Gilpin observer., 1913-02-06
EFFICIENCY IN MINING
tBS Letson Ballet, E. M. c. E.)

ANY mine manager can tell you
how much he is making, but, can he
tell you how much he Is losing?
Questions: Do $5-a-day men do ~
a-day mems work? Do they come al
ter their own tools, rustic their own
candles, run out cars of rock, etc?
''Do men have to wait for cages
with their cars. or do cages have to
wait for men?
do men have to wait for tools till,
another man has finished using them7'
do hoist runners turn their oil cans
upside down and walk around the,
hoist, and turn them up, when finish
ed.
do mining companies save money
by trying to make men work in bad
air without proper ventilation?
DO men at days pay do work that
little tool or machine could do at
one-tenth the cost?
do you find the fittings of the
compressed air leaking in most mines
and do you know how much it is
costing for each leak?
Il could ask a thousand such Ques-
tions, and every one is leak that
can be stopped.
''In the inspection of one mine,
found two stage compressor driven
by an electric motor; the power
rate was 4 per cent per XIV. hour
practically 3 cents per horsepower
hour. found sixty leaky joints and
fittings, under ground. Without COM
putting motor losses or pipe friction,
l estimated that an average Of be-
tween five and six of the leaks were
wasting the horsepower. Calling it six
leaks per horsepower (and some Of
them were pretty big leaks), there
was loss of 10 horsepower or 30
cents an hour, or 1920 a day.
III It pays the big factories, rail-
roads, power companies, machine
shops, etc.. to get efficiency out Of
their plants. why do the mining en-
gineers show such lack of interest?
when an order comes TO reduce
expenses at mine, nine times out Of
ten the management begins to lay off
men, or tries to reduce the pay. and
get more work out Of fewer men. It.
cannot be done. Men will give an
honest days work for an honest days
pay. l have been handling men for
eighteen years, and venture to
boast, that there is not a man who
ever worked under me that would not
come back. have never reduced
a mans pay in my life, and kept him
at the same work, nor ever laid off
man to hire one for lower wages.
But that is getting away from the
story. In July. August, and Septem-
Der, the cost per foot of sinking a
shaft, under my direction, was s31.39,
$3O.SO. and s3O.641s per foot of COM
pleted shaft. The miners and engin-
eers labor for the same months was.
$16.6S, $15.5S and s14.46 per foot. each
month just a trifle lower. The wage
scale was IS. The men were making
good time and l paid them SO cents
a shift bonus. not for an hours over
time. not for extra hard work, (for l
never drive mem and in November,
they reduced the per-foot cost of the
shaft to s2S.55la, and the men did
not put in an extra hour, nor were
they watched or driven to extra ef
fort, and added another 25 cents pei
shift to their wages for the saving
they made.
II keep a table of power costs and
details posted in the hoist house and
change room where all men can read
1t.
81 let the men know what each de-
tail costs, and educate them in the
costs. They can see what everything
costs and they are intelligent men
and will save what they can II they
know. but no man can save loss IL
he does not know 1t is being lost.
Machinery is made to run. Employees
will run 1t. II you give them a chance
and show them the details. In other
words. make 1t easy for your men to
show them how, and they will accom-
take advantage of conditions and tools
show them how. and they will accom-
plish more with less work themselves.
and at less expense.
"Give them chance-dont try to
save on labor. Increase the efficien-
cies, lower the costs and pay labor
more for intelligent efficiency"
NOTICE.