The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1923-10-12
ENGINEERS FOR SHORT DAY
lContinued from page onel

Continued from page one)
hour shifts is now considerably |
larger than the total number of en-
ployes on 12-hour shifts. Taking into
consideration all continuous industries |
between one-half and two-thirds of |
all workers on the continuous opera |
tion are on shifts averaging IL hours. !
100000 Workers Still Work 12-Hour
Day
There are upwards of 40 continu-
Gus industries operating more or less
completely upon shift system. They
employ between 100000 and 100000
wage-eamers on shift work. Their
families constitute from 100000 to
100000 persons who are dependent
upon earnings from shift work.
"There are 100000 wage-earners
working on 12-hour shifts. They and
their families number more than
100000 persons.
"The logical alternative to the two
12-hour shift system is the three
eight-hour shift system, and this is
the usual procedure. Nevertheless,
other shift systems have been resorted
to in a limited way, in changing from
the 12-hour shift
The effect of the eight-hour as COM
pared with the 12-hour shift opera
tion on the quantity and quality of
production, absenteeism and indus
trial accidents, has been satisfactory
where good management and cooper
alton of labor have been secured. In
practically every major continuous
industry there are plants which have
increased the quantity of production
per man as much as 25 per cent. In
a few exceptional cases the increase
has been much higher.
Evidence shows also an improve
ment in quality of production follow
ing the reduction in the length of
the shifts"
Investigation Covered Period of
Two Years
DR.. H. E. Howe, of Washington,
chairman of the work-periods commit
tee, presented the report, which was
written as the result of Investigations
covering a period of nearly two years,
in the undertaking of which the Cabot
fund-bequeathed by John Cabot, of
Boston, for promoting good relations
in industry with the
American engineering council The
field of the survey included practic-
ally every industry in the country
day.
AS presented, it consisted practic-
ally of two reports. One inquiry was
directed by Bradley Stoughton, OF
New York, former secretary of the
American Institute of Mining ano
Metallurgical Engineers, and former
adjunct professor of metallurgy al
Columbia University. This embraced
the steel and iron industry of the
country. The other inquiry was di
rected by Horace B. Drury, widely
noted economist, industrial investi
gator and former member of the fac
ulty of Ohio State University. Thi:
was described as a general survey o.
all continuous industries, with regart
to the comparative results Of two
shift and three-shift operation.
Dr. Howe's associates on the work
periods committee were ]. Park
Charming, of New York, one of tn,
leading mining engineers in tn
country and a large figure in th
copper world, being vice-president o
: Miami Copper Company and associat
ed with Adolph Lewiston & Sons, on
of the big copper groups of the coun
try; L. P Afford, of New York; Ere,
j. Miller and Dwight t. Farnham, o
{ New York; Morris L. Cooke, of Phil
adelphia, industrial engineer and in
vestigator, and L. w. Wallace, 0
Washington, the executive secretar
of the American engineering council