Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-06-26

mum production by industry. "
ment of that production, some on,
There Is such an artificial I
temporary society-and one form
This occurs when individually
and regulations, the output OF
workers Is restricted below the Ca
pacity of their normal efforts. OF
when their employment at non
productive jobs is required. In til
most disguised form it is compel
ling the employment Of standby
crews-men who stand by and gel
paid although others do the work
and get paid.
Manasement's Way
In justice, another form OF arti.
flcially restricting output should
be mentioned. 1t has not beer
DISTINGUISHED by the coming Of
such q picturesque term a.
fredericksburg. but it might bs
described as feathering the profit
nest. In its most undisguised
aspect it consists Of laying of
workers and reducing production
to maintain prices and profit levels
instead Of reducing profits and
prices to maintain production. In
another form 1t consists of with
holding capital from productive
enterprise to create sellers mar
ket in which scarce supply leads to
increased prices and profits.
The bricklayer who sets his
quota at $50 bricks a day when
he might lay two or three times
that number contributes to the
housing shortage. The steelmaster
who sets q quota Of steel produc-
ton capacity at less than the
economy can consume contributes
his share to the shortage OF auto
mobiles.
Feather-bedding and the stretch
out or speedup are antithetic evils
one . device Of labor. the other
of management. Each Is con-
ceived Is q defense against the
other. In some individual cases
these devices have been aban-
doned and, labor and manage
ment together have co-operated
on incentive wage plans from
which both gain.
To develop an acceptable stand
ard Of measuring the productivity
of modern industry, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics has under
taken a little publitized study,
sending its economists into the
field to observe production at the
plant level: The goal is to assem-
BILE, within the next year or so.
the data necessary to determine
how efficiently our industrial
plant Is producing. and to dis
cover the methods and procedures
through which these data can be
used from year to year to indicate
accurately the trend.
Federal Study Made
The historical trend is well
known. even though the basic
data from which 1t Is developed
Is none too adequate. Over the
years productivity in the United
States, measured in terms Of man
hours expended on manufacture
of one production unit, has in
creased shout 3 per cent q year.
For example, at the time Of the
Civil War, 1t took a shoemaker ID
hours to produce one pair Of shoes
Now 1t takes a worker in mod.
ern shoe factory less than one
hour to make q better pair OF
shoes.
30 far BIS has completed stud
les in the manufacture Of foot
wear, mems shirts, leather. fer
tiliser. Industrial equipment. con-
struction machinery tools and
soap. This scattering, OF course
is not adequate to provide z cross
section of the economy. More
than 80 additional industries are
scheduled for study before a COM
posite index can be attempted.
The composite index used here
tofore was based on employment
data gathered by the Labor De-
partment and production data
gathered by the Commerce De-
partment through the biennial
census of manufacturers, but the
war interrupted the census Of
manufacturers. None was taken
between 1889 and 1s47 and the
1947 data is still being processed
50 that the last overall index OF
productivity for industry remains
that of 1899.
There is, however, as q result OF
private studies and sample investi-
cations of particular industries,
some reason to believe that in the
last decade the steady expansion
of productivity has been inter-
rupted. In some industries there
have been declines: in others less
rapid expansion than the his
torical trend would have indicated
as probable.
Contributing Factors
Many factors contribute to this.
Although productivity is COM
monty measured in terms Of man.
hours per unit Of product. or labor
cost per unit of product, efficiency
of the worker is but one element
OF the result. Another is the eff
cheney Of the industrial machinery
with which he works. Changes In
design or quality. the flow of ma.
terial& and supplies. the organ.
ization ofwork, the indirect labor
costs which ere represented in
overhead expenses and many
other factors affect the produc-
tivity index
Feather-bedding practices are
most prevalent in such industries
as railroad transportation. build
ing construction and in the
amusement field. Sometimes they