INTERNAL RELATIONS. 153 



and it gives him the only opportunity of doing so. Thus it takes 

 the place of a roll call or time check when beginning or quitting 

 work, and it makes the man who knows most about his work re- 

 sponsible at the start for the correctness of the charges. After 

 the close of work the foreman looks over the books, verifies the 

 charges, tears off the coupons, stamps them with the date and 

 sends them to the office. 



Absentees for a whole day are so marked on a leaf taken out 

 of their own books. This prevents all future questions as to the 

 workman's having been actually engaged or not on that day ; the 

 fact is settled at the time by the most competent authority. Those 

 absent for a part of a day, if coming late, have the first page filled 

 out to show the number of units absent, when they receive their 

 books from the foreman ; those leaving early have the last page 

 similarly filled by the foreman at the time they leave the shop. 



As a precaution against fraud, and for other purposes, the coup- 

 ons of each book are serially numbered. A further precaution 

 could be taken by requiring each coupon to be signed with the 

 most characteristic of all signatures, viz., the impression of the ball 

 of the writer's right thumb in such ink as is supplied with the 

 ordinary rubber stamps. Except for a special purpose, Chapter 

 XV, such a precaution is probably unnecessary, and, unless ex- 

 perience proves its wisdom, would probably cost more in time and 

 trouble than would be lost by omitting it from the scheme. 



It is not necessary to wait until the day is over to collect the 

 books ; they may be taken in as the men pass out to dinner, and 

 returned to them as they come back to work. This would pre- 

 vent them from coming to work in the morning, scaling the fence 

 and returning in the afternoon in time to return their books. 

 This practice is not unknown in places where men are much 

 scattered out of doors. 



The workman is not required to wait until the end of the day 

 to record his employment ; he may easily put down his time as 

 each job he is working on is completed. Even should the job 

 be taken up again, later in the day, no harm is done by having 

 two cards for it. 



The proper symbols are gotten from the order tickets, given 



