New-York tribune., 1910-11-27
Wedding Waste Out Of Business
Is This Mans Special Joy

way the foreman had all these things to
DO and he could not do them properly.
THAT same foreman was the one to de
hunted UP when it was necessary 10 change
to some other piece of work Materials had
TO be sorted out, tools prepared and pos
sibIy ground for that particular work and
the machine stood silent and idle during all
this time The old foreman was general
utility man at the call of every workman
III the place and nothing he did could be
done as 1t should have been.
The scientific system brought into the
factories and mills a class of unsklIed
Ia bor that could be used to do work that
the skilled men had been forced 10 waste
time over. The grinding Of saws and drill
ing can be taught in a few hours, and men
who are shown how to do this can get
from s12 to 81 q week for the work. This
,eaves the skilled workman TO his own
work, instead Of taking him away TO do
what any one can be taught to DO in a
day
Nor is the system a mere matter Of in
staIIing bosses who see to Il that the men
are kept at their work and that the ma
chimes are always in working order and
that the work is up TO sample The entire
establishment is made to work In unison
The plan of operations is worked out be-
A<re thing Is done. so that the firm can
promise TO a day when a job will be I'M
ished.
There is no chance of running behind
with this scientific system. Each workman
knows just when he Is expected TO have his
share in the Job done. He gets an tnstTuc-
ton card showing him what Is expected
Of him. He is given a list Of tools required
and the feed speeds are calculated for him
All moving work is done for the man at
the machine by men detailed for that
purpose, so that he has nothing 10 do but
concentrate his attention on the machine.
The bulletin board shows the entire force
just how the work stands each day.
Summing II all up, the result is that
every man is at work all the time; there
is no lost time. no loafing on the job and
the employers as we'll the men, benefit
The manner in which the employers
benefit is obvious. The men gain by a sys-
tenn of bonuses. The speeding up that Is
part Of the system becomes as interest
Ing TO the workman as 10 the bosses, for II
the work is done well and done on time
he gets his bonus. If not. he doesn't get
it. but merely his wages. The approval
of the worISrnen OF this system is shown
by the fact that no regular strike has ever
occurred in an establishment in which
this system has been introduced During
a sympathetic strike one man walked out.
That is the history of strikes in the mills
and factories In which this system has been
established.
MY experience has been gained in mills
and factories. I have never worked In a
railroad shop. For that reason some rail-
road men may say I am not competent to
criticise their way OF doing things. But
can any say that a railroad shop
should be managed any differently from
any other kind of a shop? The making
of railroad materials. the repairing of en-
gines and the general work done in the big
railroad shops are precisely the kind of
work done in other mills and shops The
methods employed should be the same