The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-17
Their WORK FAILS
Chancellor Lindley Speaks to
Kansas Engineers.
He Says Three-FOurths of Men
Are Wrongly Placed.

With the manpower of the world
twenty million short, and actual star
vation existing over a large portion of
the earth, the managers of men have
failed in their task of getting men TO
give all that there is in them to their
work. f. H. Lindley. chancellor of
Kansas university. told the members
of the Kansas Engineering society. be-
fore whom he spoke at the Y. NJ. C. A.
Thursday night.
The problem of human engineer
ing which the world faces today is
first to get men into their proper
places. and then to get them to give
their whole energies to- the tasks
which are suited to them.
Must Know Men.
Engineers and business men, to be
successful, must not only know ma
terials. they must know men, Chancel-
lor Lindley insisted. Three-fourths of
the men of the world today, including
those in executive positions. are
wrongly placed at tasks for which they
are not as well fitted as they are for
other tasks.
Because the science of knowing
men, their motives and thought proc
esses. has not progressed as far as has
the science of knowing materials. and
what materials will do under certain
conditions, the world is not farther
ahead than it is today, the head of the
State university told the engineers.
Would Prevent War.
"If we had known as much about
mems motives as we know about ply
sizes, the great war would not have oc-
CURED OF the seventeen men TO
whom the blame of starting the war
is given. it is more than probable that
the majority did not want war" the
speaker said.
The great tragedy of industry to-
day is that the managers of men have
not been able to induce them to work
productivity and whole heartedly,"
Chancellor Lindley said.
He cited numerous examples of what
has been accomplished when men
have been given the motive to go
ahead at the task for which they are
fitted, and at which they have been
set.
Many Ways to Get Them to Work.
There are many ways of securing
the release of all of mans energies on
his work, according to Doctor Lindley.
The wage system as practiced today
| is inadequate, and unfair, altho it must
be followed for the present for the
lack of some other means of measur-
ing and repaying mems efforts. Some
sort of profit sharing is the ideal sys-
tenn of payment which will give the
motive for putting into the job every
bit of energy.
Different systems of promotion were
mentioned. as means to the same end
Persuading the worker to see the
relationsof his job to the whole, and
the social significance which the com
pleted task has in the world. are some
1 times the means of getting men tc
work at their best.
1t Is Plain Business.
The motive which has influenced
successful managers to give their en-
/ ployes shares in their profits, which
mas caused them to increase pay, and
| to look into the family life of theiI
employees, recognizing that the family
not the employe, is the industrial unit
! is not sentimentalism but is plain bust
ness acumen, Doctor Lindley declared
| The Immediate future of the state
| depends to a large extent on the engin-
| eers. Business, agriculture, and in
dustry alike must have engineers. ant
! the engineer to be really successful
must be able to secure efficiency from
! the men whose efforts he directs, al
! well as to secure efficiency from tbs
materials which he is using, Doctor
Lindley declared.
The fourth session of the engineers
meeting opened at $3.50 O'Clock thi
morning in the Chamber of Com
merce. The engineers this morning
| were busy listening to the reports o
the following committees: highways
masonry and concrete, landscape gar
j dening, paving, surveys. sewerag
stream pollution. waterworks an
water publication.
Lunch at Chamber of Comme rec.
The members Of the society VIII
are also members of the Association
of American Engineers, had lunches
today at noon at the Chamber of Com
merce.
Reports of the committees on irri
cation, legislation, and nominations
will be heard this afternoon and tn
election Of officers and the selectlo
of the next place of meeting. wi
close the program OF the meeting thi
afternoon.