732 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XLIV. No. 1143 



Navy Yard under the eight-hour system. 

 In a report on the progress of the work 

 during the first nineteen months it is stated 

 by the compiler: 



No other factor is considered than the produc- 

 tive ability of the two bodies of men doing ex- 

 actly the same kind of work, using the same kind 

 of tools and the same kind of material. It is prac- 

 tically all hand work, as the output of the auto- 

 matic machines, with their speed limitations in 

 production per hour, does not enter into this work. 



The final computation showed that "the 

 average production of a man per hour on 

 the Connecticut exceeded by 24.28 per cent, 

 the average production per man per hour 

 on the Louisiana." 



Thus, the statistics reveal the utter fal- 

 lacy of the notion that a longer working- 

 day means a larger output. But the 

 greater product of the short day, is, I sub- 

 mit, at first thought a very surprising fact, 

 and its cause should be inquired into. It 

 undoubtedly rests on a physiological basis, 

 but without more accurate data any expla- 

 nation of it must be only tentative. If 

 man were a mere non-living automatic ma- 

 chine it would not occur. But his is a very 

 different mechanism, in which that portion 

 which does work, the effector machinery, 

 is directed by a nervous system, which acts 

 now consciously, now unconsciously, and 

 through its receptor machinery is being 

 continually influenced by external stimuli. 

 All employers testify to the increased good- 

 will, better spirit, and improved morale of 

 the workers, that result from the shorter 

 day. Because of these things the workers 

 arrive more promptly at their places and 

 tend to shirk less as the day proceeds. It is 

 not inconceivable that in many cases there 

 is a residuum of fatigue accumulated from 

 the previous longer working-period, which 

 must first be gotten rid of, and that there- 

 after the effector mechanism is less clogged. 

 It is not improbable that realization of the 

 brevity of the day and the early relief from 

 toil act as a tonic. Such tonics exist : The 



spurt that occurs during the last hour of 

 labor, irrespective of its length, is a com- 

 monly alleged, if not an attested, fact, and 

 is ascribed to anticipation of release. Care- 

 ful observation has shown too that other 

 psychic influences increase markedly the 

 output of a man's energy. All these 

 varied influences acting upon the nervous 

 system doubtless contribute to increase the 

 expenditure of productive energy in the 

 shorter time. Their combined influence is 

 largely unconscious, and it is reported that 

 the greater output is often a surprise to 

 the workers themselves. That it has an 

 origin largely in the action on the nervous 

 system of such external stimuli as have 

 been mentioned, is supported by the further 

 facts that with the eight-hour day the work- 

 man makes fewer mistakes and spoils less 

 material, and, in general, the quality of 

 kis work shows a distinct improvement. 

 Thus, in the light of the facts of experi- 

 ence, the alleged economic necessity of the 

 longer working-period because of the ne- 

 cessity of a greater output falls to the 

 ground. The long working-period defeats 

 its own object. 



But the question may still be raised 

 "whether the greater output of the eight- 

 hour day does not produce correspondingly 

 greater fatigue and thus in turn defeat its 

 object. I do not think so. If the day's 

 fatigue were measured merely by the amount 

 of energy transformed in producing the 

 product, if here again man were a mere 

 automatic machine, then surely there would 

 be a direct ratio — the greater the product, 

 the greater the fatigue, and nothing would 

 be gained. But the case is not so simple as 

 this. The day's fatigue is a sequel not 

 simply of the amount of energy directly 

 transformed in producing the material out- 

 put. It is derived also from other sources 

 • — from the continuance of one bodily posi- 

 tion, perhaps a strained position, from the 

 noise and gross vibration of machinery, 



