178 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



work on the influence of the cooling power ol the air. Vernon has col- 

 lected much interesting evidence which shows that there is a very definite 

 relation between the efficiency, as measured by output, and the tempera- 

 ture of the working place. The output in the hottest weather was 

 about 30 per cent, below that when the weather was coldest. He also 

 observed an apparent connection between the relative humidity of the 

 air and the efficiency of the worker. The efficiency, as might have 

 been expected, was apparently greatest when the relative humidity was 

 low. Elton has reported on the influence of lighting in silk weaving. 

 He found that the output was lowest when artificial light was used. 

 He stated that even when electric light of sufficient intensity was used 

 the output was about 10 per cent, below the daylight value. The 

 actual equipment of the factories, the provision of seats of suitable 

 size, height, &c., the design of the machines, and so on, all play their 

 part, as is shown by the many records, particularly from the United 

 States. 



In other words, the real overall industrial efficiency of the worker 

 cannot be causally related to any single factor. It is not the mere 

 capacity of the individual to perform so many kilogrammetres of work 

 in a given time with the smallest expenditure of energy. The quest 

 of efficiency is one of the most intricate problems in its infinite ramifi- 

 cations throughout the physiological and sociological structure which 

 has ever called for solution, and it involves the whole welfare of our 

 race and nation. It calls for the closest and most intimate co-operation 

 between the scientific investigator, the employer and the employee, and 

 is no more capable of being settled on a communistic than on a capital- 

 istic basis. It can only be satisfactorily attacked when mutual distrust 

 of motives, capacities, and methods is stilled. 



