance industry through a certain association's activities. The Life Office Management Association (LOMA) was an international association of life insurance companies founded in 1924 and also one of the leading office management associations that eagerly promoted such schemes for offices in the years before World War II.
In conclusion, the following three points were reached. First, it may be presumed that there is a gradual stage from “office management” to “personnel management.” Second, there might be some correlation between “office management” and “personnel management.” Third, the first two hypotheses remain topics to be discussed further on the grounds that it is difficult to apply them to other industries. Further study should provide more evidence for these hypotheses.

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