MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



33 



occupations which I have noted, it will be observed that the natural result is 

 to equalize the pay among the entire unskilled group, simply because as 

 workers can flow from one sort of occupation to another freely, they naturally 

 distribute according to the pay obtainable. This in the long run is a levelling 

 process. It is for this reason that the day laborer in the ditch is rapidly 

 approaching the same rate of pay as the industrial worker in the factory and 

 the progress will probably continue. Whether this is a levelling up or a 

 levelling down, I leave to your own determination, but at all events, it is an 

 economic significance of the automatic tool. 



Duration of Industrial Life. The fact of employing only manual dexterity 

 or physical strength, introduces into the mechanic industries a time limit 

 which had not previously existed. We can best illustrate this by a com- 

 parison. 



The skilled worker of the nineteenth century began what he ordinarily 

 might look forward to as a life work by an apprenticeship commencing 

 between his sixteenth and twentieth year. His period of indenture served to 

 inculcate a knowledge of his craft which was, however, by no means sufficient 

 for the acquirement of a final technique. Throughout his whole active life he 

 continually added to his trade worth by a steady accretion of manual skill 

 and shop wisdom. This trade worth was therefore a combination of physical 

 and mental powers. The best shops were always manned by due proportions 

 of men of all ages. The result in the individual worker may be symbolized 

 by a hypothetical life efficiency curve, as A. (Fig. 1.) 



The automatic tool has, however, revolutionized this condition. Since 

 only the worker's physical capabilities are now required, he may enter an 

 industrial life at any age at which he can stand the pace, say from sixteen to 

 thirty. As we have noted, his training for his particularized task is accom- 

 plished in a few hours or days. His maximum dexterity and hence his maxi- 

 mum productive efficiency is attained within a very short time thereafter. 

 Further practice will not accelerate it, while on the other hand its ultimate 

 decline must follow the decreasing curve of his physical resiliency. Naturally, 

 this decline will be in measure a personal equation. The automatic tool is not 

 yet old enough in industry to determine the average maximum age at which 

 a worker must relinquish its operation. 



