730 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the start. This company has in mind the extension of the system to other 

 work around the plant and also to some of the work in the woods. 



THE PIECE WORK SYSTEM 



Another application of the piece work system to the lumber industry was 

 observed in a cypress mill which was visited in 1907. The system at this plant 

 has been extended to cover railroad construction, deadening timber, felling and 

 log-making, skidding, pond work, sawing in the mill, piling in the yard and 

 loading on the car, and shingle and lath manufacture. 



The method of payment for sawing lumber is unique. In order to en- 

 courage the production of high grades of lumber a scheme was devised for the 

 payment of sawyers, edgermen and trimmermen on a basis of quality as well 

 as quantity. A scale of wages on a basis of M feet manufactured was drawn up 

 and in it a premium was placed on the higher grades, with no payment for 

 No. 2, or poorer lumber. 



The company has a shingle mill in connection with the plant in which 

 the inferior logs and cants are utilized. In order to overcome the tendency of 

 the sawyers to cut the high grade lumber from the outside of the larger logs 

 and send the inferior center to the shingle mill, a standing order is in force 

 to cut any kind of lumber rather than to send material to the shingle mill. 



The tendency of the sawyers to escape cutting low grades is also checked 

 by paying the mill foreman on the basis of the mill cut. without reference to 

 quality. The foi-eman's desire for a maximum output, coupled with the sawyers 

 desire for quality, keeps the work at a high point of efficiency and yields 

 satisfactory results from the standpoint of the management. 



The piece work basis of remuneration has been used for many years by 

 lumbermen, especially in the South. Its introduction was due largely to the 

 irresponsible character of the labor from which satisfactory service could 

 seldom be secured on a daily wage basis. Although widely applied, this system 

 has been considered chiefly from the standpoint of the employer, and little 

 thought has been given to aiding the employee to become more efficient at his 

 task, or to offer him any incentive for increased effort. 



Remuneration on a basis other than that of the wage, has come to stay 

 in the lumber industry, and the present ideas are certain to change in favor 

 of some scheme of reward or special ability. 



Along with the development of the labor problem will come plans for 

 the better care and management of the forest, more intensive methods of 

 logging and manufacture, and the closer utilization of the raw material of 

 the forest and the finished product at the mill. 



The economic forces that are driving industrial plants to adopt more 

 scientific methods of management, in their fight for existence, will soon become 

 vital to the lumber industry. The greatest measure of success will come to 

 those who have intrenched themselves behind an organization which will enable 

 them to place their product on the market at the lowest possible cost in com- 

 petition with their rivals. 



