Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

VARIABLES OF THE WORKER 41 more, the journeyman who is his instructor not only has had no training in pedagogy, but often lacks the benefits of the elements of a common-school education. The usual time of apprenticeship in the building trades in this coun- try is three years, or until the apprentice is twenty-one years old. On the other hand, the boy taught in the trade school lacks training under actual working conditions. The ques- tion of dollars and cents to make for the employer, special fitting for high wages for himself, and the knowledge of the principles underlying the requirements necessary in order to obtain specially high outputs from intensive management, are wholly lacking. The present apprenticeship system is pitiful and criminal from the apprentice’s standpoint, ridiculous from a modern system standpoint, and there is no word that describes its wastefulness from an economic standpoint. Summary Before turning to the variables of the surroundings, it may be well to summarize. The variables of the worker consist of the elements of the equipment that the worker brings to his work, both those that he was born with and those that he has acquired. These are mental and physical. We have concluded: i. That first-class men should always be secured if that be possible. 2. That everything possible should be done to preserve