The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-08
REDUCED WAGES NOT NECESSARY
 FOR BUILDING

That reduced wage scale is not an indispensable preliminary to re sumption of activity in the building trades is the opinion of MortCA Chase Futile, who has just returned to Bos- ton after more than a year of service as production manager for the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation. MT. Futile bases his judgment on some very recent investigations of large construction enterprises locat- ed at various points from New Eng land to Florida, supplemented by careful studies carried out un, his direction by the Aberthaw COnStruc- ton Company of Boston, of which he is general manager. These unmis- takably indicate that increased eff ficiency of labor is bringing down costs even while wages remain at eX- isting attitudes.
 Tn the course of viewing numer- ous undertakings more or less close ly associated with interests of the Government" says MT. Tuttie, T have lately been impressed to find the statement commonly made titt costs of operation are beginning to
 
 almost without exception, was attri- buted to increased efficiency of the labor force, due in part to the op- portunity for weeding out the less dependable workers, in part to the growing desire of all members of ths force to retain their jobs.
 Owing to inadequate or otherwise unsatisfactory cost systems main tained in connection with most of these undertakings, I found it i'm possible fully to check the statement by actual figures. Accordingly, asked my o., company to make out the cost of any one process in an op- eration continued over a period of several weeks. That which was se- lected was a piece of concrete work; the costs studied were those for the common labor employed on this work from January 7th to February 4th of the present year inclusive. During this period the wage scale remained unaltered; but the personnel of the labor force underwent frequent changes.
 "A graph of the labor cost of the work during the period noted shows a sharp and almost undertaking de- cline from day to day. On Februar. 4ln IneSe CySlS were eAlClly OU Der cent. less per unit than were those of January 7th. It is my belief that the experience of my company is by no means isolated; and that in almost any labor force there lies the oppor- tunity of realizing econom--s ranging from 20 to 50 per cent. without in terfering with the wage scale.
 This implies, of course, that there $ now increased opportunity for se- Iecting men according to their suit ability for a given task, and an in creased eagerness on the part of the men to make good. But this is as it should be- and the whole country ought soon to feel the effect of it in general improvement at all points. It is case of supplanting so called liquidation of labor by proper adap- tation of labor as means of keeping the cost of doing things within the bounds of utility.
 And in this connection it may well he urged that state of mind is often as potent a factor in ultimate labor costs as is the rate per hour Any one experienced in handling workmen has recognized the differ ence in output between 2 cheerful capa ble man, anxious to hold his place. and one wF0 is little dis gruntled, and quite conscious that he can get another job the moment he drops the present one. Multiply either case by thousands of individ- ual instances and I believe that there will be found, in shifts of mental at titude. the explanation of much of the variation which occurs in unit cost. And this, after all, is the ele- ment of labor which directly affects the profits of the employer"