Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1879-04-16

tleman, upon a review Of the his
tory of Manchester trade for a
quarter of a century, concludes
that the system of payment by re-
suits have developed quantity at
the expense of quality; and that it
has really offered premium for
Stamping work; that doubtless on
the introduction of the piece rule
laborers trained to do good work
continued to turn it out from habit /;
but their necessities developed the
outward effects and results of pay
ing for quantity in marked man
ner. Mr.. Lattimer denounces the
piece-worlx system as wholly antag-
onistic to quality, and, indeed, de-
nounces it as the main cause of the
depreciation in the character of
British products. He accordingly
looks upon it as if not wrong in
principle, yet unsafe in practice
as incompatible with excellence as
it would be in the fine arts. He
argues with a fair show of force
that you can no more spin yarn or
weave cloth by the peace than you
can paint pictures at so much the
square inch. Since the introduce
ton OF piece-worlS, he contends,
wages of operatives depend upon
the regularity with which the ma
chinery is run; they are curtailed
for any stoppage, hence the work
men will not stop to remedy every
fault that appears in the web, and
no cunningly devised methods will
compel them to do so.
As to the claim of uniformity of
wages, made by the workmen, Mr..
Lattimer is still more emphatic.
He shows that in a large body of
men, all of whom have spent some
years in learning a trade, there is
not so much variety in perform
ance that equal wages may not be
paid without fragrant injustice.
In treating upon another branch
of this subject, Mr.. John Morley
and others also claim that q funda-
mental question-whether a work.
mans wages are adequate to sus-
tain him properly-must be taken
into account more faithfully than
has yet been the case, if the labor
problem is ever to be solved. This
gentleman also throws grave doubts
upon the advantages supposed to
flow from the division of labor. He
grants that greater dexterity and a
larger yield are obtained at the out
set, but that these benefits will be
materially lessened, if not over
come altogether, in the second or
third generation brought up under
the system; also, that the tedium
and monotony induced by the con-
centration of the mind and body
upon an necessarily repeated ac-
ton, may beget a carelessness of
manner and disregard of excel
lence, If not total suppression of
mental interest. Division of labor,
he also says, results in making the
operative toiling in q single pro-
ductive function less generally use
full, more of machine and less n
man, and in the end entirely at the
mercy of his employer. One writer
goes so far as to ascribe to the want
of variety in employment, and the
consequent absence of healthy
excitement of the mental faculties,
the increasing demand for artificial
stimulants which is now so marked
throughout Great Britain.
1t is to be remarked that, in view
Of the above reactionary views of
political economy it is. somewhat
strange they should be assuming
shape and form in the nation which
has given birth to the present gen.
orally accepted theories and doc
trines Of political economy, and
which are so entirely at variance
with them.