446 THE HUMAN MOTOR 



that scientific methods in industry are as much to his advantage 

 as to that of his employers. 



Finally the endeavour must be made to allocate men to the 

 work for which they are most suited, and to assure that his well- 

 being and interest are not sacrificed to obtain financial results. 



We will, in conclusion, quote two cases which exemplify both 

 the general character of these scientific methods and also the care 

 that is needed in their application. 



(1) In the office of Industrial Engineering some 20,000 letters 

 a day were sent out which had to be folded and stamped. By 

 careful attention the time taken in these simple operations was 

 reduced to one-fourth of the previous time. One of the girls 

 engaged on this work was able to stamp from 100 to 120 envelopes 

 per minute without any abnormal fatigue. The envelopes 

 were set up on edge in a long row, the addressed sides facing the 

 operator. The sheets of postage stamps were torn into horizontal 

 strips. The girl had a small sponge fixed to the index finger of 

 the right hand. Taking a strip of stamps in the same hand she 

 drew them across the sponge to moisten the gum, using the thumb 

 to move the strip and guide the stamps into their proper positions 

 on the corner of the envelopes. With her left hand she drew 

 forward the stamped envelopes from the pile using the left thumb 

 to give the necessary pressure on the stamps and to detach the 

 latter from the strip. Lastly, the finished letters fell by their 

 own weight into a basket. 



2. A friend of Gilbreth's, visiting the Anglo- Japanese Exhibi- 

 tion in London, noticed a girl who was putting circulars into boxes 

 of boot polish at a wonderful speed. He led the American there 

 to show him how, by instinct, the girl applied the right method. 

 But Gilbreth had no sooner examined the work than he pulled 

 out his stop watch, noticed the unnecessary movements and took 

 the time necessary to prepare 24 boxes, which was 40 seconds. 

 He then told the girl that she was doing her work badly. The 

 latter, very sure of her skill, made fun of him, but consented to 

 leave out the movements that he considered unnecessary. As 

 she was doing piece-work she was tempted by the idea of a higher 

 wage. In a few days the girl was able to "do the 24 boxes, no 

 longer in 40 seconds, but in only 26 seconds. She declared, in 

 addition, that the reduction of the number of movements of her 

 muscles had made the work less tiring. 



What more instructive lesson than this of the necessity for 

 scientific organisation of labour ? 



Gilbreth also maintained that a handwriting which was char- 

 acterised by unnecessary flourishes and similar peculiarities was 

 anti-economic. 



