1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11 



WORK AND WAGES FOR 18 79. 



HOW TO GET BETTER WAGES, AND HOW TO GET POOR- 

 ER. 



PjlpJHE following was intended for the use of the 

 Jljl hands of our establishment only; but,onthink- 

 ■s ing it over, I concluded, inasmuch as we are 

 all working: for somebody, at least indirectly, that 

 it would be valuable to air the readers of Glean- 

 ings. 



The hands in my employ receive all the way from 

 25c. to $4.00 per day, or from 2V 2 to 40c. per hour. All 

 are hired by the hour, and as a general thing-, they 

 commence and stop when they choose. We used to 

 have a great deal of scolding about hands not being 

 on time in the morning, or not putting in a 

 full 10 hours. After studying the matter over, and 

 asking God to guide me, and give me patience, I 

 finally employed a clerk to keep a record of the time 

 when each hand commences, and when he stops, 

 putting it on a card properly ruled, and arranged so 

 that the sum of the hours each hand has worked 

 during the week is added with very little trouble. 

 Each one commences and stops just when he pleas- 

 es, and this establishes pleasant relations between 

 both parties. The aim was to have no fault finding 

 on either side. Each hand has his work, and is ex- 

 pected to see that it is done properly and promptly, 

 or report to the office, with his reason for not nav- 

 ing it finished. 



No one is expected to be absent a half day or 

 more, without giving notice before hand, and get- 

 ting some one to take charge of his work in his ab- 

 sence. They are also to be held responsible for all 

 work done by such substitute. To insure prompt- 

 ness, a card is placed over each clerk's desk, read- 

 ing as follows: 



"Fill all orders and answer all letters by return 

 mail or express, or give notice each night, of the 

 work remaining undone, with the reasons for it. In 

 my absence leave the notice on my table." 



This gives me notice at once, of all hitches in the 

 business, of goods that are not in stock, and points 

 out those who are inclined to be dilatory and slack. 

 Supposing a clerk fails to report orders remaining 

 unfilled; he is first reasoned with, in a pleasant, 

 friendly way, and given to understand in the same 

 kind way, that if he cannot do his work without too 

 much such supervision, he will have to give place 

 to some one more efficient. I am glad to say that 

 no one, so far, has been removed from his place. I 

 have given above, the plan on which this is to be 

 done. The greatest difficulty in making it work 

 perfectly is that I am too small for my part of the 

 programme. 1 cannot muster up the moral courage 

 to insist on having all this carried out, and to do it 

 pleasantly. I very often so dislike to give pain, 

 that I pay for losses myself, rather than insist that 

 the proper one should do so for his own good, as 

 well as mine; and, worst of all, I am careless and 

 forgetful myself, and do not set a good example for 

 the rest. Do you know, dear reader, how hard it is 

 to be always faithful? 



The greater number of my boys and girls get only 

 75c. or a dollar a day, and many of them, as yet, 

 have no especially assigned class of work. They do 

 odd jobs as they come up. Very often, they come 

 to me and say: 



"Mr. Root, do you not think I could earn 25c. more 

 a day?" 



"Why, yes, n. v r riend, I am quite sure you could." 



"But, do I not earn it now? If not, why not?" 



Now, there is not a single hand in my employ, that 

 I have not watched and weighed in regard to his 

 money value. I have often raised wages when it 

 was not asked, and I assure you, nothing gives me 

 a keener pleasure than to be able to raise the wages 

 of anyone. I have sometimes raised wages, when I 

 have felt it was premature; for it is not for an oc- 

 casional faithful day that we can raise wages, but 

 for a steady pull, day after day, and week after 

 week. Many give as a reason, or excuse rather, for 

 imperfect work, that they are not strong enough. 

 Strength is very easily found, but brains are very 

 scarce. I will give you an illustration: 



Six bolts were wanted for putting up machinery. 

 I was desired, as I was going up town, to get them, 

 and that I might make no mistake, I put the dimen- 

 sions on my pocket memorandum. The hardware 

 man looked at his drawers where the different 

 lengths were very nicely labeled, and I thought he 

 found the proper drawer emptv, but as he had his 

 njle in hand, I supposed he found the ri^rbt length 



in another drawer. I sent them down by a boy, but 

 he returned after awhile, saying- they were not the 

 length ordered. It then occurred to me, that the 

 hardware man knew they were not right, but 

 thought the longer ones would answer, and said 

 nothing to me about it. I went in again, and his 

 son waited on me. I told him we must have the ex- 

 act length. He said he would be sure they were 

 right, and I trusted him to do them up in a' paper. 

 Back went the boy, a half mile each trip. In the 

 evening, the foreman said jokingly: 



"Root, you are 'brilliant !' " 



"Why?" 



"The last time you sent only 5 bolts, and three of 

 those were a half inch too short." 



Shall I abuse the hardware man and his son for 

 both cheating and blundering? No. Shall I then 

 say mistakes happen in the best of families? No; 

 that is only another subterfuge, and another hum- 

 bug. Shall I think mankind a pack of idiots, and 

 myself the biggest one? No. Shall I make up mv 

 mind to let Mr. Washburn attend hereafter to ail 

 such business, even if he does cost $4.00 a day? By 

 no means; shall I be so weak as to think I have got 

 to pay $4.00 a day for an errand boy? Well, what 

 shall we do-all we who know by past experienco 

 that we are blunderers? 



Take a lesson of Mr. Washburn, and see how he 

 avoids mistakes. I have seen him work so often, I 

 know just how he does it. He does not work partic- 

 ularly fast, but on the contra^', at first look, he 

 seems to move rather deliberately, but he makes 

 few, if any, false motions. He rarely has cause to 

 say, "Oh! I forgot." He would go into the hardware 

 store as I did, but his rule would be out and open 

 before the bolts were handed over to him. The ex- 

 act length and diameter would be taken before you 

 had time to notice it, and if the wrong size were 

 handed him it would be very quietly handed back. 

 The bolts would be as sure io be right, as if he had 

 fitted them into the place designed for them. 



The first trouble was, I had no rule in my pocket. 

 How many of you carry a rule, boys? Mr. W. knows 

 how careless is humanity, and he'does not trust to 

 others, when he can verify things himself. He ex- 

 pects people to make mistakes, but instead of scold- 

 ing them for it, quietly accepts it, and keeps a sharp 

 lookout. 



How many of you, boys, yes and girls too, who are 

 working for wages, keep a knife in your pockets? 

 Is the knife always sharp? During our busy season 

 last summer, I found the boys continually running 

 to our best carpenter for his knife. When he want- 

 ed it, he had to inquire all around for it. I talked 

 with them about having knives, and they said they 

 could not afford one, and that they always lost it, if 

 they had one. One boy who could not afford a knife 

 had a lump of tobacco in his cheek; others smoked 

 cigars; but when they wanted a knife to cut the 

 strings with which they tied up the bundles of sec- 

 tions, they had to hunt around among the carpen- 

 ters, until they found one they could borrow. Do 

 you think such delays as this made me feel like 

 raising these boys' wages? A boy that cannot keep 

 a sham knife in his pocket, seldom gets over a dol- 

 lar a day. 



On the same day when the trouble about the bolts 

 occurred, I noted the following "troubles:" 



The cows were found on the patch of seven top 

 turnips. The boys who harvested the silver hull 

 buckwheat, nearly two weeks before, were desired 

 by myself, to be sure and fix up the fence when they 

 got through. My father afterwards told them tho 

 same thing, and asked them not to forget it. There 

 were three of the boys; when interviewed, the ex- 

 cuse they gave was that it was too dark to put up 

 the fence that night, and the next mr: umtrthey for- 

 got all about it. My turnips were eaten off, and all 

 tramped up. How much would you pay boys, my 

 friends, who let the cows into a crop because it was 

 too dark to put the fence up? One of these has 

 since asked to have his wages raised. 



The blacksmith found the «ollar that holds the 

 saws on the hand ripper, in his box of old iron; his 

 shop is down cellar, and the machine is up stairs. 

 Somebody else found the nut that held the collar on, 

 in the pail of water where he cools his irons. I 

 could not believe him, until I went up and found 

 that both were missing. Had the machine been 

 wanted, these things could not have been replaced 

 without several dollars expense, and many days' de- 

 lay. The hand who took off the saw, probably laid 

 the collar and nut down, instead of screwing them 

 on in place, in order to bo sure they would not be 



