Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-03-14
THIRD INsTAILmENT.

?, Il worthy of passing notice that
-. sane army officers who insist that
-. ammunition ring should be per
--;,,sd TO draw down the fat govern
-snt contracts for army supplies are
.iso insisting upon the installation at
-. government arsenals OF the Taylor
svs,em OF shop management. a cruel
Item OF scientifically grinding down
,se spirit as well as the physical
h,sies OF those who toll.
while General Crozier is not the
last bit saving with the peoples
--opav when awarding contracts to the
ss;hlehem steel company. paying this
ooacern IS per cent more than he
.ould obtain the same work for by
-,vernment manufacture. he is an ex-
,-sue economist when IL comes to
vsfuz the stop watch.
Although General Crozier's own tes-
amony before the appropriations COM
r.ittee was that the arsenal workmen
a. turning out work 30 per cent be-
low the prices OF the private manu-
fscturers, and are saving the govern
rsnt hundreds OF thousands Of dollars
annually. General Crozier is determin-
I'd 10 make them work still faster.
The Taylor system is an excellent
system for all except those who are
required by the necessity OF making a
living to work under it.
The feature of the Taylor system is
10 set a pace so fast that only one
vorIangman out of FIVE can keep up.
This can be shown by Mr.. Taylor's
own book OF instruction 10 employers,
IN which he tells how he introduced
his system.
The tasks were all made so severe"
explains Mr.. Taylor. in paragraph 125,
that not more than one out of five
laborers Cperhaps even a smaller per-
eentage than this) could keep up"
Mr. Taylor lays great stress on his
system of scientific persuasion" or
this persuasive" feature, in para
graph 293. he says:
"A certain percentage Of the men.
with the best of attention. will fall in
this and find that they have no place
in the general organization, while still
others-and among them some of the
best workers, who are. however, either
stupid or stubborn-can never be made
to see that the new system is as good
as the old; and these. too, must drop
out.
For the success of the system the
number OF men employed on practical
ly the same class of work should be
large enough for the workmen quite
often to have the object lesson of see
ing men laid off for failing to earn
high wages and others substituted in
their places
In paragraph 312 of his book Of in
structions to employers. Mr.. Taylor
very frankly and coId-bIoodedly says:
All employees should bear in mind
that each shop exists first, last and
ell the time for the purpose of pay
ing dividends to it's owners"
The Taylor system was Investigated
by a special committee OF the pre-
ceeding democratic house Of represen-
tatives. and that committee was unan-
imous in its condemnation OF the sys-
TEN
There Is no economic necessity to
require workmen TO speed up to the
highest point. even without injury to
their health and strength" states the
report in brief
To place the workmen in this posi-
ton is to place them in the position
OF beast OF burden
By the stop watch you may be able
70 determine the time l. which a piece
o. work can be done. but you do not
thereby alone determine the length of
time in which II ought TO be done. The
time study Of the operations of any
machine can be made with a reason
able degree of accuracy, because all
Of the elements can be taken into con-
sideration in making the computation.
machine IS an inanimate thing-it
has no life. no brain. no sentiment,
and no place in the social order. With !
a workman II is different He is a
living. moving. sentient. social being; |
he Is entitled to all the rights. priyi- |
eges, opportunities, and respectful |
given TO other men. He
TOuld be no less than a man If he did /
lot resent the introduction OF any sys-
EN- which deals with him in the same /
Nay as beast of burden or an inan-
mate machine"
Two OF the three members who |
.igned this report are now members
u President Wilson's cabinet They /
IRE William b. Wilson. secretary OF