Omaha daily bee., 1912-01-07

that money, and l wanted II, and l went |
there; but Il was an awful job for me to |
do all that shoveling. / began to think |
whether or not it was necessary. l be- |
gan, to think too, that that engineer was |
putting Il Sood deal Of work on me that
he oughtn't to. | though I found out a !
few things about firing an engine and !
made up my mind that when l became an
engineer I should not work my fireman
as | had been worked" Later that man !
became an engineer and 1t was discovered
,hlee years alter he had been in that posi-
ton that on his engine he saved forty
tens of fuel a month as against
those around him. lie says that in
man and as an engineer, and
all the years that he was a fire
until this discovery was made at that
late day, he had never heard one man
suggest to him that coal was something
to be saved, and but for that experience
and that study which he individually
made, with a view to saving himself
labor, he never would have known how
to save coal.
Comparison of Types.
Now l ask you whether that engineer
and fireman is not a truer American,
and does not hold up a higher ideal for
his fellow workmen than the man 1ho
comes and tells you, I'VE know It all.
We will not listen to advance. What
we do not know is not worth knowing"
| ask you, gentlemen in business and in
manufacturing, whether the thing you
do not know is not just the thing that
| is worth knowing?
: 81 sympathize absolutely with the ap-
prehenson of Mr.. Duncan and his as
sociates, l believe that we have in this
| country a situation which presents much
that we can be proud of, much that we
must be ashamed Of. The richest
country of the world, the country OF
greatest opportunity, has i'm it horrible
! conditions, in very many places, and in
very many trades-excessive hours, in
sufficient wages conditions dangerous
to life and health, and conditions which
would be infinitely worse It it were not
for labors steady and progressive fight
through the labor unions. But while the
unions have done and are doing a great
work, they stand not only in their own
light, but i'm our light, and I'm the light
Of the democracy and the advance of the
world, if they undertake to block the
introduction of science in business.
Mr.. Duncan closes with the sugges-
be done than to undertake to make work
regular, instead Of sporadic agree
with him.
Led to All Rest.
I'm one business, one business with
which L became very familiar, where
the principles of scientific management
were introduced, that was the great aim
to which they directed themselves, and
1t led to all the rest. It produced, from
an irregularity comparable to that which
Mr. Duncan spoke of-of 200 working
days in the year-a regularity where the
actual working days ran up to the 800
working days which Mr.. Duncan desired.
That was by virtue Of planning; by
virtue of Introducing into every depart
ment of that business careful thought,
the best effort that could be had to de-
wise what everybody must see is deslr-
able that there should be no waste. What
waste is comparable to the waste that
brings the pain and Generalization Of
men dismissed and thrown into the street
to kill time" as best they may, until
again in the chaotic condition Of that
business there is demand for a great
number and they run overtime!
But this attitude which Mr.. Duncan
shows and In which organized labor ap-
proaches this plan, saying You sha'n't
do that; you shall proceed as you have
proceeded is the opposite to what We
strive for. We should pick out every
defect, whether IT be irregularity or
waste, or whether it be overtime, or any
one OF a thousand other defects, and
let the mind of man dwell on il. not I'm
the sense Of despair like Mr. Pagan. but
In the same view iu which everything
has Deeu accOmpllshed-wlth a sense of
hope ana certainty that the future has I'm
it things better than the present. that
same hope which created and has given
as the great railroads which cross the
continent to the Pacific. What We need
is that. We need the open mind as well
as courage We need patience. IL will
take a great deal OF patience TO deal
with the individual n viii take a great
deal Of time 70 bring about these changes
} and the work will never be done, as the
J work Of invent!ng machinery Is not done.
p and we hope never VIII be done. But for
I US, the thing for as 10 do now s. 10
p enter upon Il. The thing for organized
] labor TO do IS not 10 stand i'm the way
! OF the employer, the railroad manager
2 or the manager OF the factory, but 10 ioln
with him, saying, I'VE win ocouomize.
we viii aid you IN every conceivable way;
but we Will use that force, that power
which organized labor has, TO see 10 1t
that We get fair share as the COM
munity shall get a fair share, and az
the employer shall I,t q fair share. by
: each Of us striving, putting before oaca
Of the others, the right view, or what
! seems to US right, what seems 20 ua lair,
and thus We shall attain .s near 10
justice as # IS possible 10 attain In this
! imperfect world