The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-09-07
WOrkmen and Their Instructors.

Workmen and Their Instructors.
What are the chances of combining in
one man, first, mechanic sufficiently ex-
pert as workman to stand legitimately
as an authority and teacher to large shop
of workmen; secondly, one with sufficient
judgment and command to govern them,
and thirdly, one who shall also be an ex
pert theoretical engineer? Let us see.
Out of every 100 turner's, there will be
found not more than two of the highest
order of efficiency. Out of 100 workmen,
not more than five at most are capable of
taking charge of men. Out of 100 men,
not more than five are expert at the planer
as we'll as the lathe; then again, not more
than five in 100 are capable of explaining
even what they do know. Out of every
100, there may be also five who have a
knowledge of mathematics sufficient to
make the calculations absolutely necessary
to their work, if required to do SO; then,
perhaps, five per cent. of wOrkmen can
make a decent mechanical drawing But,
on the other hand, five per cent are un-
steady, five per cent. are comparatively
untutored, and so on; so that the chance
of finding the aforementioned combina-
ton in one man is somewhat small. 1t
becomes apparent, then, that as a rule it
is not the most useful workmen who are
promoted into better positions, for the rea-
son that the requisites to fill those posi-
tons include requirements other than man
ipulative skill; which requirements in the
aggregate give practical expertncss CON-
paratively small place in the general quail
fication of the foreman. Thus it happens
that we may find hundred cases wherein
the workmen of shop have profound
respect for some particularly expert work.
man, while only one case in which such
respect is entertained by the workmen for
the foreman of shop; and it generally
happens that, where such respect does ex-
list, it is bar to the advancement of the
expert for the reason of the impossibility
of his assuming control over men with
whom his relations have been so intimate.
That this should be so is not at all unrea-
sonable, because his superiority is brought
before them almost every day of their
lives. He is to them, to a certain extent,
mystery in and upon matter in which
they themselves are to themselves mas
tiers for of what does the ordinary me-
chanic assume to know more than of the
trade at which he spends his days from
morning till night, year in and year out :?
When mechanic exerts himself to his
utmost, when he puts forth the whole
strength Of his muscles as we'll as his
mind, when he calls to his aid all his ex-
perience, all his knowledge, all his de-
termination, and all his strength, and
then fails, and meets another who, with
the same tools and under the same condi-
tions, can perform vastly more and supe-
rior work, he knows that this capability
is not due to either advantages of brute
force or school education, but to some in
defnable qualification known as skill.
This seems to him to set education, perse-
verance and strength at defiance; then re-
spect creeps in, and the skill becomes a
shrine and its possessor an idol. An ex-
ample of this kind occurs t.. our mind. A
with muscles hard and we'll developed,
bars he had the work by contract, and
had filed up scores of them. He was an
experienced mechanic, and had gotten
himself into trouble for working so quick
ly as to get those men who CHANGED to
have the same work to do by days work
into disrepute, because of their inability
to compete with him, even in cost, let
alone in time. On one occasion however, a
somewhat delicate looking workman, who
worked near, challenged him to file up
bar in competition with himself Nhe chal-
lenger) The gauntlet thus thrown down
was accepted, and for three hours the
contest ragged. Each was allowed new,
rough, second cut and smooth files; and
the excitement among the other work
men. of whom there were eight, ranged
along the sides of the same bench, was
at high pitch. The challenger finished
his work first, and it was examined by
his opponent and pronounced we'll exc
cuted but repetition of the trial of skill
was requested, and made, with the same
result. 1t was in winter; the workshop
had no heating apparatus of any kind,
and, though it was freezing, the contest
ants were in their shirt-sleeves, and yet
were perspiring. Then the challenger
was thus addressed by his opponent, who
had ceased working and had been en-
gagged few moments in apparent deep
thought: 81 cannot understand it; can
only accept and respect it. have nearly
twice your strength, and have had ten
years more experience. l can look clear
over your head, and can hold you with
one hand; and yet am beaten, beaten at
my own job, too; and, worse than all,
cannot for the life of me tell how it was
done" He surveyed himself, held out
his strong arms and looked at them, then
shrugged his shoulders and went on with
his work. He might look within HIM
self, and find, so far as his understand
ing was capable of judging, every ele-
ment of superiority, except in that
mysterious, intangible, indescribable
qualification known to him under the cog
nomen of skill, which the closest scrutiny
of the most experienced eye cannot de-
tect save in its enthusiastically Anaeri-
can.