Tasks in the engineering and mechanical ing, so well given in Mr. Gilbreth's testimony. fields the officials must of necessity hand Ordinarily a brick-mason makes eighteen over to lower officials, who have had little different sets of motions in laying a single or no more training than their superiors in brick. He bends over, in the first place, to the possibilities of scientific management in pick up one brick, and in lifting it he lifts ten their special provinces. Still lower, foremen pounds of brick and about 100 pounds of and workmen are absolutely untrained in brick-mason-the upper part of his own body. the scientific use of labor and of time. IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOP MANAGEMENT In laying 1000 bricks, in a day's work, he lifts 100,000 pounds of brick-mason. This was an obvious waste of labor. So a common laborer was hired to put the bricks where the The criticism of the shippers was there- masons would not have to stoop for them. fore directed at the conduct of the many Another thing is that when a mason picks up departments of the railroads outside of the a hand-made brick, which is always a little traffic, which are essentially the same as in thicker at one side than on the other, he all private manufacturing and constructing tosses the brick up, turning it over until his enterprises. They asserted that the rail- touch tells him which side is the top, before roads, in their capacity of manufacturers he puts it in place in the wall. The cure for and construction engineers showed the same this was to have all the bricks piled top up inefficiency that characterizes American in- before they were brought to the masons. dustry as a whole,—the same failure to get Then, further, everyone has seen the mason a reasonably high return from outlay on tap his brick several times to settle it into the labor and materials that is the chief cause mortar. More waste of time. The cure was of the high cost of living, and of the rising to make the mortar thinner, so that the cost of transportation. In order to make weight of the brick would settle it into the their criticism complete they called wit- right position. This was scientific managenesses who told what they had seen accom- ment-"motion study." It raised the day's plished by scientific management in a va- work for the average brick-mason from 1000 riety of trades and unskilled occupations up to 2700 bricks a day, and in individual which covered every activity of the rail- cases to much higher figures. The mason roads outside of the traffic. They showed made only six motions where he used to make that in machine shops, in textile mills, in eighteen. printing shops, in bricklaying, and in the handling of unskilled labor the scientific study of what motions were necessary, and what time these motions should consume,- So much concerning the details by which what organization and planning of work be- efficiency has been increased in various inforehand was required to make this detailed dustries has already been printed in the study fruitful,—they showed that all these daily press that there is no need to repeat steps, gathered into a scientific system of those details further, fascinating and inspiring management adapted to the particular in- as they are to the alert mind. But a word is dustry, had largely reduced the cost of pro- needed in regard to the witnesses who testiduction, while at the same time increasing fied, and equally in regard to some men who the wages of the workers and the profits of could have given most important evidence the manufacturers. The shippers argued but did not. Those who did testify conthat since these things had been done in cerning the effect of scientific management private shops they could be done equally in improving the condition of their own well in railroad shops; that they would re- enterprises included James Mapes Dodge, duce the necessary outlay of the railroads of the Link-Belt Company of Philadelphia, just as they had done that of private owners. Chicago, and Indianapolis; and Henry R. And, finally, that with scientific manage- Towne, president of the famous Yale & ment of their departments the railroads Towne works at Stamford, Conn. Both would not need the added tribute from the these men are past presidents of the Amerpublic which they now demand. A CASE OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT What scientific management means is admirably illustrated by the story of bricklay SOME OF THE MEN WHO GAVE TESTIMONY ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, and are of the highest standing, both as professional men and as manufacturers. It was in the Link-Belt shops in Philadelphia that "high-speed steel" for machine tools,-one of the most important of modern advances WHAT THE SHIPPERS DEMAND ས སྐྱ in machine work-was first developed into should be remembered that the unions are practical usefulness. The other witnesses held together by the interest of the members. from the shops themselves included vice- No union could long stand the strain of oppresident Hathaway, of the Tabor Company, posing a maximum wage that is within the of Philadelphia, a machine shop operated reach of every member. under the Taylor system; Mr. Scheel, head of the planning department of the Brighton. Mills at Passaic, N. J., where Henry L. Gantt has accomplished most remarkable Now, in the words of the catechism, results with foreign operatives of all sources; "What should we learn from these things?' and Frank B. Gilbreth, the contractor, who As for the immediate affair of the railroads has revolutionized the practice of brick- and their freight rates, that is an issue of laying. Of the professional efficiency engi- government regulation. Most persons agree neers there were two; Henry L. Gantt and. on the necessity of some regulation. The Harrington Emerson. Mr. Emerson was the immediate point is, "How." In private only one who has been long associated with business, when a manufacturer finds his railroad work. He introduced scientific profits disappearing because of the activities management into the Topeka shops of the of his competitors, he must cut down his Santa Fé, and there his methods effected a costs or go out of business. In the railroad saving of five million dollars in three years, besides putting an end to chronic and critical labor troubles which had come to a head in the disastrous strike of 1903-04. LABOR UNIONS DO NOT OPPOSE world, when profits grow too small, the roads ask the government for permission to take more money from the public. This is easier than putting into effect the scientific management which is the salvation of the private manufacturer. The roads have only to assert that they have made every possible One hasty and misleading attack on scien- economy, and thereafter stand pat. What tific management that should be "nailed" does the interest and welfare of the public is the assertion that organized labor stands require? Plainly the railroads must have an in the way. In the actual experience of adequate net income; there is not much those who testified at the hearings in Wash- doubt that on the whole their net income is ington this has not been the case. Mr. Gil- now rather low. The public interest requires breth, who has done construction work under that the railroads should be prosperous, the scientific system in such a labor strong- since they cannot otherwise give the service hold as San Francisco, said that he dealt by the public demands. It also requires that preference with unions and union men. The the rates charged by the railroads should unions were at first inclined to be suspicious, not be increased if better management of but as soon as they understood the plan the railroads can make the present income there was no opposition. The reason is serve all necessary purposes. It is on this plain. The primary object of the labor point that the shippers have presented to union is to get work for all its members, the Interstate Commerce Commission the and to secure for them a minimum daily tangible results of scientific management, wage. It is the practical essence of scien- and have asked the Commission to detertific management that it offers to every mine by their own independent inquiry worker, as a minimum, the prevailing day whether the railroads are getting for the wage of his locality. Then, in addition, money they spend the returns which scienscientific management shows him how to tific management secures in private underearn a bonus in addition to that daily wage takings. If railroad expenditure is inefficient by performing his work more efficiently. by these practicable standards, the shippers He does not work more hours, but the effort contend that the rate increases should be he makes is all work, is really productive. refused until the efficiency of railroad exIt is a safe prediction that were scientific management generally introduced into our industries, the efforts of the unions would be restricted to maintaining the minimum wage. In a New York press room, under a strong union, the pressmen get their regular lesson, a lesson that will be bitterly re$24 a week, and some of them earn bonuses sisted, but will ultimately be learned. amounting to as much as $7 a week. It present the country is awaiting the first penditures has been brought up to par. THE BEARING ON TARIFF REVISION Tariff revision is the subject of the next At ADVANTAGE OF THE SMALL PLANT steps in a "scientific" revision of the tariff. whether the cost of waste and inefficiency The announced plan is that the Tariff Com- shall be avoided by the manufacturers and mission shall discover the cost of production the railroads through scientific management of various articles in this country and abroad, of their undertakings; or whether the cost and that on this basis of cost figures, import of this waste and inefficiency shall be loaded duties shall be so adjusted as to "equalize upon the public. It is for the public to say costs" to the American producer and to whether the basis of tariff revision shall be assure him in addition to this equalizing of efficiency costs, or inefficiency costs. cost a "reasonable profit." Now, in view of the scientific management testimony at Washington, it is interesting to consider what the Tariff Commission ought to accept as Another matter of consequence upon the cost, say, of a piece of gray goods. One which the results of scientific management manufacturer will give a certain figure; has thrown a welcome light is the future of then, perchance, another manufacturer who the small, independent manufacturer; and has introduced scientific management into on this point a few words from Mr. Emerhis mill will give a figure 20 to 30 per cent. son's testimony are worth quoting. "Presilower. This percentage of reduction in the dents of large manufacturing concerns have cost of product has been obtained in Amer- told me," he said, "that they have been ican cotton mills with a mere beginning finding it absolutely impossible in some lines upon scientific management. to compete with the small, independent Here we are, then, in regard to the tariff manufacturer." The reason lies in a littlein exactly the same situation in which the appreciated fact, namely the loss of effishippers find themselves with regard to the cièncy, and hence the increase in cost of increase in freight rates. The cotton manu- production, that attends complication befacturer has said, and this is history that yond a certain point. If in the great factory might be duplicated in hundreds of cases, each of ten operations in the production of "I know that those looms are not efficient, a certain article is done with 95 per cent. but what's the use of my replacing them efficiency, the final efficiency of that factory with better machines. If I put in new and is less than that of the smaller factory where better looms my competitors will do the the same article is turned out with fewer same thing, and I shall be no better off with separate steps, even through the separate regard to them." This, it should be re- steps in the smaller factory are of slightly peated, is the statement actually made by lower efficiency. Something less than ideal, a large cotton manufacturer, and it shows 100 per cent. efficiency must be accepted in pretty accurately where the great purchas- this world. So long as each dependent ing public comes in. If this man and his operation is 100 per cent. of the preceding competitors had put in more efficient looms operation, all goes well. But when successive they could have lowered the cost of their operations mean taking 95 per cent. of 95 product, and the price of it to the public, per cent. and so on, the simplicity of the though their own profits might have been small plant will always give it certain imno larger. The question therefore arises, portant advantages over the very large Will the public continue, in the shape of a plant. But the small plant must be efficient. tariff on imports, a protection or subsidy It would be outside the scope of this artiwhich can be shown to serve American cle to attempt any detailed discussion of the manufacturers, whether of cotton goods or paramount issue of the cost of living, from any other product, as an excuse for con- which freight rates and tariff imposts get tinuing in their factories policies and methods their only real importance. But it is worth which are inefficient, and which in the end while to ask the reader's attention to the impose upon the public a higher price for fact that of all possible causes of high prices articles of daily use than it is really necessary waste is the most potent; that scientific for the public to pay? Essentially, there is management has disclosed wastes reaching no difference in principle between this side an enormous aggregate, even now little realof the tariff and the railroad rate proposition. ized: and, finally, that scientific manageThe interests of labor are not at stake, for ment has presented the only workable means scientific management invariably means bet- yet devised for avoiding the greater part of ter wages. The issue appears to be simply this waste. THE PLATINUM AND NICKEL INDUSTRIES BY DAVID T. DAY (United States Geological Survey) M ARKET reports record regularly the nickel supply of the world, and, lacking "positions" of various commodities. Wharton's shrewd knowledge of trade prinThis word means, to the trade, the change in the amount needed by the world and the ability of the supply to meet it, and the resultant fluctuations in price. ciples has tried to force a great supply upon a market that does not exist. Wharton had already exhausted the expedient of reducing the price, and the trust resolved to expand nickel's usefulness. They pushed nickel steel At this moment the positions of two metals, platinum and nickel, are so unsatisfactory in every direction, but there has not been war that the industries are in critical condition. The causes of the unsatisfactory positions are so exactly reversed in the case of the two metals as to be of general interest. Both are due to failure of so-called "trust methods" to meet the peculiar conditions. The supply of nickel is too great, and the price has dropped from the once-upon-atime rate of $4 a pound to less than half a dollar. The market for platinum is too great, a famine is threatened, and the price has doubled in a year. For thirty years one strong personality, Joseph Wharton, a Quaker merchant of Philadelphia, ruled the nickel market in peace and prosperity, in spite of the fact that more nickel ores were known than could possibly be used. In fact, ores containing nickel and cobalt were mined for cobalt in Connecticut before the Revolution-even before nickel had been isolated as a metal. enough for the armor plates. For the arts c peace they reintroduced nickel in the utensils of the kitchen. Unfortunately, the tarif which let in their nickel also let in cheap tin, and kept out tin plates and by the aggressive work of St. Louis tin plate manufacturers tin ware was sold in the five and ten cent stores, which competed with nickel at fifty times the price. Then the Mellons put aluminum into the same field. The nickel trust, though backed with many millions in capital, and vitally interested, has not so cut the price as to lead to a division of the utensil trade in its favor. Neither has it reintroduced nickel-coated wares to compete with tin, though Wharton's assistant, Fleitmann, showed the way many years ago. Wharton died a few years ago and the nickel trade needs not a trust but a merchant. Platinum, on the contrary, is too useful for the supply. It is still indispensable in Wharton ruled partly by being a great incandescent electric bulbs, and a certain metallurgist and improving the smelting art quantity is needed for the utensils of chemical until his nickel was the purest known, but industry and for laboratories. As these are chiefly by his untiring vigilance as a merchant. increasing very rapidly, the consumption of He ruled until foreign ores of New Caledonia platinum increases, and the supply grows and of Canada pressed their demands. They less, because the deposits are few. Nickel, finally entered by beating down the tariff, on the other hand, occurs universally. It has against Wharton's vigorous protest. The been detected as far out in the universe as the Canadian nickel was largely owned by citizens of the United States residing in Cleveland, Ohio. Their plea was that the United States needed the nickel for armor plate. The plea succeeded. Wharton closed the only considerable nickel mine in the United States and submissively changed his activity from mining and smelting nickel ores to making government nickel steel at his Bethlehem Iron Works. His reign passed to the International Nickel Company, which controls the sun and in meteorites. It accompanies iron and is detected in refined copper. Its places of accumulation, as valuable ores, are many. But one can count the platinum deposits on one's hand. Russia ranks first in platinum production, and benefits by convict labor and the developed skill of many years. Lately, American gold dredges help to eke out a supply from the rapidly decreasing stores there. Colombia, South America, comes next, but there the adventurous whites who have left the small, scattered deposits, which are large the waning gold fevers to risk the swamp in the aggregate. It is a "poor man's propofevers have been failures as miners. Third in sition" where the miner must know how to rank as a producer of platinum is the United deal with and save by-products. But the States, and here again platinum has taken Western people deal with the main chance. refuge in an unsettled country. The west They are nowhere educated to the doccoast of northern California, Oregon, and trine of by-products. The gold miner knows Washington has a fringe of settlements of less of platinum than the hog raiser does fisher folk at the water's edge, and behind of pepsin. this the testimony of the elk, panther, and Of the two industries, the outlook for platbear shows that the country is still wild and inum is better than for nickel. Never in our likely to remain so. But here is a heritage, history has a mineral want gone begging. heeded by no one, yet sufficient in all prob- The material is always supplied. In this case ability to give a good livelihood to a large the easy solution lies in the application of the population; to develop good roads and a de- beneficent paternalism with which the United mand for vegetables, grain, cattle, and espe- States Department of Agriculture has helped cially fruits, which grow well in one of the the farmer, until this feature is a recognized best and most agreeable climates in the essential part of national economy. The country. Then why not? Why does not same spirit has made itself evident in the platinum mining develop by the almost auto- creation of a Bureau of Mines. The oppormatic processes of industry? The answer is tunities for benefiting the mining fraternity simple. The platinum market is in the hands are few compared to those in agriculture, for of three or four concerns who have alternately the private mining engineer serves his clientcombined and competed for the already de- age well. But the platinum mine is too small veloped supply of Russia. Their overtures for the mining engineer, and one small mining to the simple people of the Oregon coast have experiment station on the Oregon coast will left the greater profit in the hands of the big do for platinum what agricultural experiment concerns so the Oregonians think-and it stations have done for the culture of alfalfa, costs too much to overcome their suspicions. dates, tobacco, and hemp; and the result will A trust would have difficulty in monopolizing be more generally appreciated. TAX REFORM IN BY CARL C. PLEHN (Professor of Finance, University of California, and Secretary of the State Commission on Revenues and Taxation) AT a code of law than a constitution, and leaves but little latitude for the legislator. However, despite the gloomy forecasts of the conservatives and of panic-stricken capitalists this folk-made constitution has not worked badly during its thirty years of life. But because of its many prohibitions, rather than its radical grants of power, it has required a steady stream of new folk-made law in the form of "constitutional amendments" to keep the ship of state moving. In his work on "The American Commonwealth" James Bryce refers to the constitution of California, adopted in 1879, as "that surprising instrument by which California is now governed." In the later editions Mr. Bryce prints extracts from this instrument with an apology for "being unable to find The article on "revenue and taxation" in space for the whole document." That con- this instrument prescribed rigidly, for all destitution was "surprising" not alone on ac- partments of government, the old general count of its length, nor the radical principles property tax. In this tax was embodied a embodied in it, but also on account of the novel device intended to compel the mortfreedom with which it admitted both the gagee to pay taxes on the mortgage,-advice views and the grammar of the people to the which soon became a dead letter and has just "fundamental law" of the land. It is more been entirely repealed. The same article |