lS8G 



(^LEANINGS IN BEE CUJ/rUUE. 



493 



practice. It is a plan lliat works woiulers, 

 if wisely and judicionsly used. It is the 

 plan that makes the busy workers in our 

 factory, in a great many departments, enter 

 with their whole souls, as well as with their 

 wliole strength and muscles, into their work. 

 Go into the folding-room and see the girls 

 make the sheets of paper tly when it comes 

 paper-day ; go watch them in the room ad- 

 joining, where tliey are wiring frames to 

 hold the foundation ; take a look into the 

 smoker-room; yes, in the pi luting -oflice. 

 How is it they become so expert ami rapid 

 that your eye can hardly follow the motions 

 of their hands'? Why, it is just on the plan 

 I had proposed with the boys. I went down 

 one morning and spoke to them something 

 as follows : 



"Boys, I will tell you how you can make 

 more money than you are making now, both 

 for yourselves and myself. I will give yon 

 five cents a hundred for setting out celery- 

 plants, providing you do it so well that they 

 will grow every time. If they die, you must 

 set out more in their places, on your own 

 time. Now, five cents a hundred will make 

 just about the wages you have been making ; 

 but I rather think that, if you are working 

 by the piece, you will get along a good deal 

 faster." 



One of them replied that he did not think 

 they could work a bit faster than they had 

 been doing, for tliey had stuck to it just as 

 busily as they possibly could. I told them 

 they could try it, and that, if they didn't do 

 any belter, they could have their regular 

 wages by the hour, but that I rather expect- 

 ed they would improve some. Can you 

 guess how it turned out? Why, when I 

 came around that way, an hour later, the 

 boys were just bending over their plants, 

 and making their hands fly as if life and 

 death depended on it. Their frames were 

 filling up as if by magic, and their faces 

 were full of animation and excitement. 

 Daniel looked np honestly, and said some- 

 thing as follows : 



" Why, Mr. lioot, we are going to make a 

 pile of money if you let us work this way." 



" Well, I am glad of it. If you make a pile 

 of money I think I shall too, for we are like- 

 ly to need all the nice celery-plants we can 

 possibly raise." 



They did not feel like working till seven 

 o'clock that evening ; but as they liad made 

 nearly double their usual wages (one a little 

 more than double, and the other, I believe, 

 a little less), they felt as if they could stop 

 at the usual stopping-time, and then take a 



playspell. Duiing the afternoon one of 

 them ventured the remark, "Mr. Root, if 

 we work by the piece can we stop and look 

 at things, and walk around and stretch our- 

 selves when we are tired V" 



I told them that, when they were working 

 by the piece, they were their own bosses. 

 They could work or not, just as they chose^ 

 providing the work was got along at a rear 

 sonable rate. Now, friends, do you see the 

 difference in working without any particu- 

 lar interest in your work, only to have the 

 hours go along and night come, or in being 

 a partner, as it were, in regard to the results 

 accomplished y These boys fiiJo.vttZ working 

 under the high-pressure principle, in a way 

 they could not possibly tnjoy working by 

 tiie hour, especially when the work was 

 something that had become monotonous and 

 tiresome. One great truth brought out here 

 is, that it is not so mixcli the kind of work 

 we are doing, but the way we look at it, and 

 the motives that prompt r.s. Why not let 

 everybody work in this way? Well, in the 

 first place it is not possible to arrange all 

 kinds of work so it can be done by the piece. 

 Again, there is a constant disposition to 

 slight the work xndess there be some test or 

 condition. In the above it was clearly un- 

 derstood that the plants must be put in the 

 ground so that they would live, and the boys 

 must walch them and water them until they 

 had become rooted. Another thing, we can 

 not well set people at work by the piece lui- 

 less they are honest and conscientious. 

 Where a workman has a disposition to cheat 

 or to be tricky, the employer will get beat- 

 en, sooner or later, unless his eye is constant- 

 It/ upon him. With children or younger 

 people, there is a constant danger of misun- 

 derstandings and dilficulties. Even our 

 good friend Walter complained the first day 

 that his foreman, Mr. Weed, didn't give him 

 full credit for the full number he set out. 

 Now, before we start out in any such kind 

 of work, our details and system should be 

 made so as to avoid mistakes as far as possi- 

 ble. As an illustration : The transplanting- 

 frames we use do not hold even numbers of 

 plants. W' hen they were made we did not 

 think about piece work ; but we are going 

 to woik to-day to have some frames made 

 that hold an even number, 500 cabbage- 

 plants, or 1000 celery-plants.* In that case 

 the boys will avoid every chance of making 

 a mistake. All they have to do is to count 

 the number of frames full set out, at 25 cts. 



*A frame made ;!X4 I'eet i inches insUle, will just 

 about do it. 



