The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1915-07-15
Speeding Up"
Produces Insanity

WASHINGTON. - Speeding up
systems are sufficient to upset the
mind of an ordinary individual and
produce insanity.
This is what the solicitor of the
United States department of labor
thinks of the stop watch method OF
production.
The department has sustained this
view, which Is included in an opinion
by it's legal advisor that worker in.
cured because OF a strain from work
ing under speeding up" system is
entitled to relief under the federal
workmen's compensation act.
The decision was made in the case
Of d. c. Manning, sailmaker at the
Mare Island navy yard, California,
who worked twenty years without los
ing day from illness. A time caro-
system was introduced, and In his
plea for compensation, Manning
brought out these points:
Under the time card system you
had to give an account OF every min
ute you we're on the job, and we were
given to understand that the men who
did the most work would hold their
jobs the longest. Later the HaIsey
system was introduced. Under this
plan time man, equipped with tab
let, lead pencil and stop watch, sat
in front of the worker to find out
how long it takes to do certain piece
of work. The report to headquarters
was your future standard for that
class of work
THE Halsey system is designed to
get out of the man employed under it
the greatest possible amount of work
he can do in given time, with the
fear ever hanging over his head that
failure to keep up to the standard
will cause him to lose his job"
Manning was engaged in making
coaling bags, which are AZ inches long
and eight feet in circumference. It
is the hardest work in sailuaAing.s
etween the physical strength neces-
sary in this work and the mental
strain caused by every move being
tabled" Manning collapsed and
asked for relief under the compensa-
ton act because of ga strain from
rushing work under the Halsey sys-
tenn" Physicians reported that he
would be disabled for life and that
he was suffering from incurable
heart condition"
The attending physician reported
that Manning was IAN unusually Wig
orous man, as well as an energetic
worker"
In endorsing the statement of claim
ant that he was entitled to compensa-
ton, the solicitor of the department
of labor declared that the treatment
accorded Manning was enough to pro-
duce insanity. The official said
Here was strong, hearty, hard
working employee who, for twenty
years, had been regularly employed
by the government, and whose rating
was first-class. After putting in all
these years of service and retaining
his health, strength and vigor, new
system was installed in the govern
ment establishment by which the en-
ploye was kept under the highest
nerve racking tension by reason of
the fact that man sat watching his
every movement during every minute
of an eight-hour day. In addition to
this it will be observed from claim
ants letter, above quoted, that the
work he was performing was of the
heaviest and hardest kind to be per-
formed in his occupation. Under such
circumstances it is not a matter of
surprise that his health should be
injured and shattered for it certainly
seems that such treatment of a man
engaged in heavy manual labor, nee
essitating also the use of the intellect,
would be sufficient to upset the mind
of an ordinary individual and produce
insanity"
The ruling of the department of la
Dor is in line with the views of the
last Congress, which passed the Deit-
rick bill, outlawing all forms of
speeding up" in government arsenals
and navy yards. The passage of this