GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 465 



passed almost unnoticed. The second article, however, elicited 

 inquiries from boot and shoe manufacturers, printers, book- 

 binders and several other trades. It was these inquiries, as Kent 

 says, which convinced Gilbreth and himself that the system set 

 forth was of real value and of general application^ 1 ) Taylor, 

 in conjunction with Sanford Thompson, a brilliant mathe- 

 matician, made an exhaustive analysis of several classes of labour. 

 Stonemasons' work, Bricklaying, Concrete-Construction, Ex- 

 cavation, Stone-quarrying, Carpentry, etc. 



The art of working rests, therefore, on a firm basis of scientific 

 fact. It lends itself admirably to industry. It rapidly developes 

 the apprentice into the skilled workman, and has great educa- 

 tional value. It also makes for initiative and co-operation in 

 the workshop. 



We must, however, again repeat that the objection to Taylor's 

 system is that it failed to give due weight to the question of 

 fatigue. All that Taylor tells us is that he never had any serious 

 accidents due to over-fatigue amongst the workers under his 

 control. Must not this, however, be attributed to selection? 



Taylor also remarked that the demand for manual labour was 

 so great that no man need be out of work for more than a day 

 or two, hence the least efficient workers were no worse off than 

 they were before. On the other hand, the efficient workmen had 

 now the opportunity of drawing big wages and making adequate 

 provision for their families. 



In regard to wa^es, Taylor said that these should exceed the 

 rates current at that time by the following percentages : 



Ordinary unskilled labour, 30% ; labour requiring little in- 

 telligence, but considerable muscular strength and exertion, 

 50% to 60% ; work requiring no great physical exertion, but 

 demanding special intelligence, skill and sustained attention, 

 70% to 80% ; work requiring the combination of both skill and 

 intelligence and strength, 80% to 100%. 



Taylor remarked that men will not do their best unless they 

 are assured of an adequate and continuous wage, and he made 

 the trenchant observation that the limitation of output must 

 tend, in the long run, to reduce wages. 



In truth, it is an incredible thing that there should exist a 

 science able to restrain or suppress the waste of human energy, 

 and that its sovereignty is not yet extended to all its domains, 

 that its beneficial power is not employed to the profit of society 

 and to the advantage of the workers. Yet war employs scientific 

 principles in fighting and forces man to produce his maximum 



(*) Preface to Motion Study, p. 13. 



