(_k_) The Ford System 109 Appendix: A FLOATING WAGE RATE 111 A RATIONAL WAGES SYSTEM PART I GENERAL PRINCIPLES CHAPTER I DIFFERENT METHODS OF PAYMENT OF WAGES The war has brought the question of efficiency and efficiency methods to the front very prominently, and there is a consensus of opinion that it will be necessary to adopt them very widely if we are to retain our present commercial and national position in the world. The object of such methods is to obtain increased production. It is well known that the worker can produce far more than he does, but from his point of view there is no particular reason why he should attempt to do so under ordinary working conditions. The circumstances are altered entirely if increased production results in higher wages with better conditions of work, and if the worker does not get too tired or suffer any injury to his health in the process. The Reward System described herein satisfies these conditions, but before giving the description it will be well to examine briefly the existing methods of wage payment and point out their advantages and disadvantages. (_a_) DAY WORK. This is the commonest method of wage payment in the United Kingdom at the present time. For every hour worked, the worker gets so many pence--10d., 11d., 1s. an hour, or whatever it may be. As wages are paid weekly, it is usual to reckon them at so many shillings per week. In any factory, nearly all the men who work at the same kind and class of labour get approximately the same wage. In union shops they do all get exactly the same wage. Before the days of the trade-unions each man was paid according to his skill, as nearly as possible; a good workman received more wages than a poor one. But the trade-unions have stopped that as far as they can. In any one trade all workers, good, bad, and indifferent, are now paid the same wages. The day work system, although in a great many cases it cannot be avoided, is extremely unsatisfactory. On the one hand, the employer endeavours to get all he can out of the worker while paying him the least possible wages. Speaking generally, the employer looks upon the worker as a necessary evil, and treats him accordingly. The worker must produce as much as possible and receive as low wages as possible. No consideration is given to the question of what wages will buy. On the other hand, the worker retaliates by doing just as much work as will enable him to keep his job, and no more. Many workers spend as much energy and time in avoiding work as they do in executing it, and it is absolutely necessary for the employer to have a foreman hustling round all the time to see that a reasonable amount of work is done.