THE CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY 253 



within his rights in so doing. Both parties understand each 

 other on the point. The personal authority of the American 

 employer has always been greater than that of British em- 

 ployers, who as a class are more easy going. It has also 

 been more directly and methodically exercised. An Ameri- 

 can workman is expected to give his very best service in 

 return for his liberal pay. He has to keep himself fit for his 

 work and to take a personal interest in it. He is paid for 

 good conduct as well as for honest labor, and the employer 

 is as exacting on the one point as on the other. There are 

 found to be two ways of insuring an adequate return for high 

 pay: one is for the employer himself "to keep close to his men 

 all the time;" the other is to employ vicarious methods of 

 supervision. In very large establishments only the vicarious 

 method is possible, and this is where the boss comes in. His 

 special duty is "to keep close to them all the time," and if 

 need be he also has his deputies. He likes to know not only 

 what the men are doing but what they are saying and think- 

 ing. No pains or expense is spared to keep in touch with 

 them. If things are not going well in a shop special measures 

 are taken to discover the cause. The great Pinkerton has a 

 detective service for this express purpose. One of his men 

 may be hired as a fitter or a mechanic, and he may be in the 

 shop for months without exciting the least suspicion of his 

 character. Every night he will send in a report of all he has 

 seen or heard during the day. When the employer has got 

 all the information he wants Pinkerton' s man will quietly 

 disappear from the shop and very probably from the district 

 also. 



If the means used be rather invidious, they are generally 

 effective. Every suspected workman, especially if he be a 

 trades union delegate, can thus be closely watched. If there 

 be a strike brewing, the employer has early warning of it. 

 If it be only a case of shirking or scamping, the proper remedy 

 is soon applied. If the American employer had his way, 

 shirking would soon be made impossible. He is down on it 

 at the first scent. His motto is, that for every wrong there 

 is a remedy, and the sooner it can be applied the better. For 

 example, if a freight train gets into the habit of losing time 



