FRESH-WATER MUSSELS AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 85 



Upon the basis of the sample count and the gross weight of the blanks the total 

 count is readily computed for the purpose of payment. According to divergent methods 

 payment may be made either at a flat rate per gross of 168 blanks, or the weight of shells 

 used may first be charged against the sheller, and payment (at a higher unit rate, of 

 course) is then made by deducting from the computed value of the blanks the cost of 

 the shell at a fixed price previously agreed upon. 



The difference in the two methods has to do with the fixing of responsibility for the 

 economic use of shells. In the first case, the management alone is responsible for economy, 

 in the second the responsibility is divided. The latter seems really fairer to the cutter 

 than the former and puts a proper premium upon careful and efficient work. 



In case of payment exclusively upon the basis of blanks returned, the interest of 

 cutter and management are continually in conflict. The cutter is tempted to sacrifice 

 economy of material to gross output of blanks per day, while the management must be 

 continually endeavoring to prevent undue waste of shell. This is a condition provocative 

 of friction and liable to result in discharges or in docking. 



In the other case, the cutter understands that waste of shell diminishes his earnings. 

 Suggestions from the foreman to show how more blanks could be taken from a given 

 shell are, therefore, received as personal help rather than as rebukes. A single instance 

 that came under the observation of the writer will serve to illustrate: A cutter had 

 laid down a cut shell when the foreman pointed out how two more blanks might be cut. 

 The cutter readily accepted the suggestion, which was to his own interest, and as the 

 manager went away remarked to the writer: "Under the old system there would have 

 been a regular 'call down' about that." 



Cutter and management soon learn that care and system- profit more than haste. 

 The cutters earning the best wage are those who begin at the right place, plan out the 

 cutting to use the most of the shell, cut in rows, and take the time necessary to avoid 

 mistakes. (Cf. Pis. XLIV, XLV, and XLVI.) 



Under such a plan there can be no occasion for discharge. The cutter who lacks 

 the intelligence, the aptitude, or the character to become a skillful cutter, even with help, 

 must find the business unprofitable and seek employment in other lines for which he 

 may be better adapted. The work passes naturally into the class of skilled labor, and 

 the skillful do not have their proper earning diminished by an average rate which is 

 lowered by the waste and scant production of the unskillful. 



This report is not, however, concerned with the relative merits of systems of man- 

 agement except as they may affect the waste of raw materials. Propagation, protec- 

 tion, and the economical use of material are phases of the general conservation problem 

 that are indissolubly linked. Without regard to the details of any system of adminis- 

 tration, it may be said that the economic use of shells will necessarily be promoted by 

 a plan (i) which divides between management and labor the responsibility for waste 

 of shell; (2) which does this in such a way as to remove as far as possible the necessity 

 for arbitrary docking or rebuke or discharge; and (3) which consequently substitutes 

 for such forms of discipline a true spirit of cooperation between employer and employee 

 for mutual advantage. The best spirit and the best intelligence of all concerned may 

 well combine for the most advantageous use of materials, having in view both the dimi- 

 nution of waste and the improvement of quality of product. It is futile to imagine 



