New-York tribune., 1921-12-06
w aste In L Irade
Laid to Capital
AndL.abOrWars
Real Disarmament i'm Irldus-
try Means Peace Between
Employer and Employees,
Engineers Are Told
Penalty System Opposed
sHe Who Owns a Slave Ts|
Himself i'm Chains" Cited
to Aid Reward Methods

Disarmament" In industry, or real
oeacc between employer and employee,
would achieve IL, domestic sense what
the arms conference In Washington
,urroses to do In an international way,
according to speakers at the initial
sessions Of the annual meeting OF the
American Society of Mechanical En-
Sineers yesterday. Elimination OF
waste was the theme, and it was agreed
that much of the waste that exists to-
dsv in industry is due to hostility be-
tween employers and workers and to
what one speaker termed "fatuous ig-
norance" on the part OF managers.
Discussion OF "super-power sys-
fem. for the generation and d;stribu-
ton OF electricity to TRANSFORMATION
lines and other public utilities in the
Eastern area between Boston and
Washington was another feature OF the
sessions. held ia the Engineering So
s;stiss building. in West Thirty-ninth
Street. About 1000 engineers, manu-
facturers, educators and scientists
from various parts of the country were
ia attendance The meeting will con-
tinue through Friday.
Saving in Industry
Treatment of the topic illumination
Of Waste in Industry was based on
the findings Of the society's committee
Jnring the last year. They were dis
cussed a. length by Fred J. Miller, past
president of the society and member
of the committee.
Industry should be concerned rot
only with waste Itself but with the
Incentives for that waste, he said.
These incentives he grouped into two
general classes, penalty incentives"
sad reward incentives"
aThe penalty Incentives" said Mr..
Miller, ''in the form of the lash or
other gross physical punishments were
more common in slave times than they
are now. but the penalty incentive
still PERSISTS here and there in various
forms, and there are still too many in
our industries who seem to recognize
no other kind: not knowing that it IS
st;r true that 'he who OWLS a slave
Is himself in chains incentives of
the penalty class make people afraid
rot TO dc the things they are ordered
TO do. Incentives of the reward class
tend to make people want TO do the
things that are expected of them. The
two classes differ widely, but they dif-
Ter no more than the results that are
obtained by Jnem
Control Method Barred
The speaker said he. could mention
entire industries that are in the con-
troll Of men who are little if at all in
terested in production, but devote their
entire attention to high finance.
~All signs point TO new conditions
under which our industries must be con-
ducted he continued. sTuproved
methods of administration may 60 very
far, but along with them, Ii we age to
attain the highest Immediate succe s
and prepare for still urther progress
in the future. must be full recognition
Of the transcendent Importance Of the
human element IN our industries.
ain other words, the greatestand most
reflective incentive for the prevention of
industrial wastes is disarmament, SO to
Speak-the cultivation OF friendly rela-
lions between all those concerned in
Industrial enterprises and ), the main
tenance OF such system ss Will enable
every man. from the highest to- the low
est, to know what ne is responsible for,
TO whom he is responsible. and that
he personally will be credited and re-
warded in proportion to service rem
Gcred."