454

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

September 8, 1916.

repetition work, .and as a consequence is working on piece
or bonus, and this is obviously unfair. For example, a
man may have the setting up and adjusting of a number
of machines on repetition work, and he often makes less
money than the less skilled men under him who are on
piece or bonus, although their nominal irate of wages is
less <bhan his.

Again, highly skilled erectors who go outside the works
to erect machinery, often worth thousands of pounds, and
set it to work are only paid on time, and often make less
money than their fellows who are on piece inside the
works.

The adjusting of piece prices is a most difficult one.
They should be adjusted so as to be fair both to master
and man, but too often such fixing of prices is left to
subordinate officials who have in many cases their own
axe to grind. There should in every works be a special
department for such fixing of prices, and, once a price is
fixed it should not be altered without good reason. The
practice of cutting prices by the masters in the past is, in
the opinion of the writer, largely responsible for the
present limitation of output by the men about which we
hear so much. There is a rule that if a man makes more
than time and half or time and third, the price of the job
is to be cut. If the price has been fairly fixed, why
should it be reduced because the man makes large wages
due to his skill and industry? The larger the output from
his vice or lathe the better for the master, as he is getting
a larger output from his plant with a certain capital
expenditure, and thereby establishment charges are
reduced. This is especially the case in machine work, as
the hourly value of the machine employed often far
exceeds the wages of the workman employed.

A fair rating for machine tools is 4d. per hour per £100
value, and as the time rating of the man is generally
about 9d., it is easily seen that if the average value of
the machine tools exceed £225 machine charges exceed
time wages, and the average value of machine tools is
generally largely in excess of this figure—in fact, often
about double it. It is, therefore, obvious that it is much
more important to get large output than to pay small
wages.

The result of this “ time and half ” rule its that a good
man by working up to the limit of his capacity “ spoils
the job ” for the next man who comes along, and may
not be of the same calibre as the first man. It has, there"-
fore, been found advisable and necessary by the workmen
to limit the output of all men to a certain standard, and
this results in the end by the pace being set by the
slowest man on a particular job.

A fair bonus system is perhaps the ideal way of paying
men, but here, again, although the times for a job are
supposed to be fixed and unalterable, in too many cases
they have been altered by various devices, and as a result
the system is looked on with suspicion by the workman.

Gradually, bit by bit the pernicious doctrine that the
less work done by a man the more employment there will
be has grown up, he not seeing that the cheaper an article
can be produced the larger will be the sale for it, and the
better it will be able to compete with the products, not
only of other producers in this country, but of those
abroad. And also that very cheapness, combined with
good quality, induces the sale for such articles to be
large..

Laziness is inherent in man, and on an average no man
will work unless compelled to do so, and still less -will
work his best unless there is a great inducement. This
is true not only of the working man, but of all other
classes. Therefore the policy of “ Ca’ canny ” has been
only too readily adopted on the ground not only that it
was pleasant for -the man himself, but also he believed
that it tended to the welfare of his fellow-workmen.

The writer has very reluctantly come to the conclusion
that the workman of to-day is not doing as much work
as was done some thirty years ago, when he was in the
shops, and not only this, but that time-keeping is not as
good. In this connection, however, it must be remem-
bered that excessive overtime inevitably leads to bad
timekeeping.

Bad timekeeping causes much more loss than that due
to the actual time lost, as not only does machinery and
other plant lie idle, but the disorganisation caused in a
works by lost time is most serious.

With the growth in strength of the trades unions,
which at first were for the legitimate object of seeing that
the workman got fair play, and providing out-of-work
and old-age benefits, etc., has grown up a system of
trades union officials who live by agitation, and whose
job would be gone if there were no supposed grievances
to agitate about. These men keep the labour world in a
constant state of agitation, and make the employers’ and
officials’ existence a burden to them by constant demands
of all sorts, many of them utterly impracticable and
unfair. When they cannot agitate against the employer
they agitate against another trades union, and thus end-
less disputes spring up on the demarcation of work.
Some of the worst strikes in the past have been due to
disputes between two trades unions.

Unless something can be done to bring master and man
together and make both work for the common good,
English trade must inevitably go down, and the supre-
macy that England has in the engineering of the world
will come to an end.

Nothing ever was a truer statement than that recently
made by Lord Joicey that this country, unless it pro-
duces as cheap or cheaper than other countries, cannot in
the long run keep her trade, and this is true in spite of
any tariff walls which may be set up. And if the present
state of affairs is maintained of unscientific management
and obsolete machinery, combined with limitation of out-
put and high wages, or, in other words, high cost of pro-
duction, we must, sooner or later, go to the wall.

What is really wanted is common honesty and common
sense on both sides, for one side is as bad as the other at
present.

And now about the official, who is in all grades from
the manager down to the foreman, and who comes

between the master and the man. Unless he is treated
fairly by the master, and unless he treats his men fairly,
there is sure to be friction and loss of efficiency. lie
must also work with his fellow-officials, who move in
lines more or less parallel to his, and here, to prevent
jealousies and to prevent the more unscrupulous among
them taking unfair advantages, demarcation of each
official’s duties and work is most important. This is a
point often omitted to be taken sufficiently into account
in the organisation of a works, and often causes most
disastrous results. The duties of each man should be
clearly defined by the master, and no interference with
those of others tolerated. The master also should
remember that the official has no trades union or similar
organisation to protect him, and should act accordingly.
Much more could be said about the relations of the
official, both with his fellow-official who is on the same
level as himself, with his master who is above him, and
the workman who is under him, but time forbids. On all
three sides much improvement could be effected. The
fact remains, however, that for success it is essential that
all from the apprentice to the head of the firm should
work as one homogeneous whole.

Apart from the consideration set out above, combina-
tions among the firms employed in any one trade are
most essential for the well-being of that trade. It is by
such combination that much of the progress made of late
years by our competitors has been effected. Some of
these combinations have been international, and at least
two such in the engineering trade before the war were so.
These now, of course, are, and it is expected will be after
the war, confined to the Allied, and possibly to neutral,
countries, but such combinations, whether among all the
engineering firms in one district or among firms employed
in one particular trade, to be successful must be worked
fairly to all members, and the larger firms must not
override the smaller, as, it is regrettable to say, has been
done in combinations of employers in some districts.
For example, in a district where there is one firm very
much larger than any of the others, it its not unknown for
it to act the bully and insist on everything being done as
would suit its requirements, regardless of the rights of
others. And, further, such combinations are, unless
directed by men with broad minds and able to take a wide
view of things, liable, especially in case of emergency, to
do much harm.

If the armament ring in this country had taken such a
view when it was found what an enormous supply of
munitions was required, it is doubtful if there would have
been such a shortage as there has been. Hundreds of
firms were willing and anxious to help in the production
of munitions, but when they offered their services they
were met in many cases with a blank refusal, and in all
cases with little encouragement. And when, under
pressure from the Government, the ring accepted outside
help, in many cases the conditions imposed on the sub-
contractors were unfair in the extreme, apparently the
whole idea of the ring being to make all the profit they
could out of the troubles of the Empire. It has been just
as difficult to persuade the armament ring to give up what
they thought was their monopoly-and to bring in outside
works to help in the production of munitions as it has
been to persuade the trades unions to forego trade
customs and to enable outside sources of labour to be
employed, such as women and other unskilled labour.
But both have had to do it. In other words, “ dilution
of works ” has been as difficult to effect as “ dilution of
labour,” and the position of both the armament ring and
of the workman would have been very different if they
had consented freely to it when it became obviously
necessary for the safety of the Empire.

Combination among workmen is admittedly a necessity
if they are to have fair play, but combination among
employers has come later, and is equally a necessity.

At present most of the principal federations of
employers deal only with wages questions and questions
affecting labour, but they require to be extended so as
to take in all branches of the business of engineering.
Labour has long seen the importance of federation; it is
now for Capital to do the same. One of the great diffi-
culties has been that certain firms would not join, and a
very small proportion acting thus weakens the whole to a
much greater extent than the actual ratio of this small
proportion of the whole. It is easy to see how alive
Labour is to this by the constant trouble over the non-
union question, and this is well put in the notice
addressed last March to the transport workers of the
Mersey district, “ To be outside a union is to be disloyal
not only to your own class, but to yourselves indivi-
dually.” What applies to labour also applies to firms,
for a firm -to be outside the Federation is to be disloyal,
not only to its fellow-firms, but to itself.

Such a state of affairs is not tolerated in some of the
countries competing with us, and it is questionable
whether action by the Government is not advisable.

An example of the mischief done by a few who would
not fall into line with the many is seen by the necessity
for the Act compelling the early closing of shops one day
a week. The great majority were ready to close, but the
action of a small minority prevented their doing so, and
in the end compulsion had to be- used on the minority.
Legislation has not been necessary to prevent “ black-
legging ” in the labour world, since other methods have
been used which have been practically successful, but it
is quite possible it may be necessary to use compulsion to
make firms toe the line.

Such combinations are not only for labour questions,
but also for all other subjects affecting the engineering
industry at large, and more especially the special
industries in which any one firm deals. Thus they
resolve themselves into general federations of all
engineering industries and minor ones dealing with
particular trades.

The former deal chiefly with labour questions and
questions affecting the industry as a whole, the latter
with those affecting any particular trade.

Among the questions coming up to be considered by

the latter class is the standardisation of specifications
and conditions of contracts, as well as in some cases the
adjusting of prices to avoid unfair competition and to put
the whole trade on a paying basis. Much has been done
in this direction with most advantageous results in
certain cases, but much more remains to be done if this
country is going to hold its place in the world.

The necessities of research work have already been
dealt with, and by -the pooling of such research work
enormous advantages in any one trade could be obtained.
Such pooling of information has been effected with most
beneficial results, especially in the chemical trade abroad.
Any workable scheme which would enable this to be done
and get. over the jealousies between one firm and another
would be of enormous benefit to the trade in general.

Another thing that must not be lost sight of is the
urgent need of improving our educational system. It is
little short of a disgrace that the older universities are
closed to those without a knowledge of Latin and Greek.

Languages are of the greatest importance to an
engineer, but not dead languages but live ones. And
these should be properly taught, so that the student
should not only be able to read and write them, but also
to speak and understand them. It is quite a different
knowledge of a language to be able to read, write, speak,
or understand it. Many people can read a language with-
out being able to write, speak, or understand it, and,
conversely, it is not uncommon to meet people who can
speak and understand a language without being able to
any large extent to read or write it. And it is only in live
languages that a man is trained to speak and understand
a language.

Why is it that we are so wedded to the dead languages?
There is, of course, the tradition that such are necessary
for a liberal education, and there is the argument that
modern languages are not as good a training for the mind.
Granted that they are not quite so good from the point
of view of learning to read and write them, does not the
fact that they can also be taught as a live language to be
spoken and understood make them on the whole the best
educationally for a man? This is entirely apart from the
fact that modern languages are useful and ancient useless
to the man in commercial work. There is, of course,
bitter opposition from that most conservative man, the
schoolmaster, and one great reason is that it is much
easier and cheaper to get a man to teach Latin and Greek
than modern languages which have to be taught orally.
The teaching of Latin and Greek as it is usually taught
has been standardised to the last degree, and as a result
they can be taught by the “ semi-skilled ” man, and a
“skilled” man is not necessary, to use engineers’
phraseology. In fact, teaching of Latin and Greek is a
pure “ repetition job.” At the same time no education
is complete unless science is combined with languages
and also literature, and here Liets one great danger of
modern technical education.

And after the boy has left school and enters the shops
more facilities should be given to enable him to not only
keep up but continue his education. In the shops and
drawing office,too often, the boy is left to pick up a know-
ledge of his trade as best he can. The apprentice who asks
questions its often looked on as a nuisance, and requests
for information are generally met by a blank refusal or
worse. Often the foreman or chief draughtsman is afraid
to answer questions for fear of being charged with giving
away so-called “ trade secrets,” but an immense deal of
information can be given to an apprentice without doing
so.

Evening classes are all very good in their way, but
more facilities should be given for the diligent apprentice
to attend day classes, and this can be arranged in various
ways if the employer has a will to do it. A thing that at
present often prevents boys desirous of educating them-
selves getting on is the fact that overtime is allowed as
soon as a boy is 18, and often he is compelled to work
overtime regardless of classes that he ought to be
attending.

It is important to remember that the boy of to-day is
the man of to-morrow.

One complaint is that after a lot of trouble is taken
about a boy he leaves after a few years and goes to
another employer. The good of the trade in general must
be considered, and a man who has had experience of
various classes of work is generally a much more valuable
man than one whose knowledge is confined to one class
only. In any case the other employer gets the benefit of
what has been done by the first, and thus the trade in
general benefits.

It is felt that this is a very imperfect review of things
as they are at present, but if this address induces all
classes engaged in engineering to consider how things
can be bettered, the author feels that a part, at all events,
of his object has been attained.

ECONOMIC SCIENCE SECTION.

In the Economic Science and Statistics Section, Prof.
A. W. Kirkaldy. Professor of Finance, Birmingham
University, in his presidential address, dealt with
reconstruction after the war, and made an attempt to
forecast our industrial future. He remarked that in
every sphere the war had worked, and would yet work,
great changes, but in the economic sphere the effects
that could already be noted far exceeded those in any
other. When the war ended it would bo incumbent-
on us to redouble our activities, to increase the pro-
ductivity of mill, factory, and field: for so long as there
was a deficiency in excess of what we were accustomed
to, so long must some of us. and especially the poorer
members of the community, feel the pinch occasioned
by this devastating war. We should emerge from the
war a better disciplined, a more serious people, better
equipped, mentally and physically, to cope with new
conditions. We had learned what hitherto had only
been suspected, or. at most, known to a few. that we
had not produced anything like our industrial maximum.

Speaking of what may be expected in the commercial