average of about $2.15 worth of material spent for each dollar spent for labor, down to $1.55 in 1914 and $1.05 in 1915. That this drop is due to the greater economy and thought in the use of materials is indicated by the fact that our maintenance crew was not very much reduced, the saving coming almost entirely in the use of materials. Amount of Material 50,000 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 The drop in production in 1914-1915 was due to war conditions which were unavoidable. It is a significant fact, however, that in spite of this drop in production the maintenance-material cost per ton of pulp was reduced to approximately half the amount under the conditions of higher production during the two preceding years. In none of this work did we pay bonuses to a superintendent, department head, or workman; our salaries and wages were high, but 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 payments were all on Year. FIG. 3. SHOWING CONCRETE RESULTS OF COST SHEETS a monthly, weekly, or hourly basis. The increased effort, therefore, came entirely from a desire within the individual to be productive. Of course this sort of creative effort produced great changes in operating conditions; we increased our yearly production from 42,000 tons to 111,000 tons without adding to the number of digesters for cooking the pulp, or wet machines for handling the finished product, and we changed our quality from the poorest to the very best. Due to the intelligent suggestion which came from our men all over the plant we were able to make very radical changes in the manufacturing processes. Entirely new methods of preparing our wood, making acid, bleaching, etc., were created, all of which were paid for out of the earnings. I maintain that this was all the result of the freedom our men were experiencing because they were working in an environment which stimulated thinking. They had ample opportunity constantly to increase their knowledge of the underlying natural laws of the process and were therefore able to realize the joy which comes from a conscious mastery of their part of the process. This freedom to express one's individuality in constructive work according to law is the only real freedom, for freedom unrestrained by a consciousness of the universality of natural law leads to anarchy. We should never lose sight of the fact that the degree of conscious self-expression which the workman can attain is in direct proportion to the ability of the organization to measure, for his benefit, the impress of his personality upon it. The most democratic industrial plant, therefore, is the one which permits the fullest possible amount of individual freedom to each member irrespective of his position, and at the same time is so sensitively adjusted that it reflects immediately the effects of his actions. If his actions result in injury to others, he will see that as a part of the whole he himself must also suffer. I have made no attempt in this paper to touch upon our method of arriving at the proper financial compensation, as this is beyond the scope of the subject assigned to me. I feel that I should state, however, that in our mills in Canada, where the same scientific recording of operations is being developed, our wage rates are adjusted each spring after careful discussion with the representatives of our local labor organizations. This has proved to be a very just and satisfactory method, for the rates thus determined are really a consensus of opinion of both employer and employee, and once the wage question is disposed of, all are free to devote their energies to the intelligent solution of manufacturing problems. Constant agitation of the question of financial remuneration only detracts from the work, and our experience has invariably been that there will be plenty of incentive to productive effort if the working environment is such that the workman can express himself as an intelligent human being. Man is not an animal, but a free, self-determining mental center of consciousness, whose reason for existence is that the universal life may be able to deal with a particular situation in time and space and, by this means, be enabled to evolve a material universe organized to express the one great individual life of which we are all a part. In conclusion let me say that I am well aware that to some of you this may seem like pure philosophical speculation, far removed from the practical affairs of everyday life. I have said nothing, however, that I cannot back up by any number of additional illustrations, and my hope is that the examples given will stimulate others to make similar investigations, so that we can fulfill our mission in this country by evolving an industrial philosophy which will have for its ultimate aim the continuous unfoldment of the latent powers in man. ROBERT B. WOLF NEW YORK XVIII APPRENTICESHIP IN THE METAL TRADES1 HREE problems of fundamental importance enter into indus the man problem. machine problem, The last might be called the main problem, for it is the most important of the three. It is also the most difficult to deal with, and the most neglected; perhaps it is the most neglected because it is the most difficult. Yet on its proper solution hinges largely the success of an industrial enterprise and its capacity to maintain itself in competition with enterprises of similar character. All manufacturers can buy materials of approximately the same kind and grade at about the same price; they can also purchase or, if need be, design and make, or have made, machines of like productive capacity and cost as compared with those used by their competitors. Moreover, they can study the successful manufacturing methods of another concern and adopt them in full or in part and improve upon them. Yet when it comes to securing and maintaining the personnel and effectiveness of an industrial organization, only intelligent effort through many years will enable one manufacturer to attain advantages in this respect which another may possess by virtue of the efficiency of his human organization. Efforts to teach the young man, whether young in age or experience, the knowledge or skill already acquired by his older brother are as old as mankind. With the social and economic changes which developed during the centuries, the character of the problem varied, changing at first from the need of a purely vocational to that of a more pronounced scholastic training. During the last century, however, the vocational aspect again forged prominently to the front, especially in countries such as the 1 From an address substantially as delivered before the Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers, June, 1916. Revised by the author, 1920. United States, in which industrial activities rapidly began to predominate. The system of education had perforce to accommodate itself to the new requirements. Thus the teaching of the mechanical arts developed on a large scale, and a marked impetus was given it in the United States by the industrial reconstruction period following the Civil War. As new industrial enterprises were started, and as older ones developed in size, their owners made it their concern to teach young men the practical work in which they themselves were engaged. Soon, under the influence of American genius, industry expanded at such a rapid pace that it became necessary to specialize in industrial processes to a larger degree than ever before. Somewhat misled by the immediate results of specialization, which permitted the effective employment of many semiskilled and even unskilled workmen, employers came to believe that the need for well-trained all-round skilled mechanics was now less important, and they discontinued to a large extent their efforts for systematic trade training. But these employers failed to consider that the greater specialization of industry on the basis of wholesale production, and utilization of multitudes of workers, required a large number of highly trained men to lead and direct this ever-growing industrial army. They did not realize that the more complex machinery, through which specialization was largely made possible, also called for a higher type of allround mechanics to design, construct, and install this machinery. About that time, also, manual training was being introduced into the public-school system, and employers readily shirked their responsibility for the training of craftsmen by shifting it to the public school, without, however, any assurance that the schools would be able to develop quickly and effectively the required type of industrial workers. American employers soon became disillusioned. The exhibition in Chicago in 1893 displayed the products of the mechanical skill of foreign nations so impressively as to awaken American employers to the necessities of the situation. Once more they realized that final responsibility for training skilled workers must rest upon them, even though they might, as they should, take justified advantage of the valuable help which public schools could render. The thought was born anew among employers that only through the revival of the apprenticeship system, modified to suit new industrial conditions, |