584 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 225. 



experiments in its employment, some by 

 important and famous manufacturers of 

 various mecbanical devices, from the steam- 

 engine to tlie machine-tool. The following 

 abstract is based upon his account of these 

 later experiences, as given in the American 

 Machinist, with extended tables of data and 

 results.* 



The plan has been in iise eight years, and 

 has come into use, in a number of establish- 

 ments, sufficiently to give ample experience 

 in is workings. Curiously enough, how- 

 ever, although devised for the benefit of 

 the workmen, mainly and primarily, and 

 invariably promising them gain, it has as in- 

 variably been received with suspicion and 

 reluctance by them, and in at least one 

 ease has been opposed by the trade-unions 

 of the place. In all but a single case, how- 

 ever, it has proved entirely successful in the 

 accomplishment of its purpose — the promo- 

 tion of the wage-earning power of the men 

 and of the dividend- paying power of the es- 

 tablishment ; sharing profits while stimula- 

 ting ambition and increasing output. It 

 gives the workman increased day's wages ; it 

 gives the employer increased output from 

 his works, at reduced cost and increasing 

 profits, shared with those who make them 

 possible. The workman gains directly, day 

 by day ; the employer not only gains, di- 

 rectly, by increased output from the same 

 number of men, but also indirectly and in 

 an exceedingly important degree, often, 

 through the increased earning power of his 

 capital, invested in plant and in funds. 



Piece-work has not been wholly success- 

 ful, and in too many cases the selfishness 

 and greed of the employer, seeking to mo- 

 nopolize all the profit, compels the work- 

 man to accept a rate which makes his day's 

 work no moi'e profitable to him when work- 

 ing under high-pressure than when doing 

 an ordinary day's work at fixed wages at 

 such a rate that he can sustain that amount 



* March 9, 1899. 



of production indefinitely. Where properly 

 adopted and adjusted, it is a vast improve- 

 ment upon the older plan. Mr. Halsey's 

 plan puts a premium upon increasing pro- 

 duction, in such manner that both employer 

 and employe are inevitably alike advan- 

 taged, and skill and industry and steady 

 work secure proportional reward. It in- 

 volves something of the principle of the 

 common bargain by which a salesman is 

 given a fixed and moderate salary plus a 

 stated percentage on sales. Under this new 

 plan the employer offers a workman a 

 premium, perhaps ten cents, for each hour 

 by which the production of a certain piece 

 is reduced below that of the observed nor- 

 mal average or below an assumed period of 

 time ; the day's wage being that of the time 

 and place, as fixed by ordinary circum- 

 stances in the market, and without control, 

 usually, by either party to the bargain. 



Suppose that pay to be three dollars a 

 day and an hour to be saved in a piece 

 ordinarily requiring just a day's work for 

 its production. The proprietor gains the 

 hour and his thirty cents otherwise paid as 

 wages for the hour ; he loses ten cents 

 premium ; he gains in rate of output of the 

 establishment, and so makes it possible to 

 secure larger returns through more effec- 

 tive use of all other capital than the ' wages 

 fund ' The workman gains his ten cents 

 and the privilege of adding an extra hour's 

 work on a new 'job.' Thus both parties 

 gain. Had the premium been fifteen cents 

 the money-gain would have netted both 

 equal amounts, fifteen cents, per day. Thus, 

 as in Table I., we sometimes actually find 

 enormous gains possible through the in- 

 genuity of the workman in finding ways of 

 reducing time of production, as by increased 

 personal activity, or by securing deeper 

 cuts and higher speed of cutting, or less 

 time in putting the piece in place or in 

 replacing it by its successor, etc. The 

 writer has known of a case in which the 



