The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-17

five to four. AS for religion, let us
here maintain a respectful silence. 1t
is to be granted, measurement Of in
a~ccuracieS, of method or movement,
in these spheres cannot be TAX en- with
geOmetrical precision. Nevertheless,
when efficiency is the theme, unbi-
ased inQuirers are warranted in OBJ
jecting to being shown only the COM
p~aratively small area in Which the
pecially is the wage-worker justified
in calling out to the audience hat it
is unfair that efficiency" should Sc
lect him as the one horrible example
while sinners in SO many other social
categorfeS must be worse than ne,
since he, Of all others, truly is a
worker, the one performing the task
essential to society.
Now, that's the point in the wage
workers objection to Mr.. Tay.or's
playlet, Efficiency" In it's scenes MIR.
Taylor has made his carfcature Of
the workingman the villain, has the
limelight full upon him without cease,
and processing for him a sanity he
nevolence, has the other leading
cheat him, deceive him., and on the
whole exploit his time, his muscles,
his nerves, his whole bodily Ihecnan-
ism inhumanely. The real working
man, in the audience, resents the fall
s%ification of his character. He thinks
it air that the limelight SHOULD be
turned on the other classes of men
engaged in manufacture, business,
commerce., or in any social role what
ever, and the s~top-Watch Vi he mi
croscope used on them. Lot them be
seen publicly, in full, just as thew are
their dement's unexaggerated. Ihe
W~age-earner believes he would issue
f.z-. ~ S+~xy orSS 1oHyal with the
best.
The w~age-earner, as the most deep
ly interested man in the industrial
group engaged in discussing Mr.. ray
lor's Efficiency" with it's Emerson
Gantt-Gilbreth & Co. additions ana
corrections, is prepared to submit TO
the public some views OF his own re-
garding it's alleged facts and undouDt-
ed teachings. These views may thus
be summarized: It is libelously un-
true tina soldering" to anything
like the extent described by Mr.. Tay-
lor. is characteristic of American
worknen. There is no available sta
tistical basis for the statement that
$4,000 employees are today working
under the Taylor scheme. n system
is not rapidly spreading: 1t mas oeen
dropped in some large works where
it was once in practice. 1t mas
where tried, been far from UNIFORM
success. In no case has there been
more than a half-truth in the state
ment made by it's promoters 'that the
system raises wages The hlSner
| wages to be earned by the small pro
| portion of workmen speeded up to its
| requirements are inevitably subject
| eventually to hat law of economies
bv which competition in an over
stocked mark lowers prices; hence
the persistent professions Of the pro-
rioters Of efficiency, that they intend
10 raise wages, must count as naught-
What it has done, as to wages has
been to raise them temporarily for a
small proportion Of a force and low
er them for mechanics in general,
while depriving a portion, through IN
ar nlovment of any wage at all. h
system undoubtedly found origin in
socially unreputable sources-the
Midvale and Bethlehem companies. II
is rarely, if ever, practicable in small