354 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1189 



sequence of the desire to earn the same weekly 

 wage as before the hours were shortened. (6) 

 Owing to the reduction of the working time 

 first by a change from a twelve-hour day to a 

 ten-hour day, and subsequently by the aboli- 

 tion of Sunday labor, it was possible to com- 

 pare output under three conditions. The 

 group of women (numbering from eighty to 

 one hundred) engaged in the moderately heavy 

 labor of turning aluminum fuse bodies pro- 

 vided the following comparative results: (1) 

 When actually working 66 hours a week and 

 nominally 74.8 hours, their relative hourly pro- 

 duction was 100 and their relative gross pro- 

 duction 100. (2) When actually working 54.8 

 hours and nominally working from 58.5 to 66 

 hours, their hourly production was 134 and 

 their gross production 111. (3) When actually 

 working 45.6 hours and nominally working 

 from 49.5 to 58.5 hours, their hourly produc- 

 tion was 158 and their gross production 109. 

 It is to be inferred, therefore, that had these 

 women been working, uniformly, a nominal 50- 

 hour week their gross output would have been 

 as large as when they were working a nominal 

 66-liour week, and considerably greater than 

 when they were working a 77-hour week, (c) 

 A group of forty women engaged in the light 

 labor of milling a screw thread on the fuse 

 bodies improved their gross output by 2 per 

 cent, when actually working 54.8 hours a week, 

 the standard being their gross output when 

 working 64.9 hours per week. A further re- 

 duction of actual working hours to 48.1 re- 

 sulted in such an improvement of hourly out- 

 put that the gross output was 1 per cent, less 

 than when the actual working time was 16.8 

 hours more, (d) A group of fifty-six men en- 

 gaged in the heavy labor of sizing the fuse 

 bodies improved their hourly output by 37 per 

 cent, and their gross output by 21 per cent, 

 when actually working 51.2 hours, the stand- 

 ards being the hourly and gross outputs ob- 

 served when the actual weekly hours were 58.2. 

 (e) Fifteen youths engaged in the light labor 

 of boring top caps by means of automatic ma- 

 chines produced only 3 per cent, less output 

 when their actual weekly hours of work were 

 54.5 hours than when they were 72.5 hours. 



(/) A part of the improvement in output was 

 due to the workers starting work more 

 promptly when on shorter hours. At one 

 period the women engaged in turning fuse 

 bodies lost on the average thirty-seven min- 

 utes daily by starting work after, and stopping 

 before, the nominal time. Nine months later, 

 when their hourly output was 25 per cent, 

 better, they lost only twenty-six and one half 

 minutes daily in these ways. ((/) A rest from 

 work on Sunday is followed by a relatively low 

 output on Monday, and this output steadily 

 rises in the course of the week, owing to the 

 increased efficiency produced by practise. 

 Generally, the cumulative effects of fatigue 

 neutralize and overpower this increased efii- 

 ciency, and the output may fall after the sec- 

 ond day (or night) of the working week if the 

 hours are long and the work laborious, or not 

 till after the third, fourth or even fifth day, 

 if the hours are shorter. In the absence of a 

 Sunday rest, the fatigued worker has no op- 

 portunity for complete recuperation and his 

 output, though more uniform, remains per- 

 manently at a lower level than that shown on 

 Monday by a worker who has rested on 

 Sunday. 



ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS AS LIEUTENANTS IN 

 THE U. S. NAVAL RESERVE 



1. The Secretary of the ISTavy has authorized 

 the commissioning of one hundred graduate 

 electrical engineers as lieutenants, junior 

 grade, in the ISTaval Reserve, and directed that 

 the necessary action be taken to provide these 

 officers at the earliest practicable date. 



2. The qualifications for such officers to be 

 in general as follows^ (a) Citizens of the 

 United States. (&) College graduates in elec- 

 trical engineering, (c) Not less than three 

 years' employment in electrical work since 

 graduation. (_d) Between twenty-five and 

 thirty-five years of age. (e) Of character and 

 physique required for officers of the regular 

 service. 



3. Pay and allowances of lieutenants, junior 

 grade, are the same as in the regular ISTavy, 

 and are, approximately: $2,200 at sea; on 

 shore, including allowances for commutation 

 of quarters, heat and light, $2,480. There is an 



