2313 THE STANDARD RATE 99 



The adoption of a price differential for steel could not 

 be maintained. The justification for the higher price for 

 steel was the diminished output, since the steel was rolled 

 on rolls particularly adapted to iron. But the men proved 

 the fallacy of this argument. Spurred on to increased out- 

 put by the higher price, the workmen produced as much 

 steel as iron, and in some cases even more steel than iron. 

 What the result would be was evident — the employer in- 

 sisted on an elimination of the differential rate. In 1886 

 the scale was altered so as to make the price for rolling 

 iron and steel, for one class of finishing mills at least, iden- 

 tical.*^ The output continued to increase, so that by 1902 

 the rates for finishing steel had dropped slightly below the 

 price for iron.^" In 1906 steel rates were reduced again as 

 compared with those for iron.^^ In the sheet-mill division, 

 likewise, a higher price for steel than for iron was main- 

 tained in the scale, up to 1904, for rolling the lighter 

 gauges.'*^ 



Definition of the Work. — Complementary to the neces- 

 sity of standardizing the rate of payment for each variety 

 of product is the need for defining in the scale the work 

 which the piece worker must do for the specified rate. 

 Without clear definition of the work, the practice is apt to 

 vary considerably in different plants or localities. Such 

 variations among the Iron, Steel and Tin Workers have 

 been generally with respect to ( i ) the auxiliary work which 

 may or may not be done by the man who receives the rate 

 and (2) the payment by the worker, instead of by the em- 

 ployer, of helpers who work under the direction of the man 

 receiving the piece price. 



Generally the work required for a specified rate has been 

 so well established by custom that it is not necessary to 



*8 Proceedings, 1886, pp. 1756, 1825. 



"" Western Scales of Prices, 1902-1903, pp. 14, 22. 



81 Amalj^ramated Journal, June 21, 1906. The scale, however, still 

 provided that " wliere the output of steel is hut three- fourths tlie out- 

 put of iron," the rule of price-and-one-half should obtain. 



"2 Western Scales of Prices, ifx>3-i904, p. 25; icx)4-i905, p. 25. 

 A differential price was maintained for gauges 22 anil ligliter. 



