73 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to prove this. If we seem here to be contradicting something said in 

 another place, the apparent contradiction will be fully explained far- 

 ther on. 



Thus far the true theory is capable of demonstration. Beyond this 

 point we either see it or seem to see it exemplified every day. We 

 hire a man to do a job of work which we have not time to do ourselves. 

 How often rightly and how often wrongly we do not know, but at any 

 rate quite often sincerely, we think to ourselves that with the same 

 training we could have done it better. In some cases we know we 

 could, as well as we know anything not fully tested ; and in some 

 cases we know it even by the successful result of a sufficiently thor- 

 ough test. 



Adding all these demonstrable and reasonable cases together, we 

 are safe in saying that by far the larger portion of the world's work 

 is done by those not most capable of doing it, either by means of their 

 own aptitudes or of the natural resources with which they are sur- 

 rounded. It remains to ask and answer the question, why this is so. 

 Why should it be the rule rather than the exception, that we must 

 leave to others work that we can do better than they ? Certainly there 

 can not be a more important economic question than this. 



It is not compulsory that we shall be tedious, but it is compulsory 

 that we shall be somewhat analytical. We are considering the relation 

 of a man to a task. If we were asked to give a cold, intellectual opin- 

 ion as to whether a certain man should wed a certain woman, we should 

 have to inquire into the nature of the man and the nature of the woman. 

 So in this case we have to inquire into the peculiarities of human be- 

 ings on the one hand and of tasks on the other. If the analogy seems 

 trivial, it is worth while to remember that a man's devotion to his 

 chosen occupation has often caused an estrangement between him and 

 his wife. 



Directing our attention first to the tasks, we find that they are not 

 all alike in importance. Humanity as a mass can better afford to have 

 some kinds of work bundled and slurred over than others. So can the 

 manager of an enterprise, and he is always looking out where best to 

 reduce his force, if he finds he must reduce it somewhere. He may 

 make a mistake in his choice of a victim, but he makes no mistake in 

 judging that the retention of good men in some positions is more 

 essential to his success than in others. It is not only more important 

 that those positions should all the time be filled, but it is more impor- 

 tant that they should be filled by men who will do their work rightly 

 and make no mistakes. The mistakes of the office-boy are not so dam- 

 aging as the mistakes of the head-clerk. The difference between a 

 good and a bad fireman is of more consequence to the factory than the 

 difference between a good and a bad journeyman. We can better 

 afford to have a worthless or a bad Congressman than a worthless or 

 a bad President. And so on, all the wav round. 



