Leadixg Articles in the Reviews. 



89 



HOW THE MACHINE EMANCI- 

 PATES MAN. 



Mr. H. H. Si'Pi.EE writes in Cassier's for June on 

 the replacement of the man by the machine. He 

 recalls how steam was first used in order to pump 

 water from the flooded mines of Cornwall, then applied 

 to the driving of flour mills and te.xtile mills. In 

 spite of the fear that the labour so displaced would 

 remain unemployed, the opportunities for employment 

 have been increased and not diminished. The pumping 

 of water has made possible an ample water supply 

 to great centres of population, and thus lowered the 

 death-rate. 



THE STEAM ENGINE. 



The steam engine has transformed the commerce of 

 the world, and enabled the excess population of the 

 older settled portions to be distributed over new areas. 

 So with the development of railways. The fearfully 

 hard and brutalising labour of puddling has now been 

 transferred to mechanical appliances, and the Bessemer 

 converter is doing much of the work formerly con- 

 suming the bodies of vigorous men. 



THE LIFTING .M.\GNET. 



In the handling of pig iron great economy of efYort 

 has been etTected by the lifting magnet : — 



With a cargo of 4,000,000 pounds of pig iron, the time 

 required to unload this vessel with twenty-eight men was two 

 days and two nights, which corresponds to about 3,000 pounds 

 per man per hour, or about fifteen tons per day of ten hours, 

 agreeing very well with Mr. Taylor's figures under ordinary 

 day's work. When the lifting magnet was introduced, the total 

 lime required for unloading was reduced to eleven hours, 

 and this was done by two men, whose labour consisted in 

 manipulating the controllers in the cages of the cr,ines. Thus 

 two men an^l two magnets did the work of twenty-eight men in 

 less than i^nc-fourth the lime. 



IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY. 



The Whitney gin for removing seed from cotton 

 fibre may he said to have caused the immense entire 

 cotton industry of England and America. If a machine 

 could be invented to pick cotton, it is stated that the 

 present crop of ten or twelve million bales a year 

 might be more than doubled. The Campbell machine, 

 tested in Texas, is said to have a capacity of 64001b. 

 of cotton a dayj or more than twelve bales. This 

 corresponds to the work of thirty skilled cotton pickers. 

 It only involves the serv-ices of one man and a boy, at 

 a cost of al)out six dollars, compared with about fifty 

 dollars for picking the same amount by hand. 



NO ROOM FOR THE UNSKILLED. 



In spite of the mechanical development of agricul- 

 ture, still only about 5 per cent, of the agricultural 

 work in the United States is mechanically performed. 

 .Ml the manifold applications of electricity have 

 rcsulte'l in the relief of many from burdensome toil, 

 while providing new and lighter occupations for 

 thou.sands. The kind of lat>our most readily displaced 

 by machinery is that of the untrained man who works 

 principally with h's muscle; and. therefore, the 



labourer must learn to work with his head as well as 

 his hands, and to do things at the same time that are 

 lighter and more valuable than formerly. An entirely 

 different kind of training from that formerly supplied 

 by the old apprenticeship system is needed. 



THE SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATION 

 OF HUMAN LABOUR. 



The mid-June number of La Reime publishes an 

 article by Dr. Jules Amar on the " Scientific Organisa- 

 tion of Human Labour." 



MUSCUL.iVR CONTR.^CTION. 



The secret of human motion, he explains, is muscular 

 contraction, the real motor, the generator of force, 

 being the muscles. The play of the muscles is co-ordi- 

 nated, so that not a single muscle can act in an isolated 

 manner. It is usually imagined that this co-ordination 

 is the work of the nervous system. The nervous system 

 is the centre from which all orders for movement are 

 issued. Educated, trained, it is the nervous system 

 which makes easy the accomplishment of certain 

 labour, and distinguishes the workers for promptitude 

 and skill. Those of a weak " personal equation," with 

 whom execution rapidly follows decision, are designated 

 good workmen, while those of a strong " personal 

 equation " bring slowness, nonchalance, into their 

 movements. This trouble is not easy to get rid of. 

 But there are other factors on which it is possible to 

 act effectively. For instance, instead of requiring a 

 man to carry heavy loads, the weight for each effort 

 can be reduced, and it will be found at the end of the 

 day that the man is less fatigued, while the labour will 

 not have suffered in any way. Within certain limits, 

 the minimum of fatigue will probably accompany the 

 highest speed. Economically, therefore, rapid labour is 

 essential. Combining speed with reduction of strain, the 

 conditions are favourable for working longer and pro- 

 ducing more — with less fatigue. A workman may thus 

 be able to double or treble his daily output. 



RESULTS OF APPLIED MOTION STUDY. 



But while economy of movements means the best 

 adaptation of them, it seems to be implied by the 

 system that a worker being less tired after his increased 

 output may be required to work longer hours, and so 

 be allowed less leisure. Mr. F. W. Taylor is slated to 

 have applied vigorously, " almost brutally." the prin- 

 ciples of economy in labour, and to have thus trebled 

 and quadrupled the daily production of his men. Mr. 

 Ciilbreth, author of " Motion Study," has applied Mr. 

 Taylor's scientific laws to masonry. Not only did he 

 train the workers in view of economy of movements 

 and their better adaptation, but .he supplied more 

 suitable tools — with the result that instead of handling 

 1 20 bricks her pour a man \>';\s enabled to handle 350, 

 This permitted Mr. Gilbreth to raise the wages and 

 shorten the hours of labour. 



