Milford chronicle., 1949-02-04

PATTERSON talk, to watch the.
traffic on the street,
to lean on his shovel-or else he was
away from the job for some per-
sonal purpose. All Of this time he
was being paid but did not work.
SUCH LOSS Of time was not. Of
course, uniform; but tie general,
average for the men checked was
a little more than so per cent. For;
each hour for which those pick-and-
shovel workers were paid, they
actually worked at their Job less
than 80 minutes. One half Of their
time was non-productive.
For. workers who are. on their own
on a job, who do not face the prob
lem Of keeping pace with an ''as-
sembly line,' - / do not believe those
pick-and-shovel workers we're ex-
ceptional. imagine that in much Of
our production, where there are no
assembly line'' conditions, prac-
tically one half Of the time paid for
is non-productive. this is generally
true of all forms Of labor, including
skilled and unskilled, white collar
and executive.
Who pays for that nOn-prO-
ductive time? In the laying Of
that gas main, it would not be-
the contractor. He, undOubt-
edIy, had figured on such loss
In making his price for the job.
The gas company, for which the
job was being done, would fig
UFe the lost time they had paid
for as 3 part of the cost Oi
equipment and this, in turn,
would effect the rates charged
for gas.
Those who eventually paid for the
lost time were the users Of gas;
i. e., the general public. including
the pick-and-shovel workers on that
= gas-main-laying job, and all other
! workers who use gas. Time is q
& part Of the cost Of production bi
any community. Il is included IL
;. the price all Of US pay for whatever
we buy, whether it be food, clothes
" automobiles, home building ma
terials, home construction, or an!
J, other commodity the general pub
y lie, including all workers, is pur
y chasing each day. It includes th,
u non-productive as well as the pro
duCtive time. The nOn-productivt
q time is an expensive waste for al
It Of US.
r. BACK IN 1884 and 'S5 saw hun
i'd dreds Of WPA workers in Chicago
{, cOntentedly leaning on their shov
at els. No boss urged them on Il
b. increased effort; they were not en-
Id couraged to produce; the waste o
time was encouraged rather thar
Of otherwise. Along Park avenue il
gS New York City I watched large
as groups Of WPA workers shove
10 snow from the sidewalks onto ca,
he street. while othef groups, in turn
Ie shoveled that same snow from tht
al street back onto the sidewalks. N,
ch boss demanded greater effort Wha
1g small amount Of work they did wa
nt all a waste, and every WPA work
er knew that for a fact.
- As I watched those pick-ama.
s. shovel workers laying . gas
- main - actually working less
~ than 50 per cent of ths time
- they were being paid Cor - I
q wondered lf the nOn-pr0duCtive
- time was 3 legacy left Us by
- WPA. Did the employment Ol
men without any expectancy of
adequate results effect all work.
OF eFs Of today? I believe there
ns has been such an effect. The
er. doing o. useless work enCOur-
ION ages lOafing on the Job.
sh- A considerable number Of the o
50 ganizations Of farmers have pr
Of nounced in favor Of flexible pric
nd control to replace the rigid 80 D,
icy cent Of parity that means cont
or ued high prices for food product
lat, Those organizations see in the g
ley per-cent-of-parity prices the III
im- mate control Of all farms by Il
IKE government and definite farm pla
1he ming. They are backing away fro
1fi, anything that savors Of the Russit
e farm system. even at the expen
lest Of high farm product prices for
limited time.
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