50 BULLETIN 711^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



that it is difficult for the contracting parties to get together on terms 

 with sufficient security; (2) breakage of timber in felling and buck- 

 ing is likely to increase; (3) disputes may arise because of the way 

 and time logs are scaled; (4) it does not work well to have two crews 

 in a camp under different heads, which may result in a disparity in 

 the wages paid or the hours worked, and thus breed discontent; (5) 

 there are phases of the work that the contractor may not look after 

 so well as an employee of the company. 



A few camps use bonus or profit-sharing systems in connection with 

 the felling and bucking. Two systems are in use. One consists of 

 setting output standards for the fallers and buckers, and allowing 

 each faller and bucker who has been in the emploj^ of the company a 

 certain length of time a certain amount per thousand feet in addition 

 to the regular wage for every thousand feet felled and bucked in ex- 

 cess of the standard in a certain length of time, generally a month. 

 One company that uses this sj^stem in three large camps, feels that it 

 is a success, since it has enabled them to reduce their felling and 

 bucking costs materially and to secure a knowledge of what fallers 

 and buckers can and should do. Another company used this system 

 for three months and went back to the straight wage system. The 

 results obtained in the way of increased output were not disappoint- 

 ing. The trouble was that the workmen paid too much attention to 

 the quantity and not enough to the quality of the work. 



The other bonus system consists of setting a labor cost per thousand 

 feet, and allowing each faller and bucker who has been in the employ 

 of the company a certain length of time — say, 60 days — a portion of 

 the difference between the actual and standard labor cost per thousand 

 feet, on the basis of the number of days each has worked. In other 

 words, if the total wages paid give an actual average cost per thou- 

 sand feet of $0.55 and the standard cost per thousand feet is $0.65, 

 the difference is divided between the fallers and buckers on the basis 

 of the number of davs they have worked. 



One of the objections to bonus systems is that they tend to increase 

 breakage. It would seem, however, that with proper supervision this 

 objectionable feature could be practically eliminated. 



SUPPLIES AND EEPLACEMENTS. 



It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty how much it 

 costs per thousand feet for supplies and the replacement of equip- 

 ment. The amount, however, is small and few logging companies 

 have deemed it advisable to classify their logging costs in such a man- 

 ner as to make this information available. It is close to $0.03 per 

 thousand feet. The writer has seen annual segregated cost statements 

 that indicate it to be as low as $0.01 per thousand feet ; others as high 



