The Washington herald., 1913-02-04
WHERE SMALL VALUE
IS PLACED ON LIFE
God Never Meant Us to Be Tied
Down Like Man-Made Ma
chimes.
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.

chanical engineers and others who are
working upon the great problem OF
eliminating waste motions and of re-
ducing the time consumed by workers
in the world of industry will have
reached the point for which they are
striving, and every turn OF the hand,
every movement OF the body. Will count
in increased production and greater gain
in dollars and cents.
| But what of the human worker?
A while ago l read OF a manufacturing
concern in the East that had installed a
motion picture camera in its plant for
the purpose of analyZing the motions
of every worker engaged in the process
of braiding. Close by each worker is a
large clock, whose subdivisions of time
are so finely arranged that by carefully
taking motion pictures of the clock and
of the worker at the machines, at the
same time these efficiency engineers are
able to determine the time required for
each motion. II is very minute, very
exact, and beautiful, this device for
measuring human energy, so fine that
| they can reckon to the two-thousandth
part OF q minute the time consumed by
single motion! Wonderful, is 1t not?
Then, with stereopticon views OF the
workers taken by these motion picture
machines. the efficiency engineers are
equipped 10 sit at their desks and study
out the best way TO overcome needless
motions and to make every stroke tell.
Become Merely Machines.
Sitting there in their quiet room, with
the problem well before them, they watch
these films and the swiftly moving fig
ures, and somehow the human end of the
question is forgotten. and the whole
4R
They see a worker who reaches out
too far for a tool that he needs, and
| they say that tool must be set closer
Then they note that his motions are
well ordreed. that one comes first where
1t should be second, and they plan-hose
motions must be arranged in better eco
nomic sequence. They find that mate
rials are not near at hand, and they
conclude-those things must be brought
within easy-reaching range. Because the
waste of time and Of energy are sinful
And when they have worked out their
problem TO its eloquent finish, they are
right well pleased with themselves; very
proud OF what science and brains can do
For, by this micro-motion study, as
they call it. they have cut by two-thirds
the time required for the manufacture of
goods, and. in some instances. even
more. They tell. these efficiency engi-
neers. that by making every motion come
into its own, workman has been known
TO make seven seconds do the work of
the one-time thirty,
Set in a Prison.
And so much for the men who sit at
their desks. dealing with clocks, motion
pictures, and clever devices
But as one thinks Of the worker bound
fast TO his machine, with scarcely a
chance to lift his eyebrows or move his
eyes from his task. II seems that these
skilled men, with their scientific man
a&ement, have taken Gods 'tnoblest work
or alf' and set him in a prison. And
all for the saving OF time, which means
the saving Of money!
There is Just one thing more for then,
10 do TO prove that their methods are a
blessing to the world, and that is 10
close their desks, go out TO these self
some plants and sit at the machines from
morning TIL night. One does not know
what would happen. but one really be-
heve5 that they would yearn for a
chance to reach out for a tool, sigh for
a little time to throw up their arms in
Il perfectly useless motion and pray for
an opportunity Just once in a while to
get up and walk a few steps for some
needed material
For, without once having tried IL her
self, one knows thai it is Impossible for
a man or woman or a little child TO
be chained TO one set task, day in and
day out with the chain shortened down
TO the lowest notch, without paying a
terrible price. And II is not quite hu-
man-not human at ALTO measure his
motions and figure them down just as
II they were part of weI-made ma
chinery. he is overstepping his rights and
it is time to stop.
What Would Women Do:
Ono does not know. but sometimes she
thinks that women might place a higher
value upon human life than that: that
while they were thinking of the mo-
tons gone to waste they would give
some care to the lives at stake. tho
minds, the hearts. and the nerves of the
workers.
For If they entnred the great Wnrld