2 55] RESTRICTION OF OUTPUT 123 



This was allowed because, as the employers pointed out, the 

 wider sizes required faster work to keep the rolls to their 

 proper temperature and shape. 



The tin-plate scale in 1902 provided for an average of 

 the week's work; but in making up lost w-eight, no more 

 than 500 pounds could be made up in asiy one turn on 31 

 gauge and heavier, and 250 pounds on all lighter gauges. 

 In case of a "drawback" the percentage excess could not 

 be made on the same turn. The provision for averaging 

 a week's output was omitted from the scales for subse- 

 quent years. 



The manufacturers of tin plate found practically the same 

 objections to the restrictive measures of the union as did the 

 sheet-mill manufacturers. They claimed that it was arbi- 

 trary, unreasonable and unjust ; that it endangered the rolls, 

 exposed union employers to an unfair competition vvith 

 non-union employers, and finally that the workmen, in say- 

 ing that " the limit of human endurance " had been reached, 

 had belied their statements by demonstrating the contrary 

 regularly. Attempts to penalize members for violations of 

 the limit proved futile •,^^ so the limit of output was removed 

 by the union in 1905, simultaneously with the abolition of 

 sheet-mill restrictions. 



32 Proceedings, 1897, p. 5199) 1899, p. 5594; 1900, pp. 5792-5794; 

 1906, p. 7564 flf. 



