Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1917-02-23
UNIVERSITY LETTER.
INEFFICIENT EFFICIENCY.
BY Alfred Hume. G. E. ID. Sc, Dean of the
College OF Liberal Arts.


College OF Liberal Arts.
University, Miss, Feb. II, 1871
On every hand is heard the cry
for greater efficiency. The very
word has become one to conjure with.
Men have all but gone mad IN their
attempts to measure both mental
and manual labor just as they would
the working of pump or the per-
Torrance of it's function on the part
of giant locomotive. And yet the
engineman in his cab treats the iron
horse which he drives as something
more than mere machine, studying
Its idIosyncrasles, and humoring its
whims. He loves it, and it responds
to his skillful touch as though it
carried sensitive soul in it's ever
pulsing, throbbing bosom.
Surely q manager of men should
not be less considerable and astute in
dealing with beings endowed with
personality and individuality, exercis-
ing wills and consciences of their
own. The superintendent of rail
road blunders when he undertake to
apply the same standards of measure
ment to tranmen that are easily
applicable to track and rolling stock.
To secure the highest degree of eff
cheney men can be counted as SIM
ply pieces of machinery occupying
places IN cold and heartness' ma
chanism. The human element must
be reckoned with. Contentment.
hope, and happiness are essential
that any one may do his best work.
The most efficient methods are
those, which produce the best re-
suits. Standards of efficiency are,
therefore, more or less subject to
Individual opinion; they vary accord
ing to the results desired. What
appears the most desirable things to
the management may not be so to the
men. The laborer who fails to make
comfortable living cannot possibly
regard himself as a truly efficient
man, no matter how large the divi-
dend declared by the company which
employs him. Maximum efficiency
is never found In company with dis
contented, hopeless or unhappy
people.
False ideas OF efficiency is found
in every sphere and relationship OF
life. They block the way to highest
attachments aud exhaust energy
which would be directed into other
and better channels. And SO efficien-
ey, so-called. becomes inefficient,
management becomes mismanage-
ment.
A father may be so efficient as a
disciplinarian that he falls far below
par as a companion for his boy. A
mother may be so efficient as a house
keeper that she destroys all POSSIBLE
ity of genuine home life. A church
may be highly organized and vet all
but dead. Religious assemblies may
devote so much time to figures, re-
ports, and statistics. that spiritual
life is at a low ebb, and devotion dies.
Many a teacher is so overworked
that vitality is sapped, elasticity OF
step and bouyancy of spirit are gone,
and children are robbed of gracious
Influences becaused pubic sentiment
and school boards demand that their
mistaken notions OF efficiency be
met.
1t is poor standard of efficiency
that allows the good to take the
place Of the best. How often and
how sadly is the best sacrificed for
that place which is only good. and.
too. on the altar of efficiency How
inefficient oftentimes is this eff
Gent age OF ours