5 o POLITICAL ECONOMY 



against either party ; what answers bsst for the masters does not 

 alwaj s answer best for the men, and vice versa. Unlike over- 

 time, piece-work has its good as well as bad points. The clever, 

 hard-working, and ingenious workman, who contracts to do a 

 given piece of work for a fixed price, will work harder and 

 make more money than a man working by the day. His in- 

 vention is also called into play, and various clever devices in 

 aid of work are continually invented by men working by the 

 piece. They make tools specially adapted to the job, and get- 

 ting handy, often turn out the work, done well, and with 

 surprising quickness. A master will then often diminish the 

 contract price ; the man grumbles a little, but submits, so long 

 as it is his interest to do so ; and in good workshops, there is a 

 kind of honourable understanding that men at piece-work shall 

 be allowed to make time and a third ; that is to say, at the end 

 of the week their profits will not be considered excessive if they 

 receive one-third more than men in receipt of daily wages. So 

 far, piece-work is distinctly beneficial. Men working by the 

 day do not like it, for it makes them seem lazy ; they therefore 

 urge against it, that it tends to make men scamp work, i.e., 

 do it only just well enough to pass, and that where work 

 cannot be thoroughly inspected this scamping is carried very 

 far. This is probably true, but it would apply to all con- 

 tracts ; and with all submission to the workmen , we do not 

 think that their zeal for good work would lead them to op- 

 pose the practice very resolutely. No rules against using 

 inferior kinds of iron or unseasoned wood appear to be issued 

 by the societies, and the secretaries would no doubt say these 

 matters rested between the employers and their customers, so that 

 zeal against the bad work due to a particular plan of payment 

 seems uncalled for. In truth, piece-work has some tendency to 

 diminish wages in certain trades, and also tends to make men 

 work harder ; and as the average man dislikes low wages and 

 hard work, he opposes piece-work, to the detriment undoubtedly 

 of the skilful hard-working man. This is much to be regretted, 

 and might drive the skilful man out of the unions, if there was 

 no moral coercion keeping him in. We do not see how legis- 

 lation can force a body of men to take contracts rather than 

 wages. We can only provide legal protection for those men who 



