262 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 



does not necessarily imply harder work or longer hours ; it can be secured by 

 improvements in method and machinery, but only with the willing co-operation 

 of all concerned. 



Before the v, ar the Americans were far ahead of us in standardisation and 

 specialised machinery. The American clock and the Ford car are two well-known 

 examples. During the war we adopted and developed these methods. As a 

 result, although the cost of all materials increased considerably, although the 

 wages more than doubled and the profits were more than adequate, the cost was 

 in (many cases reduced. Thus the eighteen pounder shell fell from 22«. to 12s., 

 the Lewis gun from 1651. to 621. The importance of standardisation has been 

 fully realised by the manufacturei'S of this country, and as a result we may 

 hope to see a general reduction in cost. 



The economic value of an individual depends exclusively on the nature, 

 quality, and quantity of his output, and his remuneration should correspond to 

 his economic value. The rule is simple, its application would solve most of the 

 problems which vex tha present generation, but no schem.e has yet been evolved 

 to make its application possible. 



There can be no doubt that in this respect our present system is a complete 

 failure. It has been built up casually in the course of the industrial warfare 

 of the last twenty years, and each side, regardless of consequences, has entrenched 

 itself in any position won. The result is a system nearly perfect from the 

 point of view of offence and defence, well arranged for mutual destruction, but, 

 like the trenches in France, unsuitable for use in time of peace. 



The minimum wage is beneficial in so far as it prevents sweating, but in two 

 other respects its consequences are most unfortunate. Under the operation of 

 this rule the man whose value is a fraction below the minimum is unemployed and 

 economically unemployable. Farther, the minimum wage becomes the standard 

 wage, and the better men are inadequately paid. Both causes lead to decreased 

 production. The weaker or less skilful men drift into enforced idleness, and 

 became a charge to the community under the heading of charity, poor-law, or 

 some newly invented euphemism. The better men, finding extra effort uncom- 

 pensated, drop to an ever-decreasing minimum. Small output is in most cases 

 the result of inadequate incentive rather than active restriction. Promotion by 

 seniority is an example of a similar cause, producing similar effects in other 

 classes of the community. 



Among the professional and business classes the remuneration is proportional 

 to the skill and to the effort; a barrister, an engineer, or a merchant has neither 

 minimum wage nor fixed maximum output, and, the vagaries of chance excepted, 

 generally speaking gets what he is worth. At the two extremes stand riches 

 and starvation, and the economic world can offer no stronger motive forces than 

 the allurements of the one, the fear of the other. There is no absolute reason 

 why the working man .should not be offered the same incentives to hard work 

 and progress, but up to the present most efforts have tended in the opposite 

 direction. Any form of payment by result is viewed with indifference or distrust 

 by the Unions, and past experience with piece work explains that attitude. 

 There has been a disposition for employers to make large individual earnings an 

 excuse for cutting rates. Errors in rate fixing may easily arise, and in certain 

 cases special investigation might be necessary, but the advantages of high indi- 

 vidual production are so great to both employer and employed that in all cases 

 of doubt the higher rate should be maintained. In this connection the method 

 of time-study first developed by Taylor in America and the various systems of 

 payment by results which have been successfully applied deserve careful 

 consideration. 



Another important but difficult subject is the distinction drawn between 

 skilled and unskilled labour. The experience gained during the war has proved 

 that many operations scheduled as skilled work could be effectively performed 

 by w^omon who had only received a few weeks' special instruction. The oft- 

 repeated demand for equal opportunity for all becomes a senseless parrot cry if 

 it does not imply that an individual has the right to undertake better remunerated 

 work if qualified to do so. It is a misconception which leads the skilled worker 

 to believe that such a concession would reduce his earnings. Just as it is clear 

 that if labourers and skilled men were grouped together at a uniform wage, that 

 wage would necessarily be lower than the present minimum for skilled work, 



