The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-11-12
LABOR BIG ITEM
IN PRODUCTION COST
AMOUNTS TO 80 PER CENT OF TO.
TAL-so5ER, INDUSTRIOUS
MEN MOST EFFICIENT.

In every individual organization, la
Dor is the principal item of production
cost, often amounting to 80 per cent of
the total. The effect of competition in
the industrial world has been to COM
pei close study of production costs and
methods, with the result that both
equipment and methods are constantly
being improved, But labor as part
Of production cost, although the larg-
est item involves the personal factor
and has been the last to be the object
Of scientific study. Notable results
have already been attained, but large
ly in roundabout ways. Thus, for ex-
ample, a manufacturer who is obliged
to compensate his workmen for in
ined to find out whether their sight is
keen enough to enable them to avoid
injury, and incidentally learns that a
near-sighted workman gives a poor re-
turn for the wages paid him. Furnish
ing him with glasses costs the COM
pany a small sum which is returned in
the form of increased output or better
work within short period.
The world grows more intelligent
yearly, and has outgrown many mar
row minded views that were formerly
held. An employer can now make ev-
ident his wish that his employees
should keep away from saloons, fix up
their houses and gardens and even go
to church on Sunday, without being
considered a pious crank or one who
would deny amusement to the laboring
man. The general public is now in
telligent enough to see that work
man who spends his time off shift in
getting drunk and picking a fight is a
poor workman while he is working
and the cause of lot of trouble when
he is not The right of the employer
| to control in some degree the private
| life of his employee will inevitably win
recognition in the end. The attempt
of labor unions to compel the employer
| to pay an inefficient employe the same
wages as an efficient one can not pos
sibly be permanently successful, for II
is contrary to natural laws, and though
such attempts are often for time
successful they necessarily break doWr
in the end. Another narrow minded
view that is also passing Is tina
Christianity essentially consists In tn
pious observance of certain religion
ceremonia1s, such as the singing o
psalms and the reading of the Bible
AS a matter of fact, Christianity in
troduced, into a world governed onl
by selfish considerations, the vital ide
that a proper regard for the welfar
of the other 'man is the first essentia
in securing our own best interests, an
not even the many absurd and con
Trajectory features which Jealous bu
mistaken adherents have foisted o.
Christianity have been able to obscur
this real contribution to human life.
1t is in this fundamental sense tina
the Y. NJ C. A. is Christian assocla
ton, and it is because of this, and ais
because of it's emphasis on the car
of the human body that the work c
the association has prospered and wi
continue to prosper. In other indus
trial fields the association has been
useful ally of, the employer and W
believe that mining companies sgener
ally have too much neglected an op
portunity for cooperation with the as
sociation which would be greatly
I the advantage of the companies.