THE EFFICIENCY OF LABOR 159 



The opposition of unionism to efficiency schemes is based upon two 

 facts ; the persistence of bad economic theory and the remembrances of 

 bitter experiences. The theory that the various methods of restric- 

 tions of output, such as the refusal to follow pace-setters and the like, 

 will make more work for other unionists has long been held by the 

 ardent union followers, and the Bureau of Labor has said that the idea 

 is almost universal among laboring men, whether members of a union 

 or not. 5 The fallacy of such a doctrine has long since been exposed, 

 and needs no repetition here. A more fundamental error, and possibly 

 the real source of the one just mentioned, is the failure to recognize 

 that wages are paid from total product and that labor's share in the 

 national income is proportional to its share in the production of that 

 income. The old wage fund doctrine still lingers. But unless we do 

 entertain that abandoned theory it is difficult to escape the conclusion 

 that increased efficiency results in added product and a consequent 

 higher wage scale. This much at least is true that, as society is at 

 present constituted, the laborer can not in the long run get more wages 

 unless he also produces more. 



Doubtless, however, the chief source of difficulty between the 

 unionist and the efficiency advocate grows out of the experience of 

 organized labor in the past with piece-work, bonus and premium plans ; 

 nor can it be said that the unionist is to be greatly blamed for being 

 suspicious. The practical (and it has sometimes seemed almost in- 

 evitable) consequences following the institution of these plans in the 

 past are too well known to be repeated here. The horizontal cut in 

 the wage scale following what the employer has termed the earning of 

 " excessive bonuses," time after time has made unionism perhaps 

 unreasonably wary of all like schemes in the future. Be that as it 

 may, this fact remains, that after having been trapped into being com- 

 pelled to work at a killing pace to earn a decent wage, organized labor, 

 pointing to this experience, objects to the point of desperate struggle 

 the adoption of any form of " wages on the basis of efficiency " without 

 giving them the chance even of a trial. Note the attitude of the Metal 

 Polishers Union at the Rock Island (Illinois) government arsenal 

 toward the introduction of the Taylor cards. 



Unquestionably, the crux of the whole matter is in the relation of 

 these efficiency schemes to the laborer and their effect upon him. Some 

 writers have argued that since unionism is primarily interested in high 

 wages, and the employer in low costs of production, that unionism and 

 efficiency are inherently antagonistic. Others contend that because of 

 its persistent fight against it, unionism will eventually compel industry 

 to adopt " democratic measures " just as the evils of standing armies 



5 See Eeport of Bureau of Labor on Restriction of Output (1904). 



