FOREST LABOR 47 
maximum standard for a day's work, above which a bonus will 
not be paid. In this manner the workmen will be encouraged 
to do a good day's work, but will not have an incentive to overtax 
themselves physically. 
Felling and log-making bonus systems on the Pacific Coast have 
been developed along lines quite different from those for yard- 
ing and transporting logs. One system has taken as a base for 
daily output a given number of square feet cross-section of cuts 
made. This method is more equitable than payment on the 
basis of the number of feet log scale cut, since it eliminates the 
lengths of logs into which the bole is divided. The general 
procedure is to establish a certain number of square feet of end 
area as a day's work, for which a standard wage is paid, and to 
pay for all output above this base at a rate per square foot equal 
to one-half that paid for the base output. Thus, if the daily 
base is 70 square feet, the daily guaranteed wage S2.80, and the 
daily average output 85 square feet, the faller or backer would 
receive ^^ -^ '- — or 30 cents per day bonus. The work of 
each crew or man is scaled daily and the output, in square feet, 
calculated from the data obtained. The results have proved 
satisfactory, since inefficient workmen who cannot earn a bonus 
soon leave, greater output per man or crew is secured, and the 
workmen make a higher wage than is possible under a straight day 
system. 
Objections to a bonus system for felling timber have been raised, 
because there is a tendency towards increased speed which often 
causes more breakage and waste, since output, rather than quality, 
is the goal.^ 
The common form of payment for certain forms of logging 
work, such as felling and log-making, in some parts of the country, 
especially in the South, is on the basis of the thousand feet, log 
scale. Where this method is not used the basis may be the log, 
' A novel suggestion for the elimination of the waste due to breakage and 
other causes is the payment of a bonus to the fallers for all timber saved over 
and above the average amount. For example, if the average felling loss due 
to breakage is 10 per cent of the merchantable volume of the stand, the felling 
crew will be paid 1 per cent of the stumpage value for all stumpage saved 
below the base. Thus, if a crew had 5 per cent loss only, their bonus would 
be 5 per cent of the stumpage value of the timber saved. See Canada Lumber- 
man and Wood Worker, Toronto, Ontario, Jan. 1, 1916, page 36. 
