The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-09-21
INEfFiCIENCY OF NIGHT WORK
Why Employers Are Hesitasing t:
Run Their Plants Overtime.


In many lines of skilled work, en-
ployers now hesitate TO run their fac
tories overtime or with night shifts.
because experience has taught them
that night work is sure to be inferior.
The Iron Age. which devotes an ed!-
tOrial article to this subject, says IL
substance:
Formerly, during times of great
demand, most works ran with night
gangs, on the theory that production
could be increased accordingly. While
it was we'll recognized that practise
did not work out according to theory.
there was little realization OF the
actual difference between shop pro
ductiOn during night hour as com
pared to day hour. The cost sys.
TEN put the matter beyond a posi-.
bility of doubt, demonstrating that
the difference in production is really
very large.
'Of course, automatic machinery
will produce as much by night as By
day, and the coarser products, where
the chief element in the makeup OF
the workman, may be advantageously
manufactured at night, though the
production is seldom that of day
force. But when it comes to such
labor that the skill of the operator Is
the chief factor OF production, or at
least a very important factor, then
the showing of night labor is much
less satisfactory. The same thing is
true of overtime work.
Men can not and will not do the
same work at nights as they do IL
the daytime. They have not the
same energy; they are not living the
natural existence, for, by reversing
the periods of waking hours and sleep
when they are not accustomed to 1t,
the normal poise is upset. Men
working nights are very apt to take
insufficient sleep. with drowsiness and
lethargy as the natural result. Over
time workers wear out after a short
time. and must be permitted to recu.
perate."
But even If a high-class workman
takes the best care of himself while
working at night and works as well
as he can during his night hours, he
can not, the writer asserts, accOmp-
lish SO much and SO good work on the
average as in the daytime. Artificial
light is not SO good as daylight; he
has normally less energy; there is
W Of no
or of the brain. If less skilled or less
conscientious than the best, he spoils
more work, and does 1t less careful.
ly and rapidly. He Is more likely to
shirk, or fail to report for duty. The
writer goes on:
Putting the deadly test Of the cost
system upon the night force, the diff
ference as compared to the day force
is very important, so much so that,
in some instances, the night force
may be said to operate as an expense
rather than as a source OF profit. It
work nights. Today two COM
plete and eitirely capable working
forces in a machine shop would be
well-nigh impossible. for there are
more than enough places for good men
during the daytime.
Zone Eastern company tried the
experiment of putting its best work.
men in a night force, and filled their
places during the day with the best
that could be obtained. The expert
ment was abandoned because it was
demonstrated that the good men did
not produce the same work they did
during the day, nor SO much OF it,
and, of course. their substitutes dur
ing the day were inferior in skill, yet
it was considered more profitable to
work the good men in this combina-
ton than to trust the less reliable
and less skilful mechanics in the
| night force. 1t was proved that the
night gang did not pay, excepting as
bridge upon which to pass over an
| unusual emergency Of orders