The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-08-26
HOUSEHOLD EFFICIENCY
How The Scientific Method of Do.
ing Homework And Electric Ap.
pliances Save WOmans Steps
And Stops.


Efficiency land it's kindred phrase,
scientific management" come
readily enough to the tongue of ev-
cry well-informed person nowadays.
Those early experiments of eff
cheney engineers which showed how
easy it was to eliminate waste mo-
ton in such simple tasks as piling
up pig iron or laying bricks the
right way also suggested that eff
cheney methods could be employed
in every form of industry with
great consequent gain in time and
labor saving.
So the efficiency idea grew and
was put into practice here, there,
and everywhere, until it became a
common topic of conversation. Yet,
strange to relate, although hus-
bands talked business efficiency ov-
er the dinner table with their wives
and guests, the idea that there could
be such a thing as household eff
cheney never seemed to occur TO
anyone, at least for long time.
But there was just as much innate
logic in household as in industrial
efficiency; someone made chance
allusion to it somewhere, the germ
of the idea grew and spread until
now household efficiency has been
put into practice in so many pro-
gressive homes that well defined
principles for doing homework with
the greatest success and with mini
mum time and labor are available
for every housewife.
In the last analysis, household eff
ficiency is first simply a matter of
studying ones motions about every
. item of housework until one has
worked out for ones self a stand
ard and economical way. of doing
every task and to arrange a def
mite working schedule for each day.
The next step is to study the ar
rangement of the kitchen, which, of
course, is the main zone of house
work in every home. The final
step is flor the housewife to select
the most efficient tools.
The { first step of standardizing
housework is not nearly as difficult
as it seems on the surface. Once
a woman realizes that it is a very
awkward and wasteful method to
wash dishes with the drainboard on
her right and the dishes piled on
her left, she will have the drain
board changed to her left and stack
her dishes on the right hand side,
where they will be most quickly
get-at-able. And, if she will go
=. her dishwashing job with the
idea of eliminating every minute of
waste labor, she will also quickly
learn the Importance of adjusting
her dishpan to the right height,
and of sorting her dishes into the
group that must be wiped, and the
group that need not be wiped, be-
cause it comprises chinaware that
drains dry of its own accord. 1t is
the same with busting, sweeping,
bread-making-in everything that
the mistress of the household does
in the vgood ,old-fashioned way"
there are any number of wasteful
steps. stoops and stretches that
modern household efficiency would
daily eliminate. Citing we'll
known example, the old time brick
layer used to stand before a wall,
and when he wanted to lay brick
he had to stoop. pick up a brick
weighing four and one-half pounds
from mixed pile at his feet and
carry it to the wall. If he hap
pened to weigh $50 pounds,h he would
have to lower his bulk four feet
every time he picked up each of
the 1000 bricks he laid in a day.
One day, after he had watched
bricklayers at work, an efficiency
expert devised simple little ia
BILE, which holds the bricks in an
orderly pile at the workman's side.
They are brought to him in order
ly piles, right side up. Because he
doesn't need to stoop or sort. the
same man who formerly could lay
only 120 bricks an hour, can now
lay $50 bricks, and he uses only
five motions. where formerly it re-
quired eighteen. What a sugges-
ton there for the woman, who, when
she sprinkles her clothes, stoops to
lay each separate piece in the
clothes basket at her feet instead
of placing the basket on high
chair beside her and level with
her table.
The housewife who devises ways
and means to reduce her waste mo-
ton to minimum will do her
work much better and more quick
" than heretofore, no matter what
her household utensils. But the
ideal combination for her would
be to devise a really efficient way
of doing things and in accordance
with a strict daily schedule, and
then do them with as complete a
modern electric household equip
ment as possible. For electric ap-
planes save countless steps and
stoops and waste motions where
they are used regularly in the
home. and their cost is quickly for
gotten in the convenience, satisfac-
ton and improved health which
their use entails.
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