50 Materials and Their Handling 



Before we could put the knowledge to work, 

 however, we had to get it and today we arc in the 

 fortunate position of being able to take a few 

 books and acquire all the knowledge for which 

 hundreds of men worked all their lives. Putting 

 knowledge to work is, in fact, the important job 

 of every executive in industry, and for that reason 

 it is necessary to be on the lookout for any addi- 

 tional information which pertains to one's par- 

 ticular business. 



This is not only true of your work, but it is also 

 true of the workers under your charge if they are 

 to put all their capacity for proficient perform- 

 ance into the job. Unless they know how the most 

 successful workmen arrange their work and unless 

 they keep up some study of the developments of 

 that work, they will not be able to apply their own 

 experiences with the same capacity and the same 

 value. 



Control of Industry by Knowledge. The es- 

 sential object of industry and, in fact, the essential 

 object of life is to provide the maximum useful 

 service for the people who depend upon us. We 

 can do this only so far as we can control the work 

 by understanding the conditions, the arrange- 

 ments, the tools and equipment, and the men who 

 are engaged upon the work. Nothing can be im- 

 proved until we understand it. Everything is 

 possible when we begin to have sufficient knowl- 

 edge, sufficient skill in its character and exactness, 

 and sufficient incentive to put these to work. 



