THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st, 1917. DAY WAGES AND BONUS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 21 September 1917, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st, 1917. DAY WAGES AND BONUS.

In view of the present industrial -upheaval in the Commonwealth, which is reported to bo duo in the iirst instance to the introduction of a system of recording the amount of work done by workers in Government Railway Workshop*, it is interesting to |note the experience of the authorities in the United States of America with reference t-6"the operation of the day wages and premium systems. !fho United States Administration anticipated the need for a plentiful supply of munitions, and took early action in the necessary direction. The stop watch and the premium system Mere put on at the Government, arsenal. When the Army Bill came, before Congress in 'February, 1917, the politicians inserted a clause against speeding up. That Bill failed in the Senate. The .Naval and Military authorities demanded the establishment in the Government arsenals of the premium system, which prevails in private establishments. When the (Goyerrimen!; abolished it—to suit the politician—General Crozier, Chief of the Ordnance Department, gave evidence of the results of its abolition. He took 49 instnnoes*»t "random under the boiius system n.tid under the wage system. Under the bonus system a worker "retaped" the base of 4.7 inch shells, at the rate of 100 in ten hours. When the wage system was. ordered, next; day it took him 22,9 fours 'to, do the 100. This, Ik> said, was only a tvpical. instance of the; whole effects of the change. He ■ then ■'gay.o . an* instance of the worst The-,■job was cutting a slot in 4,7 in hasO. slugs. Under the bonus system wOi'kinen, did 100 o.f them in °i(! hours. Under' the.day rate thov did 20 in : '2'2 Ivours. That ; is.Jtt 00k about four and 'one-fifth'' times*'more to cut the sjots under the wage system than it did muhr, the bonus system'. ■ Then again, the cost of-pro- [ duction decrca,so(l 2.7 times. under the bonus system, hut, moleased 2.2 times after its prohibition. What cost a dollar under one system, cost 2.2 dollars under the othor. These facts sneak for themselves. Thev indicate clearly that the s;vstom of day wages, under which, m.on are nuid a minimum and maximum rate, doesjrtot tend to stimulate production.