In the writer's judgment, the Towne-Halsey plan is a great invention,
and, like many other great inventions, its value lies in its simplicity.
This plan has already been successfully adopted by a large number of
establishments, and has resulted in giving higher wages to many workmen,
accompanied by a lower labor cost to the employer, and at the same time
materially improving their relations by lessening the feeling of
antagonism between the two.
This system is successful because it diminishes soldiering, and this
rests entirely upon the fact that since the workman only receives say
one-third of the increase in pay that he would get under corresponding
conditions on piece work, there is not the same temptation for the
employer to cut prices.
After this system has been in operation for a year or two, if no cuts in
prices have been made, the tendency of the men to soldier on that
portion of the work which is being done under the system is diminished,
although it does not entirely cease. On the other hand, the tendency of
the men to soldier on new work which is started, and on such portions as
are still done on day work, is even greater under the Towne-Halsey plan
than under piece work.
To illustrate: Workmen, like the rest of mankind, are more strongly
influenced by object lessons than by theories. The effect on men of such
an object lesson as the following will be apparent.
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