WAGES
AS A MEANS OF INCREASING HUMAN EFFICIENCY
FIFTY years ago works on psychology
were devoted largely to discussion of
ideas and of concepts. To-day the
point of emphasis has changed, and we are
now paying much attention to a study of
``attitudes.'' It is doubtless important to
analyze my ideas or concepts, but it is of
much more importance to know my attitudes.
It is vital to know how to influence the ideas
of others; but to be able to influence their
attitudes is of still greater significance.
We all know in a general way what we
mean by an attitude, but it is difficult to define
or to comprehend it exactly. I have one attitude
towards a snake and a totally different
one towards my students. If when hunting
<p 132>
<p 133>
quail I happen upon a little harmless snake,
I find that I respond to the sight in a most
absurd manner. Dread and repulsion overcome
me. I can hardly restrain myself from
killing the snake, even though doing so will
frighten the birds I am hunting. I am predisposed
to react in a particular way towards
a snake. I sustain a particular attitude towards
it.
In the presence of my students I find that a
spirit of unselfish devotion and a desire to be
of assistance are likely to be uppermost.
That is to say, I sustain towards my students
an attitude of helpfulness, a predisposition
to react towards them in such a way that their
interests may be furthered. In fact, I find
that we all take particular attitudes towards
the people we know and towards every task of
our lives. These attitudes are very significant,
and yet they are often developed by circumstances
which made but little apparent impression
at the time, or may have been altogether
forgotten. I cannot recall, for instance,
the experience of my boyhood which developed
<p 134>
my present absurd attitude toward harmless
snakes.
When witnessing a play, my attitude of
suspicion towards a particular character may
have been promoted by means of music and
color, by means of the total setting of the play,
or by some other means which never seemed to
catch my attention. These concealed agencies
threw me into an attitude of suspicion, even
while I was not aware that such a result was
being attempted.
This modern conception of psychology
teaches us that in influencing others we are
not successful until we have influenced their
attitudes. Children in school do not draw
patriotism from mere information about their
country. Patriotism comes with the cultivation
of the proper attitude towards one's
native land.
_Success or failure in business is caused more
by mental attitude even than by mental capacities_.
Nothing but failure can result from the
mental attitude which we designate variously
as laziness, indifference, indolence, apathy,
<p 135>
shiftlessness, and lack of interest. All business
successes are due in part to the attitudes
which we call industry, perseverance, interest,
application, enthusiasm, and diligence.
In any individual, too, these attitudes may
not be the same towards different objects
and may be subject to very profound changes
and developments. A schoolboy is frequently
lazy when engaged in the study of grammar,
but industrious when at work in manual
training. A young man who is an indolent
bookkeeper may prove to be an indefatigable
salesman. Another who has shown himself
apathetic and indifferent in a subordinate
position may suddenly wake up when cast
upon his own responsibility.
Few men of any intelligence can develop
the same degree of interest in each of several
tasks. Personally I find that my shiftlessness
in regard to some of my work is appalling.
Touching my main activities, however, I
judge that my industry is above reproach.
The preceding chapters (particularly the
chapters on Imitation, Competition, and Loy-
<p 136>
alty) were attempts to discover and to present
the most effective motives or factors in producing
in workers an attitude of industry.
Based on a study of psychology and of business,
methods were presented which may be
utilized with but little expense and yet are
effective in awakening instinctive responses in
the worker and hence greatly increasing his
efficiency. The present chapter will deal with
an even more effective means of securing an
attitude of industry since it appeals to three
of the most fundamental and irresistible of
man's instincts.
_With most of us the degree of our laziness or
our industry depends partly upon our affinity
for the work, but chiefly upon the motives which
stimulate us_.
For our ancestors, preservation depended
upon their securing the necessary means for
food, clothing, and shelter. In the struggle
for existence only those individuals and races
survived who were able to secure these necessary
articles. In climates and regions removed
from the tropics only the exceedingly
<p 137>
industrious survived. In warm and fertile
lands those who were relatively industrious
managed to exist. Because of the absence of
the necessity for clothing and because of the
abundance of available food, races have developed
in the tropics which are notoriously
lazy. The human race, individually and collectively,
works only where and when it is
compelled to.
The energetic races, those which have advanced
in civilization, live in lands where the
struggle for existence has been continuous.
Necessity is a hard master, but its rule is
indispensable to worthy achievement. The instinct
of self-preservation and the industrious
attitude are responses which the human race
has learned to exercise, in the main, only in
case of need. Self-preservation is the first
law; where life and personal liberty are
dependent upon industry, idleness will not be
found. Wealth removes the obligation to
toil; hence the poor boy often outdistances
his more favored brother.
Individuals work for pay as a means of
<p 138>
self-preservation, and unless that is satisfactory
other motives have but little weight
with them. The needs of the self which preservation
demands are continuously increasing.
The needs of the American-born laborer are
greater than those of the Chinaman. Regardless
of this higher standard of living and
the ever increasing number of ``necessities,''
the instinct of self-preservation acts in connection
with them all.
_Almost without exception the interest of workers
centers in the wage. If they could retain
their accustomed wage with less effort, they would
do so. If the retention and increase depend on
individual production, they will respond to the
compulsion_.
Every student of psychology recognizes the
fact that the wage is more than a means of
self-preservation. Man is a distinctly social
creature. He has a social self as well as an
individual self. His social self demands social
approval as much as his individual self demands
bread, clothing, and shelter. In our
present industrial system this social distinc-
<p 139>
tion is most often indicated by means of monetary
reward. The laborer not only demands
that his toil shall provide the means for self-
preservation, but he seeks through his wages
the social distinction which he feels to be his
due. His desire for increase of wages is often
partly, and in some instances mainly, due to
his craving for distinction or social approval.
In such instances the wage is to be thought
of as something comparable to the score of a
ball player. The desire for a high score is
sufficient motive to beget the most extreme
exertion, even though the reward anticipated
is nothing more than a sign of distinction and
without any relationship whatever to self-
preservation.
In common with some of the lower animals
man has an instinct to collect and hoard all
sorts of things. This instinct is spoken of
in psychology as the hoarding or proprietary
instinct. In performing instinctive acts we
do so with enthusiasm, but blindly. We take
great delight in the performing of the act,
even though the ultimate result of the act
<p 140>
may be entirely unknown to us. The squirrel
collects and stores nuts with great delight and
industry. He has no idea of the approaching
winter, but gathers the nuts simply because
for him it is the most interesting process in his
experience.
Most persons display a like instinctive
tendency to make collections and hoard articles.
This is particularly apparent in collections
of such things as canceled postage
stamps, discarded buttons, pebbles, sticks,
magazines, and other non-useful articles.
When this hoarding instinct is not controlled
by reason or checked by other interests, we
have the miser. In a less degree, we all share
with the miser his hoarding instinct. We all
like to collect money just as the squirrel likes
to gather nuts. The octogenarian continues
to collect money with unabated zeal, even
though he be childless. He is probably not
aware that he is collecting merely for the pleasure
of collecting.
_Since the wage is the means ordinarily employed
to awaken in workers the three instincts_
<p 141>
_of self-preservation, of social distinction, and of
hoarding, it is not strange that an industrial
age should regard it as the chief means of increasing
efficiency_.
The employer has not attempted to discover
what instincts were appealed to by the wage,
or the most economical method of stimulating
these instincts. He has not undervalued the
wage in securing efficiency, but rather has
assumed that the service secured must be in
direct proportion to the amount expended.
Such an assumption is not warranted.
Of two employers with equal forces and payrolls
one may receive much more and better
service than the other. It is not a question
merely of how much is spent but how wisely
it is spent. The wage secures service to the
degree in which it awakens these fundamental
instincts under consideration.
It is apparent, therefore, that other factors
than the amount of money expended in wages
are to be considered by every employer. Without
increasing the pay roll he may increase the
efficiency of his men. The employer who has
<p 142>
determined the number of men he needs and
the wages he must pay has only begun to solve
his labor problem.
In the preparation of the present chapter a
large number of business men were interviewed
personally or by correspondence.
One of the questions asked was: ``How do
you make the most of the wages paid your
men?''
As subsidiary to this general question three
other questions were asked: ``In paying them
do you base the amount to be received by each
man upon a fixed salary? By some of the
men upon actual output--commissions or
piecework rates? By some upon a combination
including profit-sharing or bonus?''
The answers to these latter questions were
not uniform even among employers engaged
apparently in the same business and under
very similar conditions. Some reported that
all the methods suggested were used in their
establishment. Factory hands were employed
on piecework or on a premium or bonus basis
where conditions permitted; office assistants
<p 143>
on fixed salaries; department managers upon
a combination including profit sharing. The
results reported, however, were far from uniform.
The astounding feature was the diversity
of opinion among successful managers
of employees. By various houses one or more
of the systems had been tried under apparently
favorable conditions and had been discarded.
On the other hand each of the systems was
advocated by equally successful business firms.
In judging of the relative merits of fixed
salaries as compared with other methods the
experiences of individual firms offer no certain
data. The relative merits and demerits
are best disclosed by a psychological analysis
of the manner in which the various devices
appeal to the employee's instincts and reason.
_When wages are based on commission, piece
rate, or a bonus or premium system, the stimulus
to action is constantly present. Every stroke
of the hammer, every sale made, every figure
added, increases the wage. The wage thus continuously
beckons the worker to greater accomplishment_.
<p 144>
All other considerations lose in importance,
and the mind becomes focused on output.
The worker is blinded to all other motives,
and invariably sacrifices quality unless this
be guarded by rigid inspection. The piecework
or task system thus influences the worker
directly and incessantly without regard for
the particular instinct to which it may be appealing.
Every increase in rate adds directly
to the means of self-preservation, of social
distinction, and of the accumulation of
wealth.
_The worker with a fixed salary or wage does
not feel as continuously the goad of his wage.
It is less in mind and does not control his attitude
toward his work. The man on a fixed
salary, therefore, will not produce so much_.
If he be a workman, he may take better
care of his tools, keep his output up to a higher
standard of quality, prepare himself for more
responsible positions. If he be a salesman, he
may be more considerate of his customers and
hence really more valuable to his employer;
he may be more loyal to the house and hence
<p 145>
promote the ``team work'' of the organization,
and he may because of his more receptive state
of mind be preparing himself for much greater
usefulness to his house. If he be a superintendent,
he may be more thoughtful of his
men, or more scrupulous for the future of the
business.
Production methods or labor conditions
are often such that piecework is impossible.
There are many functions and processes which
thus far have not been satisfactorily adjusted
to task systems; there are others (the inspection
service in a factory, for instance) where a
premium on increased output would defeat
the first purpose of the service. Where results
can be accurately measured, however, and the
quality of the service can be automatically
secured or is not sacrificed by concentration
upon quantity, the task system--whether
it take the form of piece rates, premiums, or
bonus--has such superior psychological advantages
that it will probably come more and
more into use.
Under the general heading quoted above--
<p 146>
``How do you make the most of the wages
paid your employees?''--the following question
was asked: ``What special method do
you employ to make men satisfied or pleased
with their wages?'' The answers were most
interesting and instructive. One manager
having many thousand men in his organization
narrated various methods by which he
kept in personal touch with his men, and
turned this personal relationship to the advantage
of the house.
One illustration will make clear the line he
pursued. In the card catalogue of the employees,
the birthday of each is noted, the
executive recognizing that for the average
man this is an anniversary even more important
than New Year's.
_If for any reason a member of the organization
deserves or requires the executive's personal attention,
his birthday may be chosen as the date
of the interview. Then whether the man merits
an advance for extra good work or needs help to
correct a temporary slump in efficiency, the reward
or the appeal takes on added meaning_
<p 147>
_because it coincides with a turning point in his
life_.
To facilitate the plan, the manager's file
of employment cards is arranged, not by
initials or departments, but by birthdays.
Each workman's name falls under his eye a
few days in advance, long enough to secure
a report from his foreman, if knowledge is
lacking of his progress.
As I entered this manager's office, I met a
young man coming out. He had been in the
company's employ only a few months and his
relations with the organization had not yet
been established. Asked for a report, his
foreman gave him a good record and recommended
a small advance. Imagine the surprise,
the instant access of pride and loyalty,
the impulse towards greater effort and efficiency,
when the young man was called into the
manager's office on his birthday, congratulated
on his record, and informed that he would start
his new year with an advance in wages.
Double the advance, if allowed in the usual
way, would not have so impressed and satisfied
<p 148>
him. The increased wage made its appeal direct
to the instinct for social recognition, and
hence was very effective.
Such a method does not admit of general
application. Practiced in cold blood, it might
even be harmful. But in this case, it struck
me not as an act of selfish cleverness, but as
the expression of a real sympathy and interest
which the manager felt for his men. The
cleverness lay in the recognition that no man is
ever so susceptible to counsel, to appreciation,
or to rebuke as on his birthday, when the social
self is especially alert.
In other organizations, the effort to extend
this factor of human sympathy to each worker
and to see that full justice is rendered to him
takes the form of a department of promotion
and discharge. The head is the direct representative
of the ``front office'' and is independent
of superintendents and foremen. No
man can be ``paid off'' until the facts have been
submitted to the consideration of this department.
Here also the man may present his case
to an unprejudiced and sympathetic arbiter.
<p 149>
_In actual practice the man ``paid off'' is
sometimes retained and the foreman, on the evidence
of prejudice, bad temper, or other incompetency,
is discharged. In consequence every
workman knows that his place does not depend
upon the whim of his immediate superior, but
that faithful service will certainly be recognized_.
Furthermore, this department assumes the
task of shifting men from one department to
another and thus minimizing the misfits which
lower the efficiency of the whole organization.
Records of each man's performance are kept,
and promotions and discharge are more nearly
in accord with facts than would be possible in
a large house without some such agency. In
too many big establishments the individual
feels that he does not count in the crowd and
that he is helpless to do anything to advance
himself or to protect himself against an antagonistic
foreman. In large measure, such a department
reduces this feeling and bridges the
chasm between the men and the firm.
In its effect on the attitude and efficiency
of employees, the method of fixing and ad-
<p 150>
justing wages is no less important than the
wages themselves. The steady trend of the
labor market has been upward and always upward;
it is one of the notable achievements of
trade and industry that this constant appreciation
in the price of man power has been
neutralized by increase in the efficiency of its
application. This increase in earning capacity
has been secured not alone by the development
of automatic machinery, but by the division
of labor, the subdivision of processes, and the
education of workers to accept the new methods,
and acquire expert skill in some specialty.
Hardly a generation has passed since one
man, or perhaps two working together, built
farm wagons, steam engines, and a thousand
other articles entire. Now a hundred mechanics
or machine tenders may have contributed
to either wagon or engine before
it reaches the shipping department. Three
fourths of these workers are paid piece rates.
The substitution of these piece rates for day
wages, the striking of a satisfactory balance
between production and compensation, and
<p 151>
the endless changes in the scale as new parts
or faster or simpler processes are invented--
have all been operations in which the tact and
man-handling skill of executives have played a
significant part.
In the larger organization this knowledge or
skill is often supplied by a manager who has
``come up through the ranks'' and has not
forgotten his journeyman's dexterity on the
way or neglected to keep in touch with improved
methods.
_Frequently the advantage of a small industry
or trading venture over its larger rivals depends
on the owner's mastery of all the processes or
conditions involved and his ability to deal with
his employees on a personal plane in fixing
wages or in establishing the standard day's work_.
In a stove factory where four fifths of the
processes are paid by piece rates, it was necessary,
not long ago, to fix the remuneration for
the assembling of a new type of range. Most
of the operations were standard; the workmen
and the management differed, however,
on what should be paid for the setting and fas-
<p 152>
tening of a back piece with seventeen bolts.
The men asked fifteen cents a range. When refused,
they named twelve cents as an ultimatum.
The company was willing neither to pay
such a price nor to antagonize the workmen.
The dispute was settled by a demonstration.
The superintendent was himself a graduate
from the bench and had been an expert workman.
The company's contract with the assemblers'
union set $4.50 a day as the maximum
wage. To prove his contention that even
twelve cents was too great a price, he set the
back pieces on ten ranges himself, under the
eyes of a committee, and proved that at six
cents a range he could easily earn the maximum
day wage. The price agreed upon was
eight cents, little more than half the original
demand. Without the demonstration the
men would have accepted twelve cents reluctantly.
In the course of the interviews with employers,
it became evident that there was
agreement on one point--to educate the
worker to realize that the house's policy in
<p 153>
handling its men gave added value to the
sums paid out in wages.
_The shiftless or unskilled man works mainly
for the next pay envelope, with little or no regard
for the continuity of employment, the possibility
of promotion, of pension, of sick or accident
benefits, of working conditions, or the like_.
The skilled worker, on the contrary, and the
more desirable class of laborers, nearly always
rate their wages above or below par, according
to the presence or the absence of these contingent
benefits or emoluments.
To the average man with a family, the
``steady job'' at fair wages is the first
consideration. It appeals more strongly to him
than intermittent employment at a much
higher rate; while the younger, restless, and
less dependable man, both skilled and unskilled,
gravitates to the shop where he can command
a premium for a little while. Just as managers
are always looking for the steady worker,
nearly all agree in assuring their employees
that faithful and efficient service will be rewarded
with continuous employment.
<p 154>
To carry out this policy is sometimes difficult
in businesses where demand is seasonal
and where a large part of the product must
be made to order. Nevertheless, the manager
who adjusts his production program to cover
the entire year has the choice of the best
workers even when other factories offer higher
rates. Likewise, the employer who sacrifices
his profit in bad years to ``take care of his
men'' and hold his organization together recovers
his losses when the revival comes.
So deeply rooted is this desire for a ``steady
job'' and so generally recognized as an essential
of the labor problem that several large industries
have developed ``side lines'' to which
they can turn their organization during their
slack seasons; while others in periods of depression
pile up huge stocks of standard products,
making heavy investments of capital,
for the primary purpose of keeping their men
employed.
How such a policy reacts on the wage question,
and hence on the efficiency of employees,
is shown by an instance which lately fell under
<p 155>
my notice. By a long and persistent campaign
of education and demonstration, a small ``quality''
house forced a rival ten times as large
to adopt the careful processes on which this
quality depended. Adopting the small man's
methods, the competitor, instead of training its
own operatives to the new standards, sought
to hire the other man's skilled workers. The
premium offered was a thirty per cent advance.
It was refused, however. The tempted mechanics,
analyzing the rival's proposal, hit on
the disloyalty contemplated towards its own
employees. They were to be discharged or
transferred to other departments to make
room for the new men.
Measuring this cold-blooded policy against
the consideration, the unfailing effort of their
old employer to ``take care of them'' in bad
seasons, the workers decided to stick to the
smaller company and refuse the advance.
_Next to continuous employment, among methods
of increasing the value of wages, is the policy
of making promotions from the ranks_.
This practice seems to be commonly ac-
<p 156>
cepted as fruitful, although many firms believe
it impossible of application in filling some
of the higher as well as some of the more technical
positions. Where the system is applicable,
it acts as a powerful stimulus to the
men by adding to their present wages the
promise or possibility of better positions and
higher pay in the future. It gives assurance of
promotion for faithful service much greater
than in houses which fill the upper positions
from outside sources on the assumption that
they thus get ``new blood'' into the business.
The men secured from outside may be more
skilled or more productive of immediate results
than any available in the house organization.
By their importation, however, the
wages of all the men aspiring to the position
have been cheapened. Nor does the evil stop
there.
_The assumption is naturally drawn that the
same practice is likely to be followed in filling
other vacancies. The stimulus to initiative and
activity is thus weakened for men in every grade
and their wages are shrunk below par_.
<p 157>
The importance which some successful employers
attach to this principle of promotion
from the ranks is well illustrated by an incident
which recently occurred in a large manufacturing
establishment organized on a one-man
basis. During the president's absence it was
decided to open up a new zone of trade for a
new product. No one in the organization
knew the product and the field, so a new man
was put in charge. The work progressed
surprisingly well; the enterprise was in every
way successful.
When the real head returned, he called his
managers together and told them that the
new man must be removed and the most deserving
man in the regular organization appointed
in his place. He was met with the protest
that no employee was capable of taking up the
work and reminded that the new man had
already achieved great success. The president
answered that he was willing to lose money
in the department for the first year rather than
cheapen and disorganize the service by taking
away the certainty of promotion and by re-
<p 158>
moving the incentive to study and self-development
which had increased the efficiency of
every ambitious employee.
Innumerable examples of the same principle
in promotions could be gleaned from the
records of some of the oldest and most progressive
houses in the country. In one establishment
visited, the quality of whose wares
is strenuously guarded, it was discovered that
the chemist and metallurgist in charge of the
factory laboratory had been lifted out of one
of the departments and supplied with the
money to take a specialized course in physics,
chemistry, and metallurgy. The advertising
manager, the factory engineer, and two or three
of the foremen had been given leaves of absence
to study and fit themselves for the positions
to which their talents and inclinations
drew them. Even among the workmen there
was a fixed basis for advancement towards the
better jobs and the higher rates, dependent on
satisfactory service and output.
To these major considerations in increasing
the worth of wages, those companies which
<p 159>
have given the longest attention to the problem
add many other inducements.
_An efficient and contented employee has a
positive money value to any employer. To hold
him and keep him efficient, his personal comfort
and needs should be considered in every way
not detrimental to the company's interests_.
As nearly as possible, the ideal in factory
location and construction is approached. Some
industries have removed bodily to country
towns, less for the sake of a cheap site than
for the purpose of establishing themselves
where housing conditions for workers were
good, rents low, the cost of living cheaper, and
other factors tending to _*add value_ to every dollar
paid in wages were present. Direct appeal
was made to the intelligence of employees,
whose health is part of their capital, by making
and keeping working conditions as healthful
and sanitary, as little taxing on eyesight and
bodily vigor as circumstances and judicious
investment of capital allowed. Scores of
towns have been built outright, to benefit
employees.
<p 160>
In line with this policy are the systems of
benefit insurance for accident and sickness
maintained and partly supported by many
companies; the pension systems which have
been adopted within the last few years by
some of the greatest and most progressive
companies in America; the free medical service,
both in case of factory accidents and
sickness at home, which other firms provide
for employees; and various other activities
contributing to the welfare of workers, both
during working hours and afterwards.
Employers are coming more and more to
see that this is the case and to devote both
thought and money to the elimination of conditions
which cut wages below par.
_Whatever reduces hazard, discomfort, loss of
time, uncertainty, or the cost of living for workers
adds value to their wages and is a means of
influencing their attitude towards the company_.
Some employers are continually exercised
to keep the wages of their men from falling
below par. Others are equally solicitous that
their men may regard their wages as above
<p 161>
par. This classification is a real one and was
made plain by some of the interviews referred
to above. Thus in answer to the question,
``What special method do you employ to make
men satisfied or pleased with their wages?''
one employer immediately put his own interpretation
on the question. To him it meant,
``What method do you employ to keep your
men from being _*dissatisfied_ with their wages?''
His answer was: ``By paying them somewhere
near what they ask or expect. If we
don't,'' he added, ``they go out on strike and
we have to compromise.''
The majority of successful employers have
advanced beyond this negative, defensive
attitude and take a positive and aggressive
position in dealing with the problem.
_Instead of assuming their work accomplished
when the men are not dissatisfied or rebellious,
they do not rest until every dollar paid out in
wages is above par in its influence upon efficiency_.
Thus in innumerable ways the progressive
employer increases the value of all wages he
<p 162>
pays by making them appeal to the reason
and to the instincts of workers in a way un-
dreamed of by less enlightened men. The
purpose of wages is to produce a certain
psychological effect and to promote the most
favorable attitude on the part of the worker.
The methods of increasing the purchasing power
of money thus spent is one of the most interesting
and yet complex problems which the
business man has to face.
This chapter shows the psychological ground
for the following statements:--
Employees differ in their response to piecework
rates and to salaries. Some respond
more satisfactorily to one and some to the
other.
When the development of men for better
positions is of prime importance, the piecework
system is not to be adopted. If the
quantity of work per unit of wage is of greatest
importance, then some form of wage other
than fixed salary should be used.
An employee should not be dismissed as
hopelessly lazy till he has shown this attitude
<p 163>
in more than one department or has failed to
respond to different forms of stimulation.
Changes in wages may often be placed under
the authority of some person or committee
other than the immediate superiors of the
employees involved. This authority may be
vested in the direct representatives of the
executives or in such a committee as would
be formed by representatives of the executives
and also employees from the different departments
of the establishment.
_Payment of wages, so far as possible, should
be made to appeal to the instincts for social distinction
and for acquisition as well as to the instinct
for self-preservation_.
Wages should never be reduced without a
tactful and sincere attempt to convince the
men of the necessity of such an act.
Increase in wages may well be made a personal
matter. Some firms, however, are most
successful with a mechanical wage system in
which employees know exactly the conditions
necessary for an increase in wages.
All work should be thoroughly supervised
<p 164>
and inspected so that employees know that
good service will be recognized and rewarded.
The policy of filling all positions from the
ranks seems growing in favor, since it gives
certain hope for advancement and hence
greater satisfaction with the present wage.
The wage may well include a tacit insurance
for the future. Employees should be assured
that so long as they remain faithful to the
firm, their work and pay will continue, and
that in accident or old age they will be provided
for. Accepted thus, the wage secures
increased service.