Part [.---An Australian Study. 
Cuapter I. 
AMERICA AND EFFICIENCY ENGINEERING. 
American forestry is the most recent forestry. 
Necessary to its complete appreciation is a comprehension of the forces 
which have produced it and the influences which have shaped it. 
America is a hothouse of ruthless capitalism and fierce competition. Life 
is largely dollar-driven effort. Development has been forced; at some cost 
‘in human material! 
Whatever the price, the plucked fruit is ready for serving in Australia, 
while the thorns remain on the American tree; or in the flesh of the gatherers. 
“100 per cent efficiency ” is the national philosophy. “The devil takes 
the hindmost ” is the postscript—which is often the chief part of a letter. 
If anything, that of Australia has been “The devil take efficiency and 
we'll look after the hindmost.” 
A fusion of the two philosophies of America and Australia might lead to 
happy results—in other things besides forestry. 
Bricklaying is as old as the hills. It has been handed down from 
generation to generation as a heritage of the past. It was assumed that 
nothing further remained to be learnt concerning it. 
Under its magic glass, America discovered that the copied and inherited 
bricklaying consisted of eighteen distinct movements. It assayed each one of 
those movements, discarded thirteen as unnecessary and misdirected effort, 
and on the remaining five it built up the new synthetic bricklaying. 
Under the old methods, a bricklayer could lay 100 bricks an hour. 
Some unions restricted the output to 375 per day—and 275 when working 
‘for the Government. 
The new bricklayer averaged 350 bricks per hour, or 2,800 per day! 
At the Bethlehem Steel Works, the pig iron gang for many years had 
been handling an average of about 124 tons per day per man. 
A discarding of lost energy, and each man thereafter averaged 47 tons. 
In a bicycle factory, the work of inspecting bicycle balls was being done 
by 120 girls. : 
The efficiency engineer appeared. He reduced the hours of labour from 
63 per week to 47. He gave each girl four recreation periods daily. He 
raised the wages 80 per cent. to 100 per cent. He insisted on an accuracy 
‘two-thirds greater. 
Finally, he cut out the “lost motions,” and thereafter 35 of the girls did 
the entire work of the 120! 
In Australia and New Zealand, the cost of afforestation works out on an 
average at about £7 per acre. 
America does the same thing for 25s., with lls. per day the minimum 
wage | 
