The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-01-26

tinued-
In the last number I adverted to the
possibility of rendering industry attrac-
tive. and entered upon the consideration
of the conditions which attractive industry
indispensably requires, mentioning how
ever only one, namely, that the laborer be
placed in such relation to his work as to
feel convinced that its product is all his
own,-that no part of his earnings are,
against his will, wrested from him by any
means whatever, whether open or disguis-
ed 1t was remarked that this convic-
tion is scarcely possible when the laborer
Is recompensed by fixed wages measured
by time, and that it is most complete
when he works strictly for himself, as in
the case of farmers on their own farms
and mechanics in their own workshops
In this connection piece work might have
been cited as labor paid for according to
its efficiency in production, and the in
stance would have been, in many respects,
a fair one for it is found that this mode of
remuneration secures diligence more effec-
tually than wages proportioned to time !;
and / have no doubt that labor seems less
tedious and repulsive in the former case
than in the latter. But in piece-work, as
it is usually performed, there are false ele-
ments. In the first place, the laborer is
not directly interested in the quality of
his work, except to get its results counted
and paid for, and hence is not directly
stimulated to aim at the highest attainable
perfection. Hence the system is not we'll ad-
apted to those kinds ofwork ofwhich the de-
fects are not pretty easily detected In
the next place, the employer always seeks,
and, subject to the risks OF business, al
ways obtains, profit on what he pays for
| piece-work as large as on what he pays in
any other form of wages He never in
tends to pay, in the one case or the other,
so much as he expects to make the work
worth to him.
1t was also observed in the last article
that while rewarding work according to
the value of its product is fundamental
condition of attraction, it is neither the
most digniied, nor the most powerful in
centive TO labor under q true system of
industrial organization. proceed to the
consideration of other incentives.
II. 4 aOeU knol0T and pol0e,JilI Stinnu-
Ldnt TO human dctiUity IS RIVALRY OR EN-
ULATIoN
Men have availed themselves largely Of
this incentive in their amusements, espee-
tally in their athletic sports and pastimes,
but have never attempted to apply it, to
any considerable extent and systematic
ally, to productive industry. This is per
haps somewhat strange as its influence
becomes very apparent whenever men are,
in any way, brought into competition
with each other. We see examples of it
where individuals compete, each with
each, in a foot race, in skating, leaping or
| lifting, or where one or more compete
with many, as did the runners, wrestlers
and charioteers in the Olympic games, the
/ great national contests of antiquity, in
which the noblest and wealthiest of the
| Greeks were eager partlcipators. In fact,
| this stimulant begins to. act, in q rudimen-
tary manner, where one only runs race
alone, as the phrase Is. against time, or
tries to show hol0 much he can do in any
sphere of effort whatever But it oper-
ates with its true and normal energy only
when numbers, distributed into bands or
| companies, are so organized as to be IN
Erivalry, one company with another, to ac-
compIish purpose in which all the coop
orators feel common interest. Matched
games of ball and other athletic exercises,
and all trials of strength or agility in
which considerable numbers participate,
and, being organized into opposing groups,
contend with each other for victory, fur
nish cases in point, as do also competing
fire companies, in mutual rivalry, direct
ing their efforts to the common purpose OF
extnguishing a conAagration. We some
times see this incentive operating on a
grander scale, when the companies, reg
iments and battalions of a great army
competing with each other in feats of dar-
ing against a common enemy are stimula-
ted to achievements which seem almost
superhuman, and which history records
for the permanent admiration of mankind
But the most marvellous of these deeds o.
military prowess are performed under the
influence Of this incentive, combined with
that of sympathy, which follows next IL
our enumeration. Indeed except wher,
associated with the incentive of sympathy
the stimulus of emulation often operate!
if not feebly, yet so unworthily as scarcely
to merit our respect.
The best of the examples we have cited
are, however, imperfect and rudimentary
mere hints, as it were, by which natur,
suggests to human intelligence the tru,
path of progress In the case of an army
for instance, the rigorous discipline L
which the soldiers is subjected, and thu
) blind obedience he is bound to yield t
) commands which must be arbitrary, anC
!; may be tyrannical, renders its organization
: efficient as it is in many important re
: spects, a false and feeble one, compare,
with that which VIII give life and vigo
E to the INDUSTRIAL ARMIES of the future
; III ARother StinlIla7lt to Getirity, per
hapS less understood, blIt certainly not les
po1certia, than the preceding, arises frOz
y SYMPATHY WITH co-oPERAToRs. TeSi(tiTl
from similarity OF TASTE, CHARACTER o
AIN.
We find happiness in associating wit
: those to whom We are attached, and j
cooperating with others in those pursuit
3 and aims which they and We concur /
I loving. And where affection for co-opers
! tors conspires with emulation, and con
bines individuals into groups which, be
?, ing in full sympathy and accord anon
: themselves, are in active rivalry wit
other groups similarly constituted tt
m competitive stimulus elevates enthusiasts
p. to the highest pitch, and each. inoentiN
makes the other act with greatly augmeI
. ted force. The new incentive which
: thus added TO the feeling Of rivalry has f
its basis the interest which each cooper
> tor feels in the reputation and success
esteemed associates, and the desire
commencing himself TO their regard as
: worthy and efficient worker in q cause
- which he and they are alike devoted
Y These eontrasted impulses are made
unite and act harmoniously and emerge
ically by means of organization, by viii
is meant combination Of uniike parts
adjusted to each other in an organism,
to concur in effecting common purpo
by reoiproeally lending one to another q
N sistance and support, and thus, by mea
IL of concert Of forces operating IN I
same direction, effecting results Of viii
the detached parts, acting separately, VIC
;. be utterly incapable. In other words, {
70 gaI,izdtiON consists Of harmonic co-orC
. nation Of elements into one united who
in such n manner as, by concert of actiC
to make more efficient than is otherwi
possible the divided forces Of each sevel
: part and by reason of the connbinati