Shop Management | Page 4

able to do. In fact, in
most cases when first told that they are able to do two or three times as
much as they have done they take it as a joke and will not believe that
one is in earnest.
It must be distinctly understood that in referring to the possibilities of a
first-class man the writer does not mean what he can do when on a
spurt or when he is over-exerting himself, but what a good man can
keep up for a long term of years without injury to his health. It is a pace
under which men become happier and thrive.
The second and equally interesting fact upon which the possibility of
coupling high wages with low labor cost rests, is that first-class men
are not only willing but glad to work at their maximum speed,
providing they are paid from 30 to 100 per cent more than the average
of their trade.
The exact percentage by which the wages must be increased in order to
make them work to their maximum is not a subject to be theorized over,

settled by boards of directors sitting in solemn conclave, nor voted
upon by trades unions. It is a fact inherent in human nature and has
only been determined through the slow and difficult process of trial and
error.
The writer has found, for example, after making many mistakes above
and below the proper mark, that to get the maximum output for
ordinary shop work requiring neither especial brains, very close
application, skill, nor extra hard work, such, for instance, as the more
ordinary kinds of routine machine shop work, it is necessary to pay
about 30 per cent more than the average. For ordinary day labor
requiring little brains or special skill, but calling for strength, severe
bodily exertion, and fatigue, it is necessary to pay from 50 per cent to
60 per cent above the average. For work requiring especial skill or
brains, coupled with close application, but without severe bodily
exertion, such as the more difficult and delicate machinist's work, from
70 per cent to 80 per cent beyond the average. And for work requiring
skill, brains, close application, strength, and severe bodily exertion,
such, for instance, as that involved in operating a well run steam
hammer doing miscellaneous work, from 80 per cent to 100 per cent
beyond the average.
There are plenty of good men ready to do their best for the above
percentages of increase, but if the endeavor is made to get the right men
to work at this maximum for less than the above increase, it will be
found that most of them will prefer their old rate of speed with the
lower pay. After trying the high speed piece work for a while they will
one after another throw up their jobs and return to the old day work
conditions. Men will not work at their best unless assured a good
liberal increase, which must be permanent.
It is the writer's judgment, on the other hand, that for their own good it
is as important that workmen should not be very much over-paid, as it
is that they should not be under-paid. If over-paid, many will work
irregularly and tend to become more or less shiftless, extravagant, arid
dissipated. It does not do for most men to get rich too fast. The writer's
observation, however, would lead him to the conclusion that most men
tend to become more instead of less thrifty when they receive the
proper increase for an extra hard day's work, as, for example, the
percentages of increase referred to above. They live rather better, begin

to save money, become more sober, and work more steadily. And this
certainly forms one of the strongest reasons for advocating this type of
management.
In referring to high wages and low labor cost as fundamental in good
management, the writer is most desirous not to be misunderstood.
By high wages he means wages which are high only with relation to the
average of the class to which the man belongs and which are paid only
to those who do much more or better work than the average of their
class. He would not for an instant advocate the use of a high-priced
tradesman to do the work which could be done by a trained laborer or a
lower-priced man. No one would think of using a fine trotter to draw a
grocery wagon nor a Percheron to do the work of a little mule. No more
should a mechanic be allowed to do work for which a trained laborer
can be used, and the writer goes so far as to say that almost any job that
is repeated over and over again, however great skill and dexterity it
may