A watchful care must be exercised over all time accounts, particularly of such employees as may be called upon to labor on different classes of work, or on different orders, to the end that no part of their time is charged to some general account when it is possible to assign it to a special one.

All employees should register their time on day time cards in a recording time clock, for the use of the time keeper in making up the pay roll, and again on job time cards (a separate one for each job, or order number), for the use of the cost clerk. These latter must, of course, aggregate the time indicated on the day time cards. They should be made out by the department foreman, who should see that they are properly recorded, and he should approve them with his O. K. stamp at the end of the week before they go to the cost clerk.

Within the limits of this chapter it is only possible to refer briefly to some of the more salient points in factory economy and efficiency, but it is hoped that a few hints given may nevertheless prove useful and practical to those having charge of these matters, and that if they are conscientiously worked out upon the lines herein suggested and those more minutely described in the previous chapters, with a watchful care to their adaptation to the prevailing local conditions, and to their success in actual practice day by day, the author is assured that their success will be amply demonstrated in other cases, as he has often found in his own experience under similar conditions and circum

CHAPTER XXXII

MACHINE SHOP MUTUAL AID ASSOCIATION

The necessity of such an organization. Sick benefits. The lodge method. Death claims. Accidents and sickness. Economy of the proposed system. The general plan. The physician. Officers of the association and their duties. Business meetings. Weekly dues. Classification of members. Table of classes, dues, and treasury receipts. Rate of weekly benefits. Suspensions of the payment of dues. Simplicity of the plan.

FIRST AID TO INJURED EMPLOYEES

Necessity and value of such an emergency department. Under supervision of the physician of the Mutual Aid Association. His duty as an inspector. Liability to injury. Necessity of prompt attention. A case in point. Simplicity of the work. Emergency room, its work and its equipment. Medicine cabinet. Instruments. Portable case. Electric call bell. First cost. Economy of maintenance in proportion to benefits conferred.

MACHINE SHOP READING ROOM

Shop conditions. Necessity of a shop reading room. Its value to both employer and the employees. The class of reading matter desirable. Technical publications. The employers' opportunity. The room necessary. Politics to be avoided. Circulating technical publications. Lectures and shop talks on pertinent subjects. Lessons in mechanical drawing and plane geometry. The spirit of the unity of interests.

MACHINE SHOP DINING ROOM

Good reasons for its organization. The progressive manufacturer. The room necessary. Cold lunches. Practical utility. A noonday restaurant. Plan of management. The Menu. Kitchen equipment. Practical advantages. Expenses of maintenance.

Machine Shop Mutual Aid Association

THE fact that in the lives of all employees of shops and factories, in common with other people, come periods of illness and times of accidental injury, incapacitating them from following their usual avocations, and coming unexpectedly, as they do, often find them unprepared financially for such a loss of revenue and the additional expenses incident thereto, is the strong argument of the insurance companies' agents in seeking that class of their

business which promises "sick benefits" and assistance in cases of accident. There is no doubt that such insurance often does much good in assisting the person during the time when he is incapacitated from performing his customary work.

But, that the usual methods of insuring in this manner are the most economical is certainly an open question, and many there are who do not believe that it is. Again, the form of mutual insurance in lodges, many of which form a larger superior body, or grand lodge, and several of these again forming a supreme body, while they may be an improvement in some respects, do not seem to meet all the requirements, as may be readily seen from the fact that once in a while we hear of these organizations going to pieces, and the persons who have faithfully paid in their money year after year find it swept out of existence so far as their interests are concerned. While it is true that this form concerns more particularly the death claims, yet it does also affect those for sickness or accidental injuries as well. It is true, however, that this plan is more economical to administer than the first plan, yet it still has too great administrative expenses, which may be avoided by the plan here proposed. It also has the disadvantage that in some parts of a large field of operations more money will be required for claims than in other parts, and consequently the healthier portions must be drawn upon to make up the deficiencies of the less favored localities.

So far as financial assistance in cases of accident is concerned, it would seem best that each organization, as the employees of one shop or manufactory, for instance, should stand alone, and by mutual assistance realize the greatest measure of benefit with the least possible outlay for administrative expenses. There is no good reason why the same should not hold good in the cases of sickness. By this plan there will be a much greater degree of confidence among the subscribers or members, inasmuch as they all usually know each other, elect their own officers, and fix the dues, benefits, and general policy of the organization. Abundant instances of the success of such an organization are at hand.

The plan here recommended is one, with a few modifications, with which the author was connected, and which succeeded beyond the expectations of its organizers, for many years. Briefly the plan is this. To organize a Mutual Aid Association, confined to the employees, male and female, of one company, firm, or corporation, who subscribe to its constitution and by-laws, agreeing to pay into its treasury stated amounts in proportion to their weekly pay, as dues or premiums, in accordance therewith. In consideration of these payments they are to receive, when ill or disabled by injuries, a certain proportion of their weekly pay, and also the attendance of a physician selected and paid by the association, if they desire his services.

The officers are a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer; also an auditing committee of three members. The dues of the secretary and treasurer are remitted in consideration of their services. No salaries are paid except to the physician, who is not a member of the society. In small societies one person may fill both offices of secretary and treasurer. Where there are female members they should be represented in the board of officers. Business meetings are held once in three months, at which the officers report the business done during the preceding quarter. The proprietors of the concern will usually furnish a room in which the meetings may be held.

The dues per week are one half of one per cent of the weekly pay, as being convenient to calculate. Thus each member pays a half cent for each dollar of weekly pay. If the pay is not in even dollars the next even dollar above the amount is taken as a basis in fixing the amount of dues. For convenience, the dues are collected once in four weeks (not monthly). The benefit paid after the first week of illness or injury is one half the weekly pay, reckoning fractions of a dollar of pay the same as in fixing the amount of dues.

For a society of five hundred members a physician will usually contract to attend such members as desire his services for $250 per year.

From the foregoing facts we may see that in a shop with five hundred employees, divided into classes as to amount of pay, the amounts collected will be as shown in the following table:

This gives us $25.87 per week for the payment of claims. Experience proves that there will seldom be as many as three persons in the five hundred members receiving aid at any one time, and the number is usually considerably less.

it

The amount of the aid or benefit paid being one half the weekly pay, will be found upon calculation to average $5.62 per week, or $16.86 for three beneficiaries, which will leave a liberal balance for unusual calls, as well as for the payment of a physician, this balance being $218.00.

Whenever the funds accumulate in the treasury to an amount over $300, the collection of all dues ceases until the amount is reduced to that figure.

It will be seen that the plan and its administration is very simple, and in this, in a great measure, lies its success, while the mutual interest of all its members insures its smooth working and efficiency. Upon organizing such a society each member pays as an entrance fee the first four weeks' dues, and benefits commence as soon as occasion demands.

First Aid to Injured Employees

Still another adjunct to the organization of the modern machine shop that is productive of much good is the Emergency Room, wherein the accidentally injured employee may be quickly and properly treated. Where there exists a Mutual Aid Association, as suggested in the beginning of this chapter, this department will naturally come under the supervision of the physician of that association, who will instruct a suitable attendant in the duties of his position. He may also, at stated times, inspect the shops to ascertain if proper safeguards exist and are in proper use in and about the shops, such, for instance, as that all projecting set screws in collars and couplings on shafts are properly protected; that gears are provided with suitable coverings; that saws are properly covered with guards; that rapidly revolving cutters are guarded by mica or glass; that the eyes of the men working where they are liable to injury from chips or flying bits of metal are protected by goggles; that they are also used as a protection in the grinding room where particles of emery are liable to injure them. These and many of similar nature must be looked after, yet when all this is attended to faithfully men are still liable to accidental injury, and for these emergencies proper facilities for rendering first aid to the injured are of very great importance, as it not infrequently occurs that the harm done by waiting for the arrival of a physician or surgeon may be of greater consequence than the original injury. This is particularly the case where there is much loss of blood, as it is also in cases of sudden sickness as cholera morbus and similar affections. Such cases are occurring every day even in cities where a physician may be located within a block or two but may at the moment be absent from his office. The author remembers a case in which the workman died before medical aid could be obtained, although there were three physicians having offices within a radius of from fifty to two hundred yards of the shop, but all, unfortunately, absent at the time.

The work to be performed by such an Emergency Department is usually of a very simple nature. The equipment of such a room will naturally include a cot bed, a stretcher, a suitable medicine cabinet, and a portable case that may be easily carried to an injured man in any part of the works. There should be in this room a stationary wash bowl supplied with hot and cold