1 HE Job . The Man, The Boss ■-^^*sW'8*WWWWi J) R, KATHFR INH M.H.BLACKF 01^ D " .^^v,r> • ARTHUR NEWCOMB CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library T 58.B62 The Ob the man the boss. 3 1924 021 889 567 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021889567 The Job, The Man, The Boss Books by the Same Author THE EMPLOYEES MANtTAL THE SCIENCE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS BY THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS BT KATHERINE M. H. BLACKFORD, M. D. AND ARTHUR NEWCOMB ILLUSTEATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS Published By DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY For Beview of Reviews Company 1916 Copyright, 19U, hy Katherine M. H. Blackfokd, M. D. AU rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian PREFACE The plan of employment set forth in this book is the outgrowth of fifteen years' experience in the practical work of advising men in regard to their vocations, counseling employers in the selection and assignment of employees, investigating indus- trial and commercial institutions for the purpose of professional advice upon efficiency in general, and increasing the efficiency of employees in par- ticular, and in the installation, operation, and su- pervision of employment departments under the Blackford Employment Plan. Our purposes in presenting the book are: first, to set forth the advantages of a definite plan and orderly methods of employment; second, to in- spire all who work to study themselves with refer- ence to their vocational fitness; third, to add our voices to those of many others in calling for more scientific vocational guidance of the young; fourth, to arouse interest among all thoughtful people, and especially among parents, employers, teachers, and workers, in the possibilities of character analysis by the observational method. The Authors. Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y. February 22, 1914. CONTENTS Introduction xiii CHAPTER PAGE I. Mind or Muscle — Which? ... 3 II. The Ideal in Employment ... 10 III. A Scientific Plan of Employment . 28 IV. Discipline 40 V. The Job 62 VI. Securing and Handling Applicants 76 VII. Analyzing the Man — Heredity and Environment 104 VIII. Analyzing the Man — Nine Funda- mental Physical Variables . . 115 IX. Analyzing the Man — Practical Application 181 X. The Boss 200 XI. The Employment Supervisor and His Staff 214 XII. Some Functions of an Employment Department 225 XIII. The Art of Handling Men ... 240 XIV. Educating Employees .... 249 XV. Vocational Guidance .... 258 IZ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Applicants at the door of an Employment Department Frontispiece FACING PAGE Fig. 1. American Indian. Observe high nose and strong chin 136 Fig. 2. A Turkish Parade. Turks, evolved in cold, light northern Asia, are brunettes with convex noses 138 Fig. 3. A Group of Negro Boys. Note primitive forehead of boy in middle of rear line. Also flat noses and convex mouths and chins 140 Fig. 4. Filipino Girls. They have the characteristic concave foreheads and noses and convex mouths and chins of brunette races 142 Fig. 5. Chinese on Man of War. Note predomi- nance of concave foreheads and noses, convex mouths and chins 144 Fig. 6. A splendid example of convex upper, concave lower, profile 146 Fig. 7. Savonarola. Extreme convex form of profile. Note especially convex mouth 148 Fig. 8. Kaiser Wilhelm II. Good example of pure convex form of profile. Note great energy indicated by nose 150 Fig. 9. An American Engineer. Pure convex form of profile. Note especially prominent brows . . 152 156 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Fig. 10. Dr. T. Alex. Cairns, lecturer. Pure concave form of profile. Well known for good nature and humour .... 15* Fig. 11. Charles Dana Gibson. Pure plane form of profile Fig. 12. A Study in Profiles. Beginning at the upper left, which is pure convex, the faces grade into plane at the lower left; then into pure concave at lower right . . 158 Fig. 13. Judge Ben B. Lindsey. A fine example of mental type. Observe triangular face .... 160 Fig. 14. Hon. Wm. G. McAdoo. An example of the motive type 162 Fig. 15. Ex-President William H. Taft. A splendid example of the vital type, with judicial aptitudes . 164 Fig. 16. Henry Woodruff. An example of fine tex- ture. 166 Fig. 17. Maxim Gorky. An example of coarse tex- ture 168 Fig. 18. Theodore Roosevelt in early manhood . . 172 Fig. 19. Theodore Roosevelt in middle life. Observe changes in expression ... 173 Fig. 20. An example of fine texture. Concave mouth and chin 176 Fig. 21. C. F. Rumely. The first employment super- visor appointed under the Blackford Employment Plan 218 Fig. 22. Interviewing shop applicants at a big factory 80 Fig. 23. Interviewing applicant for an oflSce position in a large organization 84 INTRODUCTION WHEN a foreman discharges the best worker in his gang because of his own jealousy or ill-temper, or both, the loss to their com- mon employer may run into thousands of dollars. If in the man so discharged there is an embryo general manager or advertising manager with ideas, the loss may run into the millions. Even when the man thrown out is an ordinary workman the loss is considerable. Production suffers, and perhaps machines stand idle until a successor is found. Other workers in the same gang, observ- ing the injustice, decline in loyalty and efficiency. The best of them may leave. The foreman must spend some of his time securing a new man. It is an expense to substitute one man's name for an- other's on the pay-roll. In most cases there is a further loss of the foreman's time in training the new man for his work. Oftentimes the new man lacks experience or may be incompetent. There is a falling off in production, and work may be spoiled while he is leai-ning. He may turn out to be utterly unfitted for the job, in which case he is discharged, and the whole vicious circle of loss begins over again. xiv INTRODUCTION Every employer who lias considered this subject at all knows that he is paying out larger or smaller sums of money for which he receives no return be- cause of just such occurrences, and every business man of foresight and imagination sees wealth slip- ping away from him because of the lack of men he needs to take advantage of opportunities. Our aggregate economic loss from these and simi- lar causes cannot of course be calculated. Some little light is thrown upon it, however, when we find that in one institution manufacturing agricul- tural implements, and employing, on the average, 2,400 men, 7,200 are employed every year. In a well-known steel mill 26,000 men pass annually through the institution in order to maintain an average working force of 8,000. The pay-rolls of a factory manufacturing electrical appliances show an average total of 20,000 employees, with ag- gregate changes in the personnel amounting to a complete turn-over every year. Perhaps one of the extremes is a foundry in the Middle West, with 1,200 employees, and 14,400 changes in the person- nel every year. In other words, an employee's average length of service is only thirty days. CONSERVATION BECOMING OUR IDEAL This is one of the milder forms of waste in our industries. Strikes and lockouts, with their ae- INTRODUCTION x\ companying disorder, destruction of life and prop- erty, and their paralyzing eflfect upon commerce and industry, have been, and are, a menacing drain upon our resources. The smouldering forms of antagonism and friction between employer and employee cost sums impossible even to estimate. Go where you will among employers of labour and you will hear a common complaint, a complaint that employees are inefficient. How serious and how almost universal this inefficiency is may be suspected from the astonishing increase in produc- tion, and decrease in cost, effected by scientific management and efficiency engineering. The growth from a condition in which an em- ployer worked side by side with his men, when they perhaps lived in his house and ate at his table, and he knew them and loved them almost as he did his own sons, to our present factory system, has been brought about by rapid strides after the com- paratively recent invention of the steam engine. We have been forced by the necessities of the situation to devote our time, our energy, and our best and highest thought to developing machinery, equipment, and methods for the utilization of the vast resources placed in our hands by the invention of the steam engine, electric generators and motors, internal combustion engines, the turbine water- wheel, and by the results of exploration and dig- xvi INTRODUCTION covery. It is only natural, under such conditions, that our attention should have been devoted to exploitation rather than conservation, and to the development of material forces and products rather than to the more subtle and more difficult tasks of conserving and developing our mental and psy- chical resources. But the time has come when there must be a change. Conservation has become the industrial and commercial ideal. Instead of skimming the easily gathered wealth from the surface of our resources, and passing on to new fields, we are be- ginning to study scientifically how to develop our farms, our mines, our oil and gas wells, our or- chards, our forests, and our fisheries, so as to make them permanent and increasing sources of wealth. Instead of wringing the last vestige of strength from our gasping men and women, and throwing them aside, we are beginning to ask how their mental and psychical forces, as well as their mus- cular strength and manual skill, may be developed and increased. A PLAN FOR CONSERVING HUMAN VALUES Evidences of the interest taken in this problem of human conservation are to be found in the formation of labour unions and employers' asso- ciations, in the rise of socialism, syndicalism, and INTRODUCTION xvii other attempts to better conditions by moral or physical force, employers and employees working in opposition. A newer manifestation of interest is to be found in the vocational movement, in the efforts of our schools to change their methods so as to train boys and girls for the work in which they will be most successful, in the establishment of employment departments by many manufacturers, merchants, and others, in what is called welfare or social betterment work for employees, in corpora- tion and industrial schools, and in many other ways. Up to the present moment, agitation upon this subject has taken the form of destructive criticism of old methods. This was, of course, necessary. But perhaps we have reached the point where de- structive criticism is no longer so much needed as the setting forth of a definite and practicable plan of employment to take the place of old methods. It is because we believe that this time has come, and because of the insistent demand from many quarters for it, that we present in this book a plan of employment based upon scientific principles, a plan which is, and has been for some time, in suc- cessful operation. The Job, The Man, The Boss THE JOB, THE MAN. THE BOSS CHAPTER I MIND OR MUSCLE — WHICH? ONE of the most common sights from our steamer as we ascended the Nile was the shadoof men. Hour after hour, day after day, under the burning Nubian sun, they dipped water from the Nile and poured it out upon the sands of the desert for irrigation. When the banks were high, one naked man stood in water up to his waist; a second was stationed halfway up the bank, and a third at the top. Thus, in perfect rhythm, chanting weird songs, they passed the life-giving, brown water from hand to hand. In India we saw porters plodding along, mile after mile, with heavy burdens on their shoulders. On the Canton River in China we saw coolies on their treadmills, toiling day after day to furnish motive power for their clumsy boats. In the city of Canton we saw flour ground by great millstones 4 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS turned by men who ran upon treadmills until they almost dropped with exhaustion. And the wages paid to all of these men, some of them furnishing human muscle power in quantities of which we in America can scarcely conceive, aver- age between 10 and 15 cents a day. Cheap labour? Yes, perhaps it is cheap labour. But it is not cheap power. It is the most expen- sive and most wasteful form of motive power known. Even at 10 cents a day, and working at their highest possible muscular eflSciency, men can not furnish motive power for less than about $3 per horsepower per day. A large steam or gasoline engine will furnish horsepower at the rate of from 6f cents to 66 cents a day. To purchase human muscle power is, therefore, not the purpose of em- ployment. The wise employer seeks to develop and secure for his business the highest and best physical and psychical forces of the men and women he employs. It is only within the last few years that we have begun to understand the purely psychological na- ture of business. Even yet we only dimly under- stand the great truth that materials, equipment, methods, money, and all the other tangible fac- tors in our commerce and industry are but the visible counters in a game played solely by the invisible forces of mind and soul. MIND OR MUSCLE — WHICH? 5 CONSTRUCTIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE MENTAL STATES Walter Dill Scott says: "Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities."* Dr. Wm. S. Sadler, Post-Graduate Medical School of Chicago, relates in his exhaustive work, "The Physiology of Faith and Fear," a multitude of incidents from his own practice, all demonstrating the destructive effects upon the human body of such emotions as fear, worry, anger, hate, grief, uncertainty, and discouragement. He shows that almost every known form of disease, in some cases at least, has been the result of destructive mental attitude. He also cites a large number of cases in which speedy and perfect restoration to health and vigour has followed the recovery of mental peace, courage, or happiness. Thus, mental attitudes in the human body may be either destructive or constructive. Either they tear down or build up the physical and mental powers. In a similar way, destructive and constructive mental forces either tear down or build up business institutions. It is no secret to any careful observer that every place of business or manufacture has its own par- ticular mental atmosphere or spirit. One does not need to be a psychic to sense the spirit of har- *" Increasing Human Efficiency in Business,'' page 134. 6 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS mony, teamwork, enthusiasm, and happiness in any successful business. Nor is it difficult to feel the atmosphere of gloom, suspicion, irritation, petty jealousy, discord, or careless indifference in one which is on the road to failure. We have studied many business concerns. In every one of them we have found the mental and moral character of the man or men who dominated it reflected and exaggerated in the rank and file. In one organization a man high in authority was an inveterate meddler and gossip. Not even the lowliest worker in the organization was safe from his curious, prying eyes and his inquisitive nose, and no one, either in the institution or outside, could escape the sting and defilement of his slander- ous tongue. It was inevitable that this destructive spirit should permeate the entire organization, until almost every one in it was both backbiting and backbitten. No one could come into contact with this spirit without feeling demoralized, less self- respecting, less efficient, and less happy. By a curious coincidence, at the same time we were studying this institution, we also made an investigation of the most successful corporation in its line of business in the United States. Here we found the vice-president, who was also its chief executive, and the twelve department heads as- sociated with him, happy and harmonious. Every MIND OR MUSCLE — WHICH ? 7 man enthusiastically told us that he belonged to the finest and best organization on earth, and was eager to praise the character and ability of every one of his associates. Not once in our interviews with any of them did we hear the ti/ne-worn and all-too-universal stab-in-the-back, "Yes, he's a mighty good fellow, but " All through the offices and works, and in our contact with employees of all grades, we found the same happy, harmonious spirit of teamwork. We were quite prepared for the information that this spirit, this constructive mental atmosphere, extended to the patrons of the institution and the public generally, and that, as a result, its profits and dividends were higher than those of any other corporation of its size in the country. HAPPINESS AND LABOUR COST William C. Redfield, in his book, "The New In- dustrial Day," pp. 120-1-2, says: "Given the scientific spirit in management, constant and care- ful study of operations and details of cost, modern buildings and equipment, proper arrangement of plant, and proper material, ample power, space, and light, a high wage rate means inevitably a low labour cost per unit of product and the mini' mum of labour cost. ... A steadily decreas- ing labour cost per unit of product is not incoB 8 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS sistent with, but on the contrary is normal to, a coincident advance in the rate of pay for the work when accompanied by careful study of methods and equipment, as previously suggested. Con- versely, low-priced labour nearly always is costly per unit produced, and usually is inconsistent with good tools, equipment, and large and fine product, else such labour would not be low-priced." In a large factory manufacturing a food product of international reputation, $25,000 a year was added to the wages paid employees, and $17,000 a year additional was expended in betterments of their conditions, such as lunch-rooms, gymnasiums, night schools, and sanitation. This addition o^ $42,000 a year to the expenses of the company re- sulted, not in a decreased dividend, but in an in- creased dividend. As a further confirmation of this principle we have but to call attention of the reader to his own experiences, to the fact that he does more work and better work when happy and contented, when interested and enthusiastic, than when he is unhappy or indifferent. We might multiply examples of the effect of de- structive and constructive attitudes in executives and employees, but the truth is so well known that we should merely be demor strating the obvious. Since it is mental and psychical forces rather than muscle power that we are purchasing when MIND OR MUSCLE — WHICH ? 9 we employ men and women, we should therefore seek mental and psychical power that is construc- tive and not destructive. Expressing the idea con- cretely, we want men and women who love their work, who find joy in doing it, and who, because of their happiness and psychical inspiration, give us the very finest products of their heads and hearts, and, therefore, of their hands. The plan which we are to present in this book is designed to obtain and to conserve for the em- ployer, the employee, and humanity in general the highest and best constructive thoughts and feelings of those employed according to its prin- ciples. CHAPTER II THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT WHEN Thomas A. Edison is bent on realiz- ing one of his ideas, his absorption in his work exempUfies Emerson's dictum: "Nothing great was ever accomphshed without enthusiasm. The way of Hfe is wonderful — it is by abandonment." He shuts himself away from all interruption in his laboratory. He works for hours, oblivious of everything but his idea. Even the demands of his body for food and sleep do not rise above the threshold of consciousness. Edison himself says that great achievement is a result, not of a great genius, but of just this kind of concentration in work. And, until the mediocre man has worked as has Edison, he cannot prove the contrary. Mr. Edison has results to prove the value of his way of working. Even our most expert statistician and mathematician would find it difficult to calculate the amount of material wealth this one worker has added to humanity's store. Of the unseen but higher values in culture, in knowledge, in the spreading of civilization, and 10 THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 11 in greater joy of living for millions of people, there are even greater results. Other men of the past and present, in every phase of activity, have dem- onstrated that Edison's utter abandonment to his task is the keynote of efficiency and achievement. And right here, too, is the ideal in employment: To secure, cultivate, and maintain this spirit of absorption in the work of every man in the organi- zation — and thus to develop, conserve, and utilize the mental and psychical forces of our latent and potential Edisons. Each employee, even the lowliest and least skilled, can be as efficient and as happy in his task as is Edison in his, but only under similar condi- tions. Mr. Edison is doing work for which he is preeminently fitted. He shows his fitness by doing it supremely well. He has created an environment under which he works at his best. He sees the results of his efforts. He receives rewards com- mensurate with his efficiency. THE employer's IDEAL These, then, are the ideal conditions of employ- ment: That each worker should do work for which he is preeminently fitted ; That each should work in an environment in which he can do his best; 12 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS That each should be able to see and enjoy the results of his work; That each worker should receive a reward com- mensurate with his efficiency. Industry, like health, is normal. All healthy children, and even men, are active. Activity means growth and development. Inactivity means decay and death. The man who has no useful work to do will sometimes express himself in wrong- doing and crime, for he must do something indus- triously to live. Even our so-called idle rich and leisure classes are strenuously active in their at- tempts to amuse themselves. When, therefore, a man hates his work, when he is dissatisfied and discontented in it, when his work arouses in him destructive thoughts and feelings rather than constructive, there is some- thing wrong, something abnormal. He is trying to do work for which he is not fitted, or he is in the wrong environment, or under wrong management, or he is physically or mentally ill. The remedy for all of this, as we have seen, is to give the man something to do which he can do well, and to fit his environment to his needs. In practice, of course, this means the selection for each job in our organization of the one man out of all others who, by natural aptitudes, training, and ex- perience, is best fitted to fill all the requirements THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 13 of that job, and suited to its environment and con- ditions. In fitting a man to his environment perhaps the personal element in that environment is the most important. One of the first things we all want to know about any human relationship, whether it finds its expression in work, play, society, or poli- tics, is the human atoms with whom we are to be commingled and compounded in that relationship. We may readily admit the universal brotherhood of man, but we also have to admit that there are some of our brothers and sisters with whom we do not make a very pleasant chemical combi- nation. Hydrogen and oxygen by themselves form water, one of the most beneficial and useful of all fluids, but combine sulphur with hydrogen and oxygen, in certain atomic proportions, and you have highly destructive sulphuric acid. In a similar way, we are happy and efiicient when associated with some people, but unhappy and positively destructive when compelled to associate with others. In the ideal organization all the human chemical combinations are made by the wise master chemist in such a way that every employee is associated with immediate and more remote superiors, who inspire him to give only constructive thoughts and feelings, and each executive supervises and directs 14 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS the work of the kind of men and women from whom he can secure the best results. We have spoken about selecting for every posi- tion the man who is best fitted for it, not only for the duties of that position, but for the environment and conditions attached to it. A most important corollary of this proposition is naturally this: In the ideal organization the environment and condi- tions attached to every position should be such that the man who will fit them is the best possible man for that work. RATE OF PAY AND EFFICIENCY For example, if it is desirable that a man should express in his work neatness, order, accuracy, clean- liness, and beauty, then a workshop or ofl&ce which is neat, clean, orderly, and beautiful will suit the man best fitted for that work. The blacksmith shops of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railway are called "white blacksmith shops." They are well lighted, well arranged, and constantly kept clean. Even the walls and ceilings are whitewashed and never allowed to become smoke-stained and soot- smeared. As a result there have been gathered in these shops men who take pride in their surround- ings, and who are glad to do their best to keep them neat and clean. It follows, of course, that these men take pride in their work and do their best with it. THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 15 It is an old saying that the workman is known by his tools. Frank A. Gilbreth, in his excellent book, "Motion Study," page 59, says: "The influence of the tools used upon the output is large. No workman can possibly comply with standard mo- tions unless he has the standard tools." In the ideal organization all tools and equipment are most carefully selected and kept in condition to fit the needs and requirements of the most desirable workers. There is no factor in the conditions of employ- ment more important than that of the rate of pay, and there is none over which there has been more controversy. The time is already here, however, when the enlightened employer no longer quarrels with his workmen about their rate of pay. In conference with one of the most successful manu- facturers in the city of Philadelphia we learned that, as the result of his scientific study of costs and their causes, he had increased the pay of his men from $2.50 and $3.50 a day to $6 a day and upward, the pay of some of the men reaching as high as $18 a day. These men perform the same opera- tions on their new wages that they performed on their old, and yet this employer told us that his costs per unit of production had been greatly re- duced since he began to pay his men better wages. "As manufacturing establishments are improved 16 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS and humanized," says James H. Collins in the Saturday Evening Post, "it is becoming clearer and clearer that in buying labour quality counts first, just as it does in materials, and that price is really secondary. While governments collect statistics showing wages paid in different countries, and that the cheapest product is usually found where the most skilful employees earn the highest wages, the American manufacturer is arriving at the same truth through his own experience in the manage- ment of works and through his export connec- tions. . . . The vital point about an employee is not how much he gets a day, nor how many hours he works, but how much he can do with a given machine. . . . Each improvement in the qual- ity of the output cuts labour costs. . . . The actual money saving on the cost-sheets is only a part of the benefit; for a high-grade workman on a high-grade job facilitates deliveries, helps sales, and forwards the whole organization. A few dol- lars additional in his pay envelope may count so little that it would be worth the money to be certain he will turn up beside his machine every morning when the whistle blows." The ideal, so far as wages and salaries are con- cerned, is not to fix a rate of pay for any particular job and then to find some man or woman (eflBciency not specified) willing to accept that rate of pay, THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 17 but rather to fix upon the standard requirements in aptitudes, training, experience, and consequent efficiency for that job, find some one who meets the requirements, and then pay him enough to secure his very best constructive thought. HOURS OF LABOUR — PERIODS OF REST Next to rate of pay probably the most difficult point of adjustment between employers and em- ployees is that of hours of labour. It has been only natural, in the absence of exact knowledge on the subject, that the employer should conclude that the more hours his employees worked the more they would accomplish. It is also perfectly natural that the employees should respond to this attitude on the part of the employer by feeling that the fewer hours they worked for the same rate of pay the better off they were. Little by little, hours of labour have been re- duced from fourteen to twelve, from twelve to ten, and from ten to nine and eight. The results have been nothing short of astonishing to both parties in the controversy. Who could have predicted that a man would do more and better work in eight hours than he had done in fourteen? And yet that is exactly what has happened in hundreds of differ- ent industries and different factories on both sides of the Atlantic. 18 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Will hours of labour be still further reduced? The question can be answered correctly only by the application of the new scientific spirit, the spirit which does not assume, as we formerly did, that a reduction in hours of labour means a reduc- tion in output, but by careful experiment and the use of accurate records, carefully analyzed, ascer- tains the truth. The ideal in employment will be attained when every man works just that number of hours each day that will enable him to accomplish the maximum amount of the highest quality of work. Scientific investigation has clearly shown that men and women do more and better work if given carefully ascertained periods of rest and relaxation during working hours. When a man works either his muscles or his brain, fatigue poisons are pro- duced in his system more rapidly than they are eliminated. These fatigue poisons, as science has demonstrated, clog a man's mental and physical machinery, slowing up every process, dulling the senses, and robbing every effort of some of its reliability and accuracy. A certain period of ab- solute rest and relaxation relieves mental and phys- ical tension and permits the processes of elimination to catch up and overtake the production of fatigue poisons. In ordinary physical work, into which the mind scarcely enters, men have been known to ac- THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 19 complish 400 per cent, more in a given number of hours with carefully worked-out intervals of rest and relaxation than when working continuously. In mental work the eflfect has often been found to be even greater. In the ideal organization, experts carefully standardize the proper intervals and periods of work and relaxation for every job, and the executives see that these intervals and periods are made eflfective. RELATIONS WITH SUPERIOR Some years ago we had occasion to study the efficiency of a number of accountants in a bank. Among them was a young man of twenty-two, well educated, with splendid natural talents as an accountant, intelligent, honest, industrious, am- bitious to succeed. There seemed to be every reason why he should be efficient. The bank was well hghted, well ventilated, and in many other ways a delightful place to work. His rate of pay was fully satisfactory to him, and his companions were congenial. And yet he accomplished little, and that little was so poor that he was hardly "worth his salt." Furthermore, instead of improv- ing, he was rapidly growing worse. A little in- vestigation soon brought out the fact that the chief accountant, while most efficient himself, and while securing a high quantity and quaUtv of work 20 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS from most of the other employees, kept this par- ticular young man in a constant state of terror and nervousness. The young man was of an ex- ceedingly sensitive and responsive disposition, and would have accomplished wonders if his loyalty, love of achievement, and ambition had been ap- pealed to. Instead, his chief had attempted to stimulate him by rather sharp rebuke and stinging criticism. It took a great deal of careful and pains- taking instruction to the chief accountant about the disposition of his employee and the right way of handling him, but such efforts finally brought results. This bookkeeper, who had been almost worthless, became a valued employee in a few months under right methods of treatment. It is well known to any one who will observe and think even a little that every man, woman, and child is a separate and distinct individual in all respects, and responds best to the kind of treatment best suited to his individuality. In the ideal or- ganization, therefore, every employee is handled and managed, not according to the whims, preju- dices, and pet theories of his superiors, but ac- cording to the needs of his own pecuhar type. HOPE OF PHOMOTION Among the fundamental principles of the uni- verse is the law of growth. Of the laws apply- THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 21 ing peculiarly to sensate beings, this law of growth, the law of self-preservation, and the law of race- perpetuation constitute a fundamental trinity. No matter how low a man has fallen, no matter how hard the conditions under which he lives, no matter how great his privations or severe his trials, let him but feel that the law of growth is having its way with him, that he is progressing, that he has the right to hope, and he will have courage and strength for it all. But take away that hope, and no matter how pleasant and agreeable his sur- roundings and conditions, no matter how great his achievements, how high his attainments, or how many and valuable the things he possesses, he will look at life with the tragic eyes of despair. When there is no opportunity for advancement, for pro- motion, a man may work under the spur of neces- sity, but his work has in it nothing of that joyous abandon which arises from constructive thought and feeling, and results in efficiency. In the ideal organization every man performs his part with the hope of a better to-morrow ever beckoning him on. The law of growth applies also to the feeling of the wise employer toward his employee. When we studied the most successful organization of its kind in the United States, already mentioned in these pages, we found that every member of the 22 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS executive staff had been a member of the organiza- tion for from fifteen to thirty -five years, and that every one of them had begun work in the organi- zation as a boy. Each of them had developed along the lines of his talents and tastes until he had become the head of a great department. Now, the development of an office boy into a general manager, of a stenographer into a purchas- ing agent, or of a clerk into an advertising man- ager, is not a matter of chance, but rather of education. Every factory, every store, every office is in the best and truest sense of the word a school. One of the finest things about work done by the right kind of man under the right conditions is the fact that work is an education. There is more true and valuable learning, more real and perma- nent development, in work under proper conditions than in any other kind of schooling. In the industrial era just passed and now drawing to a close, it was to have been expected that em- ployers, with their chief attention absorbed by questions relating to machines and methods, should neglect the greatest of all their assets — namely, the latent but easily developed mental and psychi- cal forces of their employees. The men who, like Carnegie, have made their organizations schools in which masters and millionaires were trained, have stood out from all the rest by reason of their success. THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 23 In order that work may educate a man he must know what he is doing and why he is doing it; he must be taught not only how to do things in the best, easiest, and quickest ways, but must be taught why he does them at all, and why he does them in the way pointed out. We have encountered thousands of workmen standing at their machines day after day, working on parts of commodities whose place and function in the whole they had never been taught. Since the blunder of some ob- scure employee may possibly lose a sale or estrange a valuable customer, why not teach that employee just what part he takes in producing the goods and ser- vices of the concern and just how his part of the work may affect the patron who pays his money for it? THE SPIRIT OF THE HIVE Men are naturally gregarious — they like to "be- long." Many a man is far more eager for the suc- cess of his team, of his club, of his party, than he is for his own individual success. It is natural for men to devote themselves and all they possess — even their life's blood — to a leader, to a cause, or to their country. Men who are often apathetic and indifferent to their own interests will rise to heroic heights under such incentives. It is easy for the wise employer to appeal to this quality through right methods of education. 24 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Many stories are told vividly exemplifying this devotion of men to a leader. Perhaps none is more striking than this one from the History of Napoleon by Lockhart. A company of grena- diers, former soldiers of Napoleon, had been sent out to intercept his march when he was on his re- turn from Elba. "Either party halted until Na- poleon himself came up," says Lockhart. "He did not hesitate for a moment. He dismounted, and advanced alone ; some paces behind him came a himdred of his guard with their arms reversed. There was perfect silence on all sides until he was within a few yards of the men. He then halted, threw open his surtout so as to show the star of the Legion of Honour, and exclaimed, 'If there be among you a soldier who desires to kill his general — his Emperor — let him do it now. Here I am.' The old cry of Vive I'Empereur burst instantane- ously from every lip. Napoleon threw himself among them, and taking a veteran private, cov- ered with chevrons and medals, by the whisker, said, 'Speak honestly, old Moustache, couldst thou have had the heart to kill thy Emperor?' The man dropped his ramrod into his piece to show that it was uncharged, and answered, 'Judge if I could have done thee much harm — all the rest are the same.'" We have never worked with a more intensely THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 25 loyal and self-forgetful band of men and women than the employees of a certain manufacturing concern with a rather remarkable history and strongly individual policies, traditions, and ideals. This spirit of loyalty was created and developed largely by educating the employees so that every one of them could, and did, talk eloquently and en- thusiastically about the past triumphs of "our house," about its clear-headed, common-sense poUcies, about its traditions of high quality and excellent service, and about its splendid moral ideals. THE employee's IDEAL In the ideal organization every employee is looked upon as a bundle of limitless latent pos- sibilities, and his training and education are held to be of far more importance than the invention of new machinery, the discovery of new methods, or the opening of new markets. And this is rea- sonable. Some obscure employee, thus trained and educated, may invent more wonder-working machinery, discover more efficient methods, and open up wider and more profitable markets than any before dreamed. Even if no such brilliant star rises as the result of education, the increased efficiency, loyalty, and enthusiasm of the whole mass of employees lifted, be it ever so little, by 28 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS education within the organization, has yielded results in scores of institutions that have come under our observation within the last few years far beyond any won by mechanical or commerciaJ exploitation. The ideal for every employee, therefore, is that he should be employed in that position which he is best fitted to fill, doing work which by natural aptitudes, training, and experience he is best qualified to do, and working under conditions of material environ- ment — tools, rates of pay, hours of labour, and periods of rest, superintendence and management, future prospects, and education — that will develop and make useful to himself and his employer his best and finest latent abilities and capacities. We have seen that the ideal for the organization is that each man in it shall be so selected, assigned, managed, and educated that he will express for the organization his highest and best constructive thoughts and feelings. THE MUTUAL IDEAL COOPERATION There is one more step. That is the mutual ideal. It is contained in the other two — and the other two are essentially one. The mutual ideal is the ideal of cooperation. There is no antagonism between these ideals. The old fallacy that the boss must get just as THE IDEAL IN EMPLOYMENT 27 much as possible out of the workman and pay just as Uttle as possible, and that the workman must do just as little as he can and wring from the boss just as much pay as he can for what he does, and that, therefore, their interests are diametrically opposed, has been all but exploded. It was based upon ignorance, upon prejudice, and upon privately interested misrepresentation. The new scientific spirit, working side by side with the new spirit of a broader and deeper humanity, has demonstrated, and is demonstrating, the truth, that in no other union is there such great strength as in the union of those who are working together, creating wealth for themselves and serving humanity. This is the mutual, cooperative ideal in employment. And it is for the practical realization of this ideal that we have devised the plan whose principles and practical workings are described in this book. CHAPTER III A SCIENTIFIC PLAN OF EMPLOYMENT IN A large printing plant we investigated we found the foreman of the press-room purchas- ing ink and paper and caring for the stores of these commodities. The foreman of the composing- room, in like manner, attended to the purchase of type, electrotypes, engravings, and other sup- plies for his department. He also had full charge of his stores. As might be expected, he made more than his salary in commissions. The foreman of the bindery purchased glue, cloth, leather, wire, thread, strawboard, and other such supplies, and also kept an eye on what he had on hand and issued it upon oral requests to the members of the bind- ing-room force. We were not astonished to find the shipping clerk buying nails, marking ink, wrap- ping paper, twine, and sheet-iron straps; but we were amazed to find that the general manager himself purchased coal for the boilers and lubri- cating oil for the machinery. We had expected to find these duties delegated to the janitor. We found that a little print shop not far away, owned 28 A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 29 by a brother-in-law of the foreman of the press- room, had been running along for nearly two years with no expense for ink, and scarcely any for paper. Modern factory owners will be quite prepared for the statement that even the coal purchased by the general manager himself was purchased by the ton and that the general manager hadn't the ghost of an idea that there existed in the universe any such standards as British thermal units. That was the old way and the crude way of pur- chasing. We found the next step above that in an electrical supply house. There all purchasing was concentrated in the hands of a purchasing agent and his staff. This purchasing agent was honest and capable. He had sharpened his wits and studied markets until his employers boasted of him that he could buy materials and equipment cheaper than any other man in the business. An investigation of this company's records, however, very quickly showed that, although they purchased more cheaply per ton, per gross, or per linear foot, according to the commodities, than any of their competitors, yet the item of cost charged up to material and equipment in their products was higher than that of any of their competitors. This seemed strange, but further investigation showed that a great deal of what was purchased so cheaply had to be thrown on the scrap-heap; that a ton of 30 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS coal or of copper purchased in this way somehow or other did not yield as much heat or as many feet of salable wire as it should. Besides these losses, we discovered that there was considerable dis- satisfaction among customers because of the poor quaUty of the product they bought. Too many consignments of goods were returned because un- expected flaws developed. SCIENTIFIC METHODS IN BUSINESS In the truly up-to-date purchasing department there is a due regard for prices. But the supreme consideration is quality. And when it comes to determining qualities, to finding just the best ma- terial or equipment for the purpose in view, there is no guesswork, there is no taking the word of some one else, there is no favouritism. The modern purchasing agent proceeds upon exact knowledge. In his laboratory he analyzes and tests materials and equipment with scientific accuracy. He also de- termines by the same methods what are the standard requirements of materials and equipment needed. In the early days of our industries, inventions and improvements in machinery and methods were looked upon as dispensations of Divine Prov- idence, as it were, so far as employers were con- cerned. If some inventive genius, either inside or outside of the organization, made a revolutionary A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 31 discovery, well and good. They would do their best to avail themselves of it as quickly as did their competitors. If not, well, they and their competitors were on the same plane. No modern factory is complete without its ex- perimental and inventing department. The in- ventor is no longer either a starving genius in a garret or a lucky fellow who stumbles on a dis- covery, but a salaried man with whom inventing is a profession. We have seen the same changes occur in selling, financing, accounting, producing, efficiency engi- neering, and other phases of manufacturing within the last few years. All this simply means that which had been left entirely to chance or delegated helter-skelter to minor executives who might or might not be competent — and certainly were not provided with time, money, and equipment for accuracy — has now been placed in the hands of a competent person, amply provided with all neces- sary means for supplanting haphazard, hit-or-miss, guesswork methods by orderly, accurate, and effi- cient procedure and exact knowledge. ESSENTLA.LS OF THE BLACKFORD PLAN OF EMPLOYMENT The plan of employment here presented has been designed to operate upon the same fundamental 32 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS principles. The plan closely follows in its essen- tials the evolution of other recent phases of our industrial and commercial life. In practice the plan consists in concentrating authority and re- sponsibility for all relations between employer and employee in an employment department under the direction and supervision of a specially selected and trained employment supervisor. Wherever we have installed the plan our first step has been to select and train with great care an employment supervisor, and to assist him in the organization of his staflf and in the creation of an employment department. The first duty of the employment department, after it has been organized, located in its offices, and completely equipped for work, is to relieve foremen, heads of departments, and other line officers of the responsibility and trouble of inter- viewing applicants, selecting employees, making transfers and adjustments, discharging employees, and all similar duties and obligations. Thus re- lieved, foremen and other executives are able to devote their entire time, thought, and energy to administration and management, and to the specific duties of their positions. When this first step has been taken, the employ- ment department finds itself responsible for the personnel of the organization, finds itself faced with the task of creating out of whatever human A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 33 material is at hand and can be secured the ideal organization described in the preceding chapter. The advantages to an institution, large or small, of an employment department, are many. So great is the superiority of a definite, scientific plan over unstandardized methods, with scattered re- sponsibility, that only by widespread adoption of such a plan in many different kinds of business institutions can all of the advantages be known. We suggest here a few which have been demon- strated in our own experience. UNIFORMITY OF POLICY AND METHODS First. An efficient central employment depart- ment greatly facilitates the application of a uniform policy to all relationships between employees and management. It is far easier to instil ideals into the minds of an employment supervisor and his assistants, and to hold them responsible for the realization of those ideals, than it is to instruct and hold in line a number of minor executives, such as heads of departments, foremen, gang bosses, super- intendents, chief clerks, head stenographers, etc. The management may have high ideals as to jus- tice, mutual service, loyalty, obedience, or any other qualities. This plan affords an opportunity for the better realization of these ideals throughout the entire institution.. 34 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Second. In a central employment department it has been found possible to work out and adopt uniform methods of dealing with employees. By careful study and experimentation the most ad- vantageous methods have been determined and, as the result of experience crystallized in records, have been perfected. There must be one best policy, one best set of ideals, and one best method of employment for every institution. It is only by the concentration of all matters pertaining to employment in one central department that these policies, these ideals, and these methods can be determined and applied. Third. Every business enterprise has, or should have, its own definite standards of efficiency and of corresponding rates of compensation for its em- ployees. It should also have standards as to physical condition, education, experience, moral character, and other qualifications, according to the nature of the business and the position occupied by the employee. With uniformity and concen- tration of responsibility, the maintenance of such standards is made less difficult. One very fre- quent cause of friction and ill-feeling between em- ployers and employees is the inequality of policies, methods, and standards almost inevitable when every minor executive in the institution is a more or less absolute monarch in his own little realm so A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 35 far as hiring, "firing," and promotion are con- cerned. ECONOMY AND CONTROL Fourth. It is a cardinal rule of efficiency that concentration of function wherever possible results in the elimination of waste, and therefore in economy. First of all, there is economy in the time of foremen, department heads, and other ex- ecutives freed from the necessity of interviewing applicants. We have already referred to this. In some cases it amounts to a very considerable saving. We have also found that the adoption of this plan effects large savings in the number of employees placed on the pay-roll. A sympathetic foreman, chief clerk, or other executive is prone to hire more men than he needs when applicants are permitted to go to him with their pleas. In a case which recently came under our observation, an office manager, moved by the artistic hard-luck story of an ancient loafer and town character, gave him a job in the accounting department at a time when competent men who had served the company faithfully for years, who owned homes in the com- munity, and were valued citizens, were laid off on account of depression consequent upon reorgani- zation of the business. It is a practice in many organizations for execu- 36 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS lives to keep their forces intact, even during tem- porary lulls, so that a resumption of activity may not find them short-handed. It is a common ex- perience to see workers in one department of a factory or store rushed to the limit of endurance, working overtime, while the working force of an- other department loafs. In all such cases a central employment department acts as an accommodator, equalizing the pressure, withdrawing workers where they are not needed, transferring them to where they are needed, maintaining reserve lists of workers for all departments, and keeping in close touch not only with the needs of each department, but with applicants who stand ready to begin work upon short notice. Fifth. The concentration in one department of all relationships with employees gives the manage- ment a small handle, easily grasped and with a big leverage, for the control of one of the most important and usually most troublesome factors in a business. In this department there are standardized, and therefore uniform, records not only of all employees, but of all phases of the employment situation. This means that there is always at hand reliable, accurate, and definite information. Does the man- agement want a man with some special ability at a moment's notice? The employment depart- ment has long had its eye upon such a man, either A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 37 employed in some capacity in the institution or upon its list of applicants. Is it desirable to know which one of a dozen minor executives is the most successful in handling men? A digest of the rec- ords in the employment department quickly gives the answer. EMPLOYMENT BY EXPERTS. Sixth. By the adoption of this plan we have been enabled to put all employment matters into the hands of those specially selected, educated, and trained for the work — in other words, to avail ourselves of the services of experts in employment. This also is in line with efficiency and scientific management methods. The efficiency engineer centres all responsibility for certain functions of the organization in the hands of experts called staff officers, such as purchasing agents, storekeepers, and chiefs of power and maintenance, lighting, belting, safety, sanitation, dispatching, scheduling, and other such departments. The scientific management ex- pert centres responsibility for all these things in what are called functional foremen. The results in both systems are well known to those who have had experience with them or studied them. It all means taking responsibility out of the hands of those who may or may not be competent, and turning it over to those who are known to be expert. 38 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS BEOAD SCOPE OF PLAN Seventh. By the installation of an employment department the scope of employment activity can very easily be greatly broadened. For example, it would obviously be a great waste for the account- ing, sales, collection, advertising, designing, and several other departments and divisions of a store, factory, office, or bank, each to send out a scout in search of desirable applicants. But employ- ment supervisors frequently either go themselves or send some member of their staff on a scouting expedition, searching for needed employees for all departments of a business. A central employment department can attempt far more in the matter of records, files, advertising for help, analysis of posi- tions, and analysis of men, than would be possible without such specialization of function. It is also possible for the employment department to organ- ize and direct all of those activities, with reference to health, happiness, and loyalty of employees, commonly referred to as welfare work. This is especially true with reference to general and special education and training of employees. Our records show that the average employee in the average institution represents a capitalized value of between $2,500 and $3,000 to his em- ployer. It is the function of the employment de- partment not only to protect that investment from A SCIENTIFIC PLAN 39 depreciation and loss in every way possible, but even to develop and increase its value. Thus centralizing employment activities is the external mechanism of our plan. But its distinc- tive and essential features lie rather in the scien- tific analysis of all factors of employment and action based upon these analyses, interpreted in the light of experience and common sense. CHAPTER IV DISCIPLINE WHY, your plan is impossible ! If we take away from our executive heads the right to 'hire and fire,' they will lose control of their men. Most of them will walk out. They won't stand for it." The air of finality with which the foregoing con- demnation was delivered when we first proposed our plan to one employer might have utterly dis- couraged us. But we had heard many other high authorities declare that certain things were utterly impossible, and yet these very things had been done. We had an idea, originating in a good many years' experience and study, that the average executive would be only too glad to be relieved of a responsibility which took time from the regular duties of his position, and which he did not feel particularly well qualified to perform. The aver- age executive, whether head of a department or foreman of a gang, is a man of intelligence and common sense, a man who is willing to listen to reason, a man who is not so pufifed up with a little 40 DISCIPLINE 41 brief authority that he is unwilling to relinquish this prerogative if by so doing he can greatly in- crease the harmony, efficiency, and output of the department for which he is responsible. We be- lieved that the very incompetency — not at all his fault — of the average executive to "hire and fire" would be the strongest argument in his mind for turning it over to an expert. The average executive is incompetent to select and assign or to discharge employees. If in the modern, scientifically managed institution the ex- ecutive or foreman is considered to be, and ac- knowledges himself to be, incompetent to select raw materials and machinery, how can he rea- sonably be expected to select, assign, or throw out, human values which are so difficult of analysis that some of the critics who want to leave the re- sponsibility to minor executives declare in the same breath that not even an expert can be trained to analyze and understand human nature.'' It is significant that no one who insists that department heads should select and discharge their own men has the temerity to maintain that they are com- petent to do it scientifically. THE "hire and fire" METHOD The average executive is not expected to select employees fitted by aptitudes, character, training. 42 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS and experience for the work they have to do. He is expected to select such men as he can secure — who are not absolutely debarred from the work by some deficiency that he can see with half an eye — and then to try theni out. Unless they prove to be hopelessly incompetent, they are retained for a short time at least; otherwise they hear the ulti- matum, "Go get your time!" It matters not, of course, that the man so discharged, while unsatis- factory in the eyes of this particular official, might have proved to be a treasure beyond price in some other department. He is "fired," and, by an un- written law, when discharged from one department must not be hired by any other. The injustice to the employee thus discharged is great. But the loss to the institution is far greater. Aside from the fact that an executive might thus discharge a possible Charles M. Schwab, it costs from twenty to one hundred dol- lars to put a man's name on the pay-roll and take it off again. A group of thirty sales managers, representing as many different lines of business* agreed that the average cost of selecting, training, and putting a salesman into the field is three hun- dred dollars. We believed that another reason why foremen and executives would be glad to turn over to an efficient employment department the duties and DISCIPLINE 43 responsibilities of hiring, promoting, transferring, and discharging was the consideration of time. In one institution where we installed an employ- ment department the comptroller, a very busy man, told us that the new department was saving at least a full day of his time every week. As he drew a salary of $10,000 a year, there was an an- nual saving of between $1,600 and $1,700 in the time of this one man alone. Our investigations have proved that either the executive must de- vote so much time to employment matters as seriously to handicap him in his other duties, or else attend to them in so hurried and slipshod a fashion that they might better be left to an intelli- gent office boy. But, supposing for the moment that your fore- men, or buyers, or department heads are compe- tent, that they know just the kind of employees they want, and know accurately how to tell this kind from the kind they do not want, they are in very little better case than we have pictured them, because they have no time, no equipment, and no assistance to secure efficient applicants from whom to select. The unusual gang-boss may occasionally find time and opportunity to go on a still hunt for a good man at night when he is off duty, or he may have certain private sources of information; but even he is not equipped for anything like a syste- 44 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS matic search for men. The average foreman is obUged to select from the little crowd of unemployed at the gate of the factory. The average depart- ment head or executive must rely upon chance ap- plicants or the heterogeneous crowd that answers advertisements, either in person or by letter. Suppose, however, that in any organization all of the executive heads are unusual, that they have more or less effective although somewhat crude methods of hunting out good men. We have seen such enterprises. But the spectacle of thirty or forty men, each maintaining a little employment bureau of his own, with its attendant expenditures of time, energy, and money, was an example of du- plication, yes, multiplication, of work that ought to have made the management gasp. The depart- ment heads and gang-bosses felt the sad wasteful- ness of the thing, and it was because we knew that they felt this that we believed our plan was not an impossibility. WASTE OF UNSCIENTIFIC SELECTION Since the foreman in a factory, the chief clerk in a bank or office, or the department manager in a store is confessedly incompetent to select men and women upon the basis of their fitness for their tasks, upon what basis may we expect him to make his selection? His own opinion is perhaps the least DISCIPLINE 45 objectionable basis. Every man's opinion is but the expression of his personal bias — in other words, an utterly unscientific and unreliable quantity, liable to be turned this way and that by the most whimsical and inconsequential of considerations. We once knew an executive responsible for the industrial lives of 800 men. "My good father told me when I was a boy," he used to say, "never to trust a redhead, and I never have had a redheaded man or woman in my employ!" And yet there were any number of positions in this man's or- ganization in which men and women with red heads would have fitted with far greater efficiency than those who occupied them. Other manifestations of this same personal bias are seen in the selection of relatives, old friends, fellow townsmen, co-reli- gionists, fellow members of lodges, clubs, and secret societies, and people of certain nationalities. Many most desirable applicants are lost to the organization when there is no central employment department. They go to one or perhaps two de- partments and are told that they are not needed. And yet perhaps at that very time employees of their particular abilities are most sadly needed in some other department. Many an executive, with honest intentions but wavering will-power, would be delighted to turn over all employment to' some one else because of 46 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS the constant temptation to graft. We have found foremen exacting a bribe from every man they placed upon their pay-rolls and further sums from every man they promoted or whose pay they raised. We have known foremen to maintain a number of dummy names on their pay-rolls and convey the contents of all these pay envelopes to their own pockets. We have known other minor executives, in institutions where such practices were going on, sorely tried and tempted in keeping their honour clear. For these reasons we believed that execu- tive heads would be glad to have their employees selected and assigned scientifically by a department equipped for that work. And, as a matter of fact, they were glad. The protests came, not from the men from whom the prerogative of hiring and firing had been taken, but from the management. Our experience has been no different from that of efiiciency engineers and scientific management experts. The first objection of the management always is, " Our business is different." When that has been overcome, we are fully prepared for the next objection, and it in- variably comes: "Our foremen and employees would never stand for it"; or "Our department heads would never give up their right to hire and fire." In the end, if anybody interferes with the harmonious working of the plan or balks at any DISCIPLINE 47 of its provisions, it is always the management. The minor executives and the men in the ranks fall in with the plan easily enough, and within a very short time are working harmoniously under it and, almost without exception, are delighted with it. DIFFICULTIES AND OBSTACLES In one very large organization where we in- stalled an employment department the offices were fitted up, the supervisor and his staff chosen, all necessary blanks and records printed and ready to use, before any one, except the management, knew anything about the contemplated new depart- ure. Then all executives, heads of departments, and foremen were invited to attend a reception and meeting in the suite of offices that had been prepared. Everything possible was done to make the affair pleasant socially. At this gathering the plan was described, the blanks to be used were ex- hibited and explained, and complete instructions were given as to their use. Emphasis was laid upon the advantages of the plan to the foremen and heads of departments. The men were en^ couraged to ask questions, which were carefully answered. As a result of this meeting the hearty cooperation of a number of the foremen was im- mediately enlisted, and observation of the plan in 48 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS its practical workings soon won over the recalci- trants. In another large institution where a method somewhat similar to this was adopted, at the be- ginning the task of securing intelligent and enthu- siastic cooperation from the heads of departments was not so easy. While most of them seemed to fall into line readily enough when the plan was presented to them, difficulties speedily developed when actual operation was begun. At first, either through inadvertence or in the hope of finding the new rules inoperative, department heads at- tempted to hire workers without recognizing the employment department. Inasmuch as they found it impossible to have the names of the new em- ployees thus engaged placed on the pay-roll, they soon changed their tactics. They employed men and women and set them to work and then sent them to the employment department to apply for positions in which they had already been placed. By patience and kindness, combined with vigilance and firmness, the employment supervisor finally persuaded these executives that this method would not be permitted. Their next move, therefore, was to send people whose names they desired to place upon the pay-roll, to the employment department with an enthusiastic recommendation. Investigation frequently showed DISCIPLINE 49 that those thus recommended were either former employees who had left with a bad record, relatives, or personal friends of the department head, or, for some other reason, unemployable in the capacity recommended. In some cases there was the most stubborn re- sistance to every attempt of the employment de- partment to study conditions. This resistance was met with kindness and consideration but abso- lute firmness. The resulting investigation always showed that there were irregularities in the de- partment which the head of it wished to conceal. Sometimes it would turn out that there were dum- mies on the pay-roll or that employees were paying their superior for their positions, increases, promo- tions, holidays, and other privileges. There seemed to be an irresistible temptation on the part of some executives to transfer men from one department to another without consult- ing the employment department. These transfers sometimes included a change in the rate of pay, and otherwise entangled the records. In some cases, when a rush of work was antici- pated, executives would send requisitions for more men than they needed, not trusting the department to find enough workers for them. It was difficult at first to prevail upon some of the heads of departments to take pains with their 50 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS reports to the employment supervisor. Some were lazy, some were indifferent, some were ignorant, and some evidently held the whole plan in con- tempt. For some time heads of departments continued to discharge their men, for no good reason, simply to show their authority, or because of a whim or loss of temper or personal bias or jealousy. At times men in the organization who were disgruntled attempted to foment a strike. MEETING DIFFICULTIES All of these difficulties and others were met, first of all, by having the employment department so well organized, and its finger so closely upon the pulse of the entire organization, that every at- tempted irregularity was quickly known. As soon as the evidence was all in hand, the department head responsible for the irregularity was called in. He was talked with kindly but firmly. It was as- sumed, as a general rule, that his departure from the plan was due, not to any rebelliousness on his part, but to a lack of thorough understanding, which was often true. Desiring to shield them- selves from the charge of ignorance or stupidity, heads of departments usually exclaimed glibly: "Oh, yes, I understand how to use the plan." In- vestigation showed that in some cases where this DISCIPLINE 51 claim was made they did not even understand how to fill out the simplest blank; so the whole plan was painstakingly explained to them from their point of view, not so much from the point of view of the organization. The effort of the employment super- visor was to show them how the plan would benefit them, how it would save them time, how it would bring to light their efficiency, how it would supply them with more efficient, more congenial, more loyal, and less troublesome help, how it would en- able them to make a better and better showing for their departments. Not in the first interview al- ways, nor in the second, but finally every depart- ment head either fell into line or, realizing that he was entirely out of harmony with the new spirit of the organization, voluntarily tendered his res- ignation. Nor did the work of the employment supervisor end here. Occasional get-together meetings were held with the heads of departments. Difficulties and misunderstandings that had arisen were threshed out. Questions were answered. Experiences were related, and in a quiet way much was done to arouse and stimulate enthusiasm for the plan. In addition to this, an expert from the employ- ment department interviewed every superior and minor executive in the organization, sized him up, learned his preferences and peculiarities, diplo- 5^ THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS matically wheedled out of him his objections to the plan, if he had any, and sounded him for suggestions for its improvement. Much valuable information was obtained in this way, as well as some valuable hints for the improvement of the service. RESULTS CONVINCE THE OBSTINATE All of these methods were effective, and one by one most of the heads of departments accepted the innovation and worked gladly hand in hand with the employment department. It was inevi- table in so large an organization as this one that some exceedingly hard-headed and conservative executives should resist to the bitter end. When, however, they began to see the actual results their attitude changed. They found that the efficiency of the workers furnished them by the employment department was of a much higher quality, on an average, than of the workmen they had been able to obtain by their own efforts. They found the expenses of their departments decreasing, and the production increasing. They found friction and trouble with employees decreasing, and in the end they were delighted, because they had more time for the real duties of their positions and were free from interruptions, since they did not need to inter- view applicants. With the exception, therefore, of a few who resigned because they felt themselves DISCIPLINE 53 wholly out of harmony with the scientific spirit of the employment plan, every one of these heads of departments not only gave the employment su- pervisor his enthusiastic cooperation, but formed the habit of going to him for counsel and advice upon many matters pertaining to his subordi- nates. The method just outlined is perhaps the best for the average large business. In smaller insti- tutions it has been found advantageous to vary this method somewhat according to circumstances. In one smaller organization the foremen were inter- viewed individually by the employment supervisor, the whole plan being explained to them, and their cooperation requested. All but one of them was immediately convinced of the advantages to be derived and pledged their support. In the case of one who was skeptical, analysis of some of the men who were giving him trouble and other prac- tical measures demonstrating the value of the idea finally won him over. In still another organization, where there was splendid discipline and unusual loyalty, the employ- ment department was installed by a simple order from headquarters, every foreman and head of de- partment falling into line. One comparatively small organization began its work with an employment department by having 54 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS tlie heads of departments themselves first of all analyzed and readjusted. The employment ex- pert advised several changes among these execu- tives which worked out so advantageously that, after some little adjustment, they were willing to have the same method applied to their subor- dinates. DISCIPLINE BY FEAR OF DISCHARGE Employing men and women scientifically by a properly organized employment department is no easy task even under the best conditions. It is difficult — and sometimes impossible — when the management cannot resist the temptation to med- dle. If the minor executives and employees are perfectly willing and agreeable, then some official higher up is quite likely to be sure that they are trying to shirk responsibility. It is usual for some one or more of the management to fear that heads of departments, foremen, or gang-bosses cannot maintain discipline unless they shake all day long over the heads of their employees the club of dis- charge. As a matter of fact, an intelligent and efficient executive keeps that club concealed and uses it not at all except in cases of dire emergency — then not for discipline's sake. Civilization has advanced beyond that stage of development where fear is the strongest motive DISCIPLINE 55 to excellence. A savage or a criminal may refrain from wrongdoing — except on the sly — because he is afraid. But an intelligent, efficient employee strives to excel and to conform with the regulations of the organization in which he finds himself be- cause of higher motives than fear of discharge. It is true that there are a great many men, not only in the lower grades of employment, but unfortu- nately in the higher grades, who are deceitful, whose ambition is to get as much as possible for as little service as possible. It is true that many employees seem to have no higher ambition than to beat the boss in some way. But to hold over such men the threat of discharge will never make them honest, or desirous of doing their best. Its only effect is to make them more cunning and more deceitful. Furthermore, the dishonest, shirk- ing employee is not the type employers desire. In order to build up an ideal organization, an organization in which all of the workers express in their work their highest and best constructive thoughts and feelings, men and women must be selected who are honest and truthful and who re- spond to higher motives than fear of discharge. In any organization such a standard of character may be established for employees, and through an efficient employment department such employees may be selected, and the unintelligent, the unreli- 56 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS able, and the lazy rejected. That an organization has set up such standards soon becomes known, and only such men apply as are wilUng to meet the conditions. MEN EESPOND TO HIGHER MOTIVES In practice we readily detect those who are un- truthful, for example. They are almost certain to tell us falsehoods when applying for work. When they do, we frequently reject their applications and tell them why they are rejected. The effect of this is often interesting. One young man who had lied to us returned and pleaded with us to per- mit him to make another application. "I will tell you the truth this time," he said. "I lied to you before." Even the lower grades of shop employees, men whose training oftentimes had not included instruction in truthfulness, men who could scarcely comprehend at first that there was anything wrong in lying, returned to us and asked to be permitted to tell the truth. It has been found, not only in our experience, but in the experience of many employers and other investigators, that even the crudest and least hope- ful of employees will respond to higher mo- tives far more readily than to the destructive motive of fear. In every human being there is a sense of justice and fair-play. This can be ap- DISCIPLINE 57 pealed to, first, by giving the fair deal; and second, by quiet suggestion on the part of superiors, of the employment supervisor or some of his staff. Again and again we have adjusted differences between superiors and their subordinates, between em- ployee and employee, by a straightforward appeal to the spirit of fair-play. The men who heeded this appeal were always pleased with the results. They had played fair, and it added greatly to their self-respect. We have seen men who began their upward climb in the world through trying to live up to one little unselfish act of fair-play. The employer who does not avail himself of the natural, healthy love of work in his men as a mo- tive for excellence loses much. No matter what a man 's vocation may be, his work has the spice of romance. Into every kind of work, no matter how lowly, can be introduced a desire for artistic excellence. We have seen shovellers taking great pride in their expertness with the shovel, in the distance they could throw and the way they could land the shovel-load, either in a small, compact pile, or scattered, as they chose. The right kind of treatment and attention by the right kind of im- mediate superior, and the right kind of manage- ment, will make almost any man love his work and take pride in doing it well. The motive of pride is one that can be appealed to in all men. 58 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS A SCHOOL FOR EXECUTIVES A well-qualified employment supervisor teaches executives what motives will be found strongest in each of their men. On one occasion we were called in conference by an employer with reference to a young man in his advertising department. The employer told us that the young man was one of the most brilliant he had, an enthusiastic, con- scientious, and tireless worker, whose brain teemed with original ideas. Suddenly, and inexplicably to his employer, the young man lost interest in his work and became sullen, irritable, and practically worthless. "I don't want to let him go," the employer said to us, "but unless he braces up he is worse than useless to me." As soon as we looked at the young man we saw that he was sensitive, proud, and keenly responsive. "Some way or other," we said to the employer, "you have humili- ated that boy, you have hurt his pride. He will be useless to you until the wound is healed. Perhaps, if you know how he was hurt, you yourself can apply the salve." The employer then acknowl- edged to us that he had severely reprimanded the young man in the presence of his associates, and recalled that this was indeed the beginning of his trouble. At our suggestion, this young man was treated with greater courtesy, consideration, and justice. Occasionally, when he had so far for- DISCIPLINE 59 gotten his wounded pride as to manifest a little of his old-time excellence, his employer would give him a quiet word of commendation. The result was that within a few weeks he was doing better work than ever. Hope of promotion, increase in wages, bonus for efficiency, and other forms of reward have been found far better aids in maintaining discipline than fear of discharge. Love of the game is strong in nearly every human being, and in many animals. It was the victorious broom at the top of the smoke- stack at the mill showing the largest production that caused the Carnegie company to outstrip all its competitors, both at home and abroad. It is significant that this appeal was made largely to men doing the very roughest and coarsest kind of work. Any gang of ditchdiggers will pitch in and make the dirt fly in order to outdistance another gang. It was this spirit of the game, introduced into the work at the Isthmus, that enabled Colonel Goethals and his men to make such remarkable records. Finally, and perhaps the most potent of all means in an executive's hands for maintaining discipline, is the personal element. When you cannot get a man to do a thing because it is right and fair, when you cannot get a man to do a thing because he loves to do it, or because of his pride in it, when you 60 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS cannot get a man to do a thing for pay or for pro- motion or to win a contest, you often can get him to do it because he likes you and wants to please you. It lies in human nature for men to follow a loved leader cheerfully and gladly through fire and water, and even to death. In actual practice we have found that the most successful handlers of men use these means, rather than their right to discharge, in maintaining dis- cipline. Even men who have been wont to shake the club over their employees' heads can usually be persuaded to appeal to higher motives than fear. In general, executives under the employment plan are more thoughtful, more careful, more con- siderate in their deahngs with their men when given to understand that every efficient employee is an asset and not an expense, and that they are respon- sible to the firm for him. Every executive, high or low, is made to feel that his men have been care- fully selected and accepted only after consultation with him, and that if they do not prove to be efficient he is answerable. Both department heads and management are made to realize that the executive who complains of inefficiency, careless- ness, or insubordination among his men condemns himself. We find that when executives are thus made to feel responsible for every man under their supervision and direction they are more careful to DISCIPLINE 61 give them the fair deal, to give them an opportunity to develop and improve, and to realize from them for the organization their greatest efficiency. Just as every foreman, department head, or other executive must answer to his superior for the good condition, efficiency, and standard product of each of his machines, or the proper care and disposi- tion of his stock and fixtures, so he must answer to the employment supervisor for the health, happiness, and efficiency of each of his men. The ideal is for the foreman or other executive to keep his men, not discharge them — an ideal which is held constantly before his mind, and which results in better discipline, fewer changes in personnel, and far greater efficiency. CHAPTER V THE JOB AN ADVERTISING manager of our ac- quaintance told his president and general manager that he needed a new copy- writer. "We have added that new line of brass, copper, and silver specialties and there isn't a man in my department who has the ability to write the dope, even if he had the time, which none of them has." "I have got just the man for you," exclaimed the general manager. "I met him on my trip to St. Paul and I never in my life saw a man better fitted for that job than this fellow. I'll wire for him to-night." "But," objected the advertising manager, "what has he done? What is his experience? Whom has he been with?" "Now, don't worry about that a minute. I haven't got time now to tell you all about him, but I'll wire for him, and I give you my word you will find him all right." Two days later the newly acquired copy-writer arrived to take up his duties. He had given up hia 82 THE JOB 63 position as bookkeeper at $125 a month, and had left his wife and children to pack his household furniture and sell his house and lot. The man was thoroughly in earnest, seriously so in fact, and did his best; but his copy was stilted, archaic, dry as dust, and otherwise impossible. The advertising manager did his best to tell him what was expected of him. The ex-bookkeeper tried faithfully enough, but his attempts at the light, swift, easy, effective style of twentieth-century advertising would have been pitiable if they had not been ludicrous. After the general manager's "find" had been in the office a week, the advertising manager said to his chief: "I thought you said that man from St. Paul was an ad writer, the best you had ever seen. Why, he never wrote an ad before in his life! As far as I can find out, he never wrote anything before he came here. What put it into your head that he was the man for this job, anyhow? " "W^hy, I thought he would be a wonderful literary man. I found that he had read care- fully every volume of Dickens, Shakespeare, and Macaulay." IGNORANCE OF REQUIREMENTS OF JOBS This true incident is a fair sample of the igno- rance of the average employer regarding the re- quirements of the various jobs in his organization. 64 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS and how to find men to fit them. Nor is the aver- age foreman or department head much better. Until they have been instructed, such executives continually send us requisitions for quick, active, speedy men for positions requiring slow, plodding, painstaking accuracy ; for careful, cautious men for positions which require a certain amount of daring; and for solid, conservative men for jobs where initi- ative, aggressiveness, and originality are the prime requirements. We had a foreman in one place who used to send to us for accurate, methodical men and then rage when he gat them because they were slow and de- Uberate. We were once asked to recommend for an important position a painstaking, reliable man in whom economy must be a prime requisite. We recommended such a man. Within two weeks he was returned to us with the complaint that he had not accomplished anything. A little investigation showed that the man had been expected to take hold of a badly managed department, tear it to pieces, and put it together again. It was an emer- gency case and the principal consideration was neither carefulness nor economy, but speed. And to make haste in work of that kind required a man with considerable willingness to take a chance. As a general rule, an executive will naturally incline to men of his own type, whether they are THE JOB 65 best fitted for the work to be done or not. This is the reason why the "live wire" hustler, the ag- gressive, impatient, strenuous type of executive always seeks to fill his ranks with men as positive and reckless as himself; and why the quiet, good- natured, patient, plodding executive is often sur- rounded by men of similarly slow but certain gait. It is very human for a foreman or head of de- partment, having chosen his men with such igno- rance of the requirements of the positions they are to fill, to blame the men and not himself when they turn out to be inefficient. For years most sales managers thought that the ideal travelling salesman was a bluflF, hearty, back- slapping, hard-drinking, gorgeously apparelled in- dividual, and the type still sticks in our narrative and dramatic literature. Scientific analysis of the requirements of the salesman's function, however, has given us the modern salesman, the man who gives far more attention to building business than to getting business, and whose motto is "He profits most who serves best." ANALYSIS THE BEST METHOD Edison gave us the incandescent lamp with car- bon filament, which was a great advance in artificial lighting over anything that had ever been devised before. But scientific analysis of the requirements 66 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS of an incandescent lamp filament has given us the tungsten wire, producing a far more brilliant light of better quality and consuming less electric- ity. There is only one common-sense, efficient way of filling a position, just as there is only one common- sense, efficient way of determining what material is to be used in a given place. The man who selects the different metals, alloys, woods, leathers, and other materials for an auto- mobile according to his own opinions and preju- dices, with no engineering tests to determine the requirements of each part, would not build a ma- chine in which you would care to trust yourself going at high speed. The employer who leaves the selection of men and women, out of whom he builds his. organiza- tion, to foremen who guess at the requirements, or decide upon them according to their own opinions or prejudices, does even worse, because a piece of misfit human material may do greater harm than a bit of cast-iron where vanadium steel is required. Some employers, realizing the necessity for more careful selection, have standardized to a certain de- gree their more important positions. But every job is important. The office boy in affixing stamps on outgoing mail may put a two-cent stamp on a letter THE JOB 67 to a customer in Paris. When that customer has to pay six cents to get his letter out of the post oflBce he is exasperated at the carelessness of the house. Over and over in our commerce and industry we have exemplified the story that used to be told in verse form in our old readers, and that ended: "The kingdom was lost, and all for the want of a horseshoe nail." FOUR FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENTS Determining the standard requirements for any job by the employment supervisor and his staff involves consultation with heads of departments, foremen, chiefs of divisions, and superintendents, with efficiency or production engineers — if there are any in the plant — and with the workmen themselves. It also involves a careful, painstaking study of the most efficient men doing the particular kind of work in question. A preliminary rough analysis of any job is a comparatively easy matter. The complete analysis requires a scientific mind, and an intimate knowledge of the tasks to be per- formed. If there are no efficiency or production engineers in the plant, the employment supervisor or some member of his staff provides himself with a stop- watch and learns how to make time and motion 68 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS studies. While the very best of results have fol- lowed the detailed standardization of jobs, so little has been done in this respect in the average plant that even the roughest, most general analysis has proved highly profitable. For example, at the very beginning of the work of an employment department, and before any detailed analyses of jobs can be made, we set up four fundamental standard qualifications, without a fair degree of which no one is considered for any position. These essentials are: (1) health, (2) in- telligence, (3) honesty, and (4) industry. They are indispensable. No man is permanently worth even floor space, light, and heat, to say nothing of wages, unless he has health. Unless a man is intelligent he cannot be taught — he will not develop. He will not understand, and therefore cannot follow instructions. Even in the lowest kind of unskilled labour the imintel- ligent man costs too much for supervision to be a profitable investment, no matter how low his wages. By honesty we mean reliability — general trust- worthiness. A dishonest man cannot do honest work. He may seem to be wonderfully efficient in many ways, but work, like everything else a man does, is an expression of character, and a man can- THE JOB 69 not be dishonest in character and express honesty in his work. Somehow or other he will manifest his essential nature, and one crooked act on his part may wipe out all the profits possible on a dozen years of his best service. It goes without saying, of course, that no matter how healthy or brilliant or how reliable a man may be, he is useless unless he does things, unless he expresses his powers in action. METHOD OF ANALYZING JOBS To make sure that every employee has these four qualifications is a long step in advance in the aver- age institution. These four fundamental qualifi- cations having been determined, we inquire more particularly : Does the job require physical or mental work, or a combination of both? Is it an executive or subordinate position? Is it light or heavy work? Does it require mechanical ability, artistic ability, commercial ability, financial ability, or the ability to handle people successfully? By a careful classification and correlation of all these qualifications and others, we have designed a suggestive chart which serves as a guide to the employment supervisor and his staff in standardiz- ing positions. This chart appears on the follow- ing pages: 70 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS THE JOB {Health Honesty'^'^^ Industry Physical Kequire- ments (-Tall \ Short BodyBuad<^Medium /Light l^Medium fFine Texture <»p!irtTn<>Tlt TSTpw Ratp Effective (Date) Hour 1:1; Employment Supervisor nnt,. Ifll - SECURING APPLICANTS 93 not be satisfied with the arrangement, he returns the blank to the employment department as soon as possible, stating reasons. If you elect to return to the department for further consultation, you may be sent to some other executive — if there is a requisition on hand for some one of your aptitudes, training, and character. If there is no such requi- sition, your application blank and analysis are placed on file in the reserve list and you are com- municated with as soon as a requisition fitting your case is received from a foreman or department head. NOTIFICATION Let us suppose that you are engaged and begin work. As soon as the employment department receives Blank No. 4, giving the rate of your pay and the time you began work, Blank No. 5, Noti- fication (see page 92), is filled out and sent to the paymaster's department. You will observe that this blank is so arranged as to be used also in case you receive an increase or any other change in your rate of pay, are transferred to another position or department, or, for any reason, you resign or are discharged. FOLDER When once you have become an employee of the institution a folder (see page 94) is filled out for 94 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS 1 APPLICATION HIRCD OKPT POSITION BATE- ;rRAN«ro RATC cao PAID OFF RCASON SECURING APPLICANTS 95 you and placed in the Employees' File. In this folder are included all correspondence with you, all the blanks filled out with reference to your employ- ment, and other memoranda of any kind that may be of value. In this folder, among other documents is the Analysis Blank, Form 3 (see page 86) filled out by the interviewer at the time of your original application. RECORD On the reverse of this blank is space for your record in the organization (see page 88). On this record, at stated times, according to the character of the business and the position you occupy, are entered data, giving essential information as to your eflficiency and progress. How your efficiency will be calculated will depend upon the practice of the firm and the work you are doing. If a bonus system is in operation, your efficiency will be re- ported in percentages. If you are a salesman, your efficiency will be calculated in terms of sales, prof- its, collections, etc. REPORT ON EMPLOYEE Partly for the sake of keeping this record of your performance and partly for the purpose of keeping check upon foremen or department heads. Blank No. 6, Report on Employee (see page 96), is 96 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS BLANK NO. 6 REPORT ON EMPLOYEE Office Factory Store Original Name Clock No Kind of work. Deportment JDept.. -Position No.. Special ability shown. POSITIVES SHOWN Carefulness Punctuality Accuracy Industry Orderliness Cheerfulness Patience Sobriety Good memory Dependability Obedience Quickness NEGATIVES SHOWN Carelessness Disorderliness Tardiness Gloominess Inaccuracy Impatience Laziness Intemperance Forg:etfulness Undependability Disobedience Slowness With reference to this man I recommend :. Returned to you, Date_ Reason All tools, tool checks and other articles loaned No.. have been returned. Tool Stock Room No By storekeeper Signed. Foreman Rate approved by Date 191 Superintendent SECURING APPLICANTS 97 used. This blank is filled out by the foreman and sent to the employment department whenever he desires to change your rate of pay, promote you or change your position in his department, transfer you to another department, accept your resignation, or end your service with him. The employment supervisor may call for such a report at any time, but, as already intimated, he does not rely wholly upon it in keeping the record shown on page 88. The data entered in this record are obtained by dif- ferent methods, according to the character of the business and the system of rating employees in use. This Report on Employee has been found to be of great value indirectly. When an executive is called upon to fill out such a report in connection with every change he desires to make in his depart- ment, and to state in definite terms his reasons for making the change, he uses more judgment and common sense and is less impulsive. Oftentimes foremen and other executives are either lazy, indif- ferent, or contemptuous, and therefore flippant in filling out these reports. A little experience, how- ever, soon changes their mental attitude. One inci- dent may illustrate this : A foreman, being asked to send in Report on Employee for each man in his department, did so, with ninety-nine out of one hundred and four men checked as showing every one of the positives in the 98 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS BLANK NO. 7 RECOMMENDATION Kindly fill out this blank with information about some one who you think would be desirable for us to employ. Name Address. Why is he desirable?- How do you know? What kind of work can he do?_ Is he now employed? Where ?_ How old is he? What rate of pay would he expect?- Married? Single? How many to support?. Nationality? Religion? What union?. What is his relation to you? Is he related to any member of your family? If so, what is the relationship? Signed- Name Position Department Date 191 SECURING APPLICANTS 99 list. Five only were checked with any negative, and each one of the five was reported as showing "gloominess." Within a week after these reports had been received, one of the men in this foreman's department came to the employment supervisor with a report on which every negative was checked, with immediate discharge recommended. The fore- man was sent for, and his attention was called to the fact that he had sent in two reports on this man within a week; that in the first report the man was credited with having all the positives in the list and in the second was charged with being guilty of all the negatives in the list. While this one ex- perience did not then and there make a new man of the foreman, it was the beginning of his reform, and within a few weeks he was taking care and pains in making his reports. RECOMMENDATION As has already been stated, loyal and happy em- ployees frequently recommend for employment friends and acquaintances whom they know to be efficient. For their convenience they are supplied with Blank No. 7, Recommendation (see page 98). These recommendations are filled out and either handed or sent to the employment department, where they are acted upon according to the discre- tion of the supervisor. 100 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Every time the employment department is called upon to deal with you in any important matter, your folder, with all its contents, is taken out of file and placed before the person who is handling the case. As you have seen, it contains, in compact form, all of the information in the hands of the de- partment with reference to you and your relation- ship with the organization. Not only this, but in the folder is your analysis, made by some member of the department, and on the back of it your sub- sequent record. Here is an effective check upon the accuracy and reliability of analyses made in the department. THE SPIRIT, NOT THE FORM, OF THE PLAN IMPORTANT The blanks reproduced here are those used in a factory with several thousand employees. They are intended to be elastic enough in every respect to cover the handling of appheants and employees from the highest grade to the lowest. Their use, therefore, is not subject to rigid and ironclad rules, but to the common sense and good judgment of those who use them. For example, in the use of Blank No, 2, Appli- cation, no intelligent interviewer would expect an ignorant man, perhaps unable to read, write, or speak the English language, applying for a tempo- SECURING APPLICANTS 101 rary job as shoveller in the yard gang, to fill out all or even any of the spaces. Nor would there be any very extensive use of Blank No. 3, Analysis, in such a case. The higher the position to be filled, the more numerous and the more specific are the requirements, and the more completely and care- fully are all of these blanks filled out. Necessa- rily, there are certain minor changes in detail in these blanks when they are used in other concerns. These changes will depend upon the character of the business, the policies and standards adopted by the management, and other considerations. The details are relatively unimportant. The spirit and purpose of the plan are all-important. In order that the reason and use of these blanks may be clearly understood, we summarize: SUMMARY OF BLANKS Blank No. 1, Requisition (see page 80), is an order upon the employment department by some executive in the organization for an employee to fill a certain position. Blank No. 2, Application for Position (see page 82), is an application for position with spaces for the voluntary giving of certain information by the applicant. The reverse of this blank (see page 83) gives the interviewer suggestions for the examina- tion of the applicant. lOi THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Blank No. 3, Analysis (see page 86), contains in cipher the complete and digested result of the observations made upon the applicant by the inter- viewer. The reverse of this blank (see page 88) is for a record of the applicant's performances after he has become an employee. Blank No. 4, Reference to Foreman (see page 90), serves a double purpose. It is a letter of intro- duction presenting an applicant accepted by the employment department to the superior executive to whom he is recommended for employment. It also serves to carry the report of the executive upon the result of the applicant's call. Blank No. 5, Notification (see page 92), notifies the paymaster's department of the hiring of a new employee or any change in rate, transfer, promotion, or removal of an employee. Blank No. 6, Report on Employee (see page 96), serves several purposes : gives an executive's report upon an employee; recommends an increase in pay, promotion, transfer, or removal of an employee; gives reason for such action, and definitely closes the relations of the employee with the institution's tool, stock, or supply department; also serves as a check upon doings of executives. Blank No. 7, Recommendation (see page 98), gives an opportunity for employees to notify the organization of desirable candidates for positions. SECURING APPLICANTS 103 In a very small organization not all of these blanks are necessary. In a very large organization where there are many complications of relationship with employees, perhaps other blanks may be needed. "The letter killeth; the spirit maketh alive." CHAPTER VII ANALYZING THE MAN HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT WHEN a man suffers from tonsillitis he has an infection and inflammation of a part of the throat whose reason for existence was until recently a mystery. He can derive a certain amount of interest, if not consolation, from the fact that he inherited his troublesome tonsils from remote ancestors. Ages ago his forebears swam in the warm, salt waters of the young earth. Nat- urally, they were equipped with gills. These old worthies transmitted their gills to him, but in being handed down from generation to generation the legacy has been so modified by conditions that all he has left of it are his ears. Eustachian tubes, and these inflammable tonsils. This same man, when a schoolboy, probably braved drowning and suffered many a whipping because of his love for the old swimming hole. Perhaps this trait of his character was also an inheritance from his remote aquatic ancestors. The researches of science into the evolution of 104 ANALYZING THE MAN 105 man — and of each part and organ of his body — have resulted in a far better understanding of his anatomy and physiology. In a similar way, a study of the evolution of the human mind and its activities has given us a far better understanding than ever before of human psychology. Just as the tonsils, the Eustachian tubes, and the ears in present-day man are relics of gills, so there are in every other part of the body interesting and significant relics of other stages in the evolution of the race. Just as the passion of the average small boy for the water is perhaps an inheritance from ancestors whose home was in the sea, so in- numerable other traits in human beings as we know them to-day are inheritances from ancestors of cruder forms. According to the law of the survival of the fit- test, individuals having physical and mental traits enabling them to live with the greatest degree of adaptation to their environment, tend to survive longest, and therefore to reproduce themselves in the largest number of offspring inheriting these same physical and mental traits. EVOIiUTION OF PHYSICAL AND PSYCHICAL TRAITS The prehistoric antelope, whose ears could de- tect the slightest movement in the underbrush, heard the tiger crouching for a spring and fled. 106 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS He became the parent of offspring who inherited his excellent hearing. The antelope whose hearing was duller failed to hear the approach of his enemy, and perished before mating. Thus was evolved the keenly sensitive hearing of the antelope. Since these same selective processes operated in the evolution of man, it has come about that every bone, every muscle, every nerve, every fea- ture of the body, as well as the general physical conformation, colour, texture, and consistency, are the result of this ages-long process of selection and survival. This law of the survival of the fittest applies also to the survival of mental and physical traits. For example, in a certain environment that individual who had the greatest courage would survive and reproduce courageous offspring. In another en- vironment that individual who had the greatest caution would survive and transmit his cautious soul to his posterity. And so each of our intel- lectual and emotional characteristics is the result of this same process of variation, selection, and sur- vival, covering a period of unknown ages. In short, there is no aptitude, trait, or character- istic in man which is accidental. The size, shape, proportion, colour, texture, consistency, and condi- tion of every part, every organ, every feature of his body, as well as every little twist and turn of his ANALYZING THE MAN 107 mental abilities, his morals, and his disposition, are the result of heredity and environment of his an- cestors extending back into antiquity for uncounted ages, plus his own environment and experiences. The significant truth in this is that both physical and psychical natures of man are the result of this process of evolution, and that the evolution of one has been coincident and synchronous with the evolu- tion of the other. MUTUAL AND KECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF BODY AND MIND A few other facts, taken in connection with this one, are also important. The intimate relation between thought and feeling and the body is well known to every one who has given his own experi- ences a moment's consideration. From the stand- point of science this relationship is so marked that there are many careful investigators who hold to the theory that both thought and feeling are merely physical states and activities. Whether we ac- cept this extreme view or not, we must agree with the more moderate statement that every mental and psychical state and activity is accompanied by its particular physical reaction. Prof. George Trumbull Ladd, of Yale, says: "All facts too obviously impress upon us the conclusion, how pervasive, intimate, varied, and profound are 108 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS the mutual relations — the correlations — of the physical mechanism and the phenomena of con- sciousness."* This is especially true of the emotions. So marked are the physical accompaniments of emo- tion that many different forms of emotion can be either induced, aggravated, or subdued by volun- tary production or inhibition of their accompanying physical states and activities. Says Prof. William James: "The general causes of the emotions are indubitably physiological."! We therefore have the physical and the mental and psychical evolution of man not only progress- ing hand in hand over many centuries, but pro- foundly affecting each other every step of the way. Every thought has its accompanying vibration in the brain cells. Every emotion, however faint and transient, has its expression in some kind of muscular action and organic reaction. Prevailing modes and directions of thought have given per- manent arrangement and development to the brain cells and to other parts of the body. PrevaiUng states of emotion have actually built up or torn down certain parts of the body, and have given permanent form and expression to other parts. Certain thoughts and feelings have operated to •Elements of Physiological Psychology, page 582. fThe Principles of Psychology, Vol. 11, page 448. ; ANALYZING THE MAN 109 take men into certain kinds of environment. These different kinds of environment, in their turn, have left their indeUble marks upon the body, the minds, and hearts of all who dwelt and worked in their midst. For example, thoughts and feelings of weariness with routine, of aggressiveness and cour- age, of longing for new scenes, new achievements, have in all the ages driven both animals and men into the frontiers of their habitable worlds. Fur- thermore, frontier life, with its activities, its hard- ships, its perils, its peculiar forms of nourishment, clothing, and shelter, has had its effect not only upon the mental and psychical characteristics of animals and men, but upon their physical structure and appearance. THEORY OF PSYCHOPHYSICAL CORRESPONDENCE On the other hand, feelings of prudence, love of routine, established customs, attachment to famil- iar scenes and familiar faces, love of ease, love of comfort, certainty of nourishment and shelter no matter how meagre, have influenced both animals and men to remain in the serene, protected, salu- brious, mild environment of the cradles of life. In turn, this environment has reacted upon them and has left the indelible traces of its influence not only upon their characters but upon their bodies. Many other examples of similar import might be 110 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS cited in support of the theory that there is a constant correspondence between the mental and psychical characteristics of any individual and his physical characteristics. This theory is stated by Prof. J. Mark Bald- win in "Development and Evolution," pages 25, 26, 29, as follows: "Furthermore, we may say that no physical character which has mental correlations is completely understood until these latter are exhaustively determined, and also that no mental character escapes physical correlation. Recent research in the psychological and phys- iological laboratories is establishing many such psychophysical correlations: that of emotion with motor processes; of attention, rhythm, and the time sense with vasomotor changes ; that of mental work with nervous fatigue, etc., through all the main problems of this department. All this af- fords, in so far, at once illustration and proof of the general formula of psychophysical paralleUsm. . , . It has been the psychophysical, not the physical alone nor the mental alone, which has been the unit of selection in the main trend of evolution, and Nature has done what we are now urging the science of evolution to do — she has carried for- ward the two series together, thus producing a single genetic movement. . . . The fact of correlated variation, moreover, is to be carried ANALYZING THE MAN 111 over to the relation between organic and mental variations in different individuals. Many instances are known which prove it; that they are not more numerous is due, I think, to the neglect of recogni- tion of it in seeking genetic explanations." This theory is now almost universally accepted by scientists, but in many different modifications, with reference to its form and extent. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT CHARACTER INTERPRETATION Thinkers and investigators of very early times either assumed or suspected the truth of psycho- physical correspondence. It was because of this assumption or belief in the correspondence be- tween character and physical appearance that men began to try to read the character of their fellows in their faces, heads, hands, and bodies generally, from the earliest times known to history. That one's occupation stamps its impress on the outward expression was observed and recorded by an Egyp- tian scribe of the twelfth dynasty, about 2600 B. C. This papyrus is now in the British Museum. Aris- totle was a devoted student of physiognomy and compared the features and dispositions of men and animals 350 B. C. Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, 460 B. C, refers to the influ- ence of environment in determining disposition, and of the reaction of these on the features. Classic 112 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS literature from Homer down to the present time is full of expressions indicating at least a partial ac- ceptance of this theory. The high brows and lean cheeks of the thinker and scholar; the high, large nose of courage and ag- gressiveness; the thick neck and fleshy lips of sen- suality; the thin lips and cold eye of cruelty; the round face and full figure of good nature; the dark eyes, hair, and skin of revenge; the keen, sharp face of the scold; and the broad, flat face of phleg- matism are as famiUar in literatvire as they are in everyday life. SIFTING THE EVIDENCE — VERIFYING TRUTH Ever since these early days there have been at- tempts at character reading. Many different ave- nues of approach to the subject have been opened up: some by sincere and earnest men of scientific minds and scholarly attainments; some by sincere and earnest but unscientific laymen; and some by mountebanks and charlatans. As the result of all this study, research, and empiricism, a great mass of alleged facts about physical characteristics in man and their corresponding mental and psychical characteristics has accumulated. When we began our research more than fifteen years ago, we found a very considerable library covering every phase of character interDretation, both scientific and ua- ANALYZING THE MAN 113 scientific. A great deal has been added since that time. Much of this hterature is pseudo-scientific, and some of it is pure quackery. But careful and detailed observations upon more than 12,000 in- dividuals, with the use of exact measurements and uniform records, have demonstrated conclusively that many of the conclusions of early workers in this difficult field are substantially correct. This investigation has established many other definite psychophysical correspondences. All of these cor- respondences, still further verified by observations in groups upon more than one hundred thousand individuals in the United States and eighteen foreign countries, correlated, classified, and reduced to a comparatively few laws, form a scientific basis for the analysis of men to determine their fitness for their work and environment. In the very nature of the case, this science of character analysis by the observational method cannot be a science in the same sense in which chem- istry and mathematics are sciences. So far our studies and experiences do not lead us to expect that it ever can become absolute and exact. Hu- man nature is complicated by too many variables and obscured by too much that is elusive and in- tangible. We cannot put a man on the scales and determine that he has so many milligrams of com- mon sense or apply the micrometer to him and 114 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS say that he has so many miUimetres of financial ability. Human traits and human values are relative and can be determined and stated only relatively. On the other hand, inasmuch as it is organized and classified knowledge, the system of character analysis upon which judgment of the man in our employment plan is based is entitled to be called a science. It is a science in the same sense in which horticulture, agriculture, etc., are sciences. ^Tiile the knowledge upon which it is based can never be mathematically exact, it is fundamentally sound from the standpoint of evolution, heredity, environ- ment, biology, physiology, and psychology, and has been verified by thousands of careful observa- tions. CHAPTER VIII ANALYZING THE MAN NINE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL VAEIABLES IF THERE were an absolutely reliable method of interpreting human character by the lines on the palms of a man's hands, or the bumps under the hair of his head, it would be of compara- tively little value in the ordinary interests and ac- tivities of life. If by elaborate tests, with special instruments, one could learn all about the aptitudes and character of a willing subject, the method would be almost as valueless for practical use. We meet and deal with people under conditions which would make it impossible either to examine the palms of their hands or the bumps on their heads or to subject them to psychological tests. The most important relationships with other people oftentimes occur when one must observe them at a distance, and perhaps for but a few moments, when they are wearing hats and gloves, when perhaps the light may be poor, and under other conditions which will enable one to make only the most general ob- servations. It therefore becomes necessary in 115 116 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS analyzing the man to enumerate and classify the most easily observable of his physical character- istics, which give a key to his physical, mental, and psychical aptitudes and character. VARIABLES DEFINED All normal men are alike in most of their physical characteristics. They have the same number of bones and muscles, parts and organs; the same number and general arrangement of features. They differ from one another in other ways. One man is light; another is dark. One man is tall; another is short. One man is sharp-featured; an- other is broad-, flat-faced. One man is coarse, heavy, and crude; another delicate and refined. Colour, size, form, and texture are some of the physical attributes in which men differ or vary from one another. We may therefore call these attributes variables. It is in these physical variables and the variations in character which accompany them that we find a scientific basis for analyzing the man. In the study of these variables, research and in- vestigation are undertaken to find answers to such questions as these, for example: Why do men vary in colour? What are the hereditary and en- vironmental causes of their variation? Would these same causes and others associated with them produce any variation in other physical attributes. ANALYZING THE MAN 117 and in mental and psychical characteristics? What would these variations be? In studying men of different colour, do we actually find such variations in character? In the same way, analysis is made of the causes of other variations, and the effects of these causes upon character. After a great deal of study and experimentation we finally determined upon nine physical variables as fundamentals, and as affording ample data for the analysis of human character in employment work. These are: (1) Colour, (2) Form, (3) Size, (4) Structure, (5) Texture, (6) Consistency, (7) Proportion, (8) Expression, (9) Condition. It is not only impossible to present completely and in detail in a work of this nature the entire science of character analysis by the observational method, but instruction in this science is not the function of the present volume. A brief consider- ation of underlying principles, methods of applica- tion, and the usefulness of the science in employ- ment work will, however, not be amiss. We shall therefore treat each of these nine fundamental vari- ables, showing our method of approach and, in a brief outline, what their variations in the individual reveal. In our discussion of colour and form we enter at some length into the evolutionary causes of both physical and psychical variations. The other variables are treated more briefly. 118 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS COLOUR In the paintings and pottery of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Spain, divinity, royalty, nobil- ity, and aristocracy are represented by white skin, blue eyes, and flaxen hair. Until very recently, most dolls had blue eyes and yellow hair, even in countries where their little mothers were as brown as berries. There are other interesting and signifi- cant evidences of an age-old feeling, amounting almost to instinct, that there are differences in character between blonds and brunettes as marked as their differences in colour. There is no variable among human beings so striking as that of colour, none so easily observable, and none which has made so strong an appeal to scientific investigators as well as to popular imagination. An inquiry into the biological causes of variations in human colour, into the mental and psychical causes accompanying these, and into the historical and prehistorical causes of the attitude toward blonds revealed in art, in literature, in the drama, and in popular speech, will aid us in understanding the many differences between blonds and brunettes. PIGMENTATION The immediate cause of the differences in colour among human beings is the relative amount of pigmentation in hair, skin, iris, and retina. Scien- ANALYZING THE MAN 119 tists have long been at work striving to discover the cause of pigmentation, and especially the cause for variation in the amount of pigmentation. In general, it is well known that dark or heavily pig- mented races inhabit the tropics, and that lighter or less pigmented races inhabit the temperate and north temperate zones. For a long time scientists have worked upon a theory that heavy pigmentation, resulting in dark colour, helped the inhabitants of hot countries to keep cool. This was because of the known fact that dark bodies radiate heat more rapidly than light bodies. Of two pieces of iron of the same size and shape, one black and the other painted white, and both heated to the same temperature, the black one will cool off much more quickly than the white one. This is in accordance with the law of radiation. A difficulty was met, however, when the law of absorption was taken into con- sideration. According to this law, dark bodies absorb heat from sources of higher temperature than themselves much more readily than light ones. If a black iron and a white iron are both placed upon the same stove, the black one will heat up much more quickly than the white one. It is probable that both of these laws have some effect in determining the evolution of colour. It is well known that black people in the tropics keep in the 120 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS shade as mucli as possible, and are very largely nocturnal in their habits. Comparatively few are seen abroad or at work during the hours just before, or just after, noon. Keeping in the darkness and shade, they make the most of their natural ability to radiate heat. By avoiding as far as possible exposing themselves to the direct rays of the sun, they absorb heat as little as possible. On the other hand, the lighter coloured races in the cold North could not absorb much even if they were black, and their slower rate of radiation enables them to conserve better the natural heat of their bodies. Negroes find great difficulty in keeping warm in cold climates. They require more clothing in cold weather than whites; prefer to keep indoors, and keep their quarters so hot that they seem stifling to white people. But the theory that the laws of ra- diation and absorption explain everything about pig- mentation, and that man 's colour has been evolved wholly for the purpose of enabling him to adapt himself to the degree of temperature of his environ- ment, does not satisfy. The Eskimo, living in the cold Arctic regions, has black hair, gray or brown eyes, and a yellow or brown skin. Dwellers on the cold northern plains of Asia and North America are brown and yellow, while certain tribes in the heavily forested but hot, moist mountains of ANALYZING THE MAN 121 northern Africa are blond. These considerations have led to a further study of the cause of pig- mentation. SUNLIGHT THE CAUSE OF PIGMENTATION In 1895, Josef Von Schmaedel read a paper be- fore the Anthropological Society of Munich, an- nouncing the theory that pigmentation in man was evolved for the purpose of excluding actinic or short rays of light which destroy living protoplasm. This set Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel, retired) Charles E. Woodruff, A. M., M. D., Surgeon U. S. Army, upon a systematic search for data to prove or disprove Von Schmaedel 's theory. In 1905, Major Woodruff published his book, "The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men."* In this fas- cinating work. Major Woodruff champions the theory of Von Schmaedel and gives a great mass of data, gathered from many scientists, as well as the result of his own original research — all favourable to the correctness of the theory that the shorter violet and ultraviolet, actinic rays of light first stimulate, then exhaust, and finally destroy living protoplasm, and that pigmentation in both men and animals has been evolved for the purpose of excluding these actinic rays of sunlight from the tissues of the body. Sunburn, sunstroke, and the *Rebmaa Co., New York. 122 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS dangerous burns of the X-ray, radium, and other sources of short rays, as well as the popularly known fact that sunlight kills bacteria, are all evi- dences of the destructive effect of actinic rays. Another evidence of the relationship between pig- mentation and sunlight, rather than sun's heat, is the fact that albinos — who are unpigmented — are excessively sensitive to light, while not any more sensitive to heat than others of the same race. According to this theory, also, the brunetteness of the Eskimo, the North American Indian, and the dweller in the northern part of Asia is explained. The Eskimo requires his pigmentation as a protec- tion against the blinding glare of snow and ice. The plains of northern Asia and North America, while cold, are also largely free from fog and cloud, so that considerable pigmentation is needed in these parts of the world as a protection against light. According to Dr. Carl Beck, blonds are far more liable to burns and lesions by X-rays than brunettes, the extreme brunette being almost immune.* BLOND AND BRUNETTE RACES Still further confirmation of this theory is found in the evolution of extreme blondness in north- western Europe, on the plains, and among the heavily forested mountains in the neighbourhood *New York Medical Record, January 13, 1900. ANALYZING THE MAN 123 of the Baltic Sea. This is the cloudiest, foggiest, darkest region on the face of the earth, and is the cradle of the Scandinavian and Teutonic races, both of which are predominantly blond. Anthro- pologists violently differ as to the place where the blond or white races were evolved. Most of them, however, agree that primitive man was brunette and that blondness has been evolved as the result of either forced or voluntary migration of the primitive brunette to cold, dark, cloudy northwestern Europe. The climate of this part of Europe is rigorous and severe. At this point let us define our use of the terms blond and brunette. In popular usage a blond is a person of the white race with extremely light hair, blue eyes, and pink-and- white skin; a brunette a person of the white race with dark hair, brown eyes, and sallow or very light olive skin. As we use the terms here, all races of mankind are divided into two classes — those with white skins and those with dark skins. The albino is the most extreme blond; the black negro the most extreme brunette. Those fairer than halfway between the two are blond; those darker, brunette. According to this classification, most of those ordinarily called bru- nettes are blonds. They belong to "white" races. They manifest the characteristics of blonds in in- verse proportion to their degree of pigmentation. 124 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS EVOLUTION OF BLOND RACES The necessities of life in the harsh environment where blondness was evolved are more numerous and at the same time more difficult to obtain than in a milder one. Man requires more food, more shelter, more clothing, more fuel, than in a warm climate. Whereas fruits, vegetables, fish, flesh, and fowl are comparatively easy to secure in warm latitudes, they are scarce, difficult to secure, and require much more preparation in the higher lati- tudes. Under Northern climatic conditions, then, only the largest, strongest, healthiest, most intel- ligent, most hopeful, most courageous, and most aggressive individuals would survive. The natural result would be the evolution of a race of men and women endowed with robust physical, mental, and psychical characteristics. Since the relatively abundant pigmentation of the primitive first set- tler in these dark countries was not needed as a protection against light, blondness was gradually evolved along with the characteristics just men- tioned. A process of evolution, therefore, having pro- duced a vigorous, aggressive blond race, conquerors of a harsh and severe environment, these qualities of the race sent them southward, eastward, and westward to become the conquerors and rulers of brunette races less aggressive, less bold, less ANALYZING THE MAN 125 domineering, less vigorous, because their more kindly environment had not necessitated the evolu- tion of these rugged traits. Prehistoric evidence in abundance indicates that a conquering race of tall, vigorous, fair-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned men migrated in successive waves over Europe, Asia Minor, northern Africa, Persia, India, Ceylon, Java, and perhaps as far east as the Philippine Islands. This race of men called themselves Aryans, and wherever they went forced their lan- guage upon the conquered brunette races. How long ago these prehistoric migrations of Aryans began is lost in antiquity, but there are evidences in the Pyramids of intruding white men as early as three or four thousand years before Christ. It is known that there was an invasion of white men into Greece 2000 to 1000 B. C. However early this migration may have been, it was so long ago that ancient Sanskrit, formerly spoken and written in India and Persia, classic Greek and Latin, as well as ancient and modern German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Eng- lish, Gaelic, and Welsh languages, and many dia- lects now spoken in India, all bear unmistakable evidence of their common origin in the Aryan tongue. It is significant that Hellenes, the name by which the ancient Greeks called themselves; Celts and 126 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS Gaels, names given to themselves by the ancient inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland; and Aryans, the general name given to themselves by the conquering races to which we have referred, all mean "white men," Some high anthropological authorities do not accept the theory of the Aryan race. Some assign the place of its origin to Asia instead of Europe. But the majority favour the outhne we have given — and the preponderance of evidence seems to be with them. CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY BLOND RACES These early white men were tall, vigorous, rest- less, courageous, aggressive, and brainy, but thej;' lacked culture. They excelled in warfare, in nav- igation, in exploration, but they are always called crude, barbarian, rough, and brutal by ancient writers. Having conquered the brunette natives of the various countries to which they migrated, the white men proved themselves to be wonderful organizers, creators, builders, rulers, and captains of industry. They early adopted the culture, arts, and letters developed through long centuries of patient plodding by the brunette peoples, among whom they intruded and over whom they ruled. They built up wonderful civilizations, great cities, and wealthy and powerful nations. The ruins of these Aryan creations are scattered through ANALYZING THE MAN 127 Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Italy, and Spain. We therefore have the picture of civilization running back from eight to ten thousand years, with the ruling classes, the nobility, the aristoc- racy always blond, and the peasantry, the working classes, the subordinates in the scheme of things, always brunette. This fact is reflected in the Aryan languages, in the ancient paintings and statuary referred to at the beginning of this chap- ter, and in the almost instinctive glorification of the blond in art, in literature, on the stage, and in the vernacular. All occidental civilization, and a great deal of oriental civilization, has been built up and ruled from the very earliest times by white men. In many ancient governments the king or emperor was deified, and so gods and goddesses and all supernatural beings are represented as blonds. It is interesting to note in this connection that the inhabitants of modern Java, Ceylon, India, Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France are now predominantly brunette. Many anthropologists agree that the blond Aryans who built up these old civilizations and left their language as a legacy have entirely died out. The reason for this disappearance of the tall, vigorous, restless blond is not so well understood. It ought to be clear to the thoughtful observer, however. 1^8 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS that if blondness was evolved in cold, dark, north- western Europe, then the extreme white Aryan race was out of its natural environment in these lands where there is an excess of hght, against which they had little pigmentation as a protection. It is a well-known fact that there is no third genera- tion of white men in India. Woodruff presents an abundance of evidence to prove that the effect of an excess of sunlight, with its destructive actinic rays, is first to stimulate, then exhaust and degen- erate, and finally to extirpate the white races. He assigns the degeneracy and fall of all ancient civili- zations in hot countries to the effects of tropical and subtropical sunlight upon their blond rulers. TWO FACTS ABOUT BLONDS Statistics show that blonds are becoming rela- tively less numerous than brunettes in England, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, notwithstanding the constant fresh migrations of blonds to these countries from north- western Europe. Statistics also show many forms of physical, nervous, and mental degeneracy of blonds in tropical regions, of the second or third generations of blonds in subtropical climates, and of later generations of blonds in those parts of the temperate and north temperate zones where there is an abundance of sunlight. All of these facts are ANALYZING THE MAN 129 of great scientific value to the student of variations in physique, in appearance, and in character among human beings. Two fundamental facts about blonds stand out from all this mass of evidence and are the key by which we may best understand their physical, mental, and psychical qualities: (1) Blondness was evolved in an environment which permitted the survival of those only who were most vigorous, most intelligent, most aggressive, most creative, most active, and most capable of adapting them- selves to extremes of heat and cold, feast and fam- ine, altitude, and occupation. (2) In countries where there is a great deal of light, blonds are suflfering more or less from too much stimulation of brain and nerves, and oftentimes from brain and nerve exhaustion, and consequent physical, mental, and psychical degeneracy. EVOLUTION OF THE BRUNETTE In studying the brunette we shall understand better his characteristics if we remember that his brunetteness was evolved, in the great majority of cases, in a warm, pleasant climate where his necessities were comparatively few. Man requires less food, less clothing, less shelter, less fuel in a warm climate than in a cold one. In addition to requiring less of all these things, the brunette found 130 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS them all easy to obtain from the abundance of animal and vegetable life around him. His sur- roundings were comfortable, conducive to quiet and physical inactivity. Since there was plenty to supply his few wants close at hand, he did not need to take to sea or travel far by land. Receiving most of his necessary warmth from outside sources, he did not need as much oxygen as the blond, who had to breathe in great quantities of it that he might sustain internal oxygenization and thus produce heat for himself. As a result of the same conditions, all processes of metabolism and katabolism in the brunette were slower than these processes in the blond. Whereas the blond was required to expend all of his mental and physical energy in active, aggressive combat with his harsh environment in order to obtain the material means of life, the bru- nette, in a kindlier environment and in the midst of plenty, had both energy and time to spare. With these scientific facts as to the evolution of blondness and brunetteness in mind, a thought- ful, logical person should be able to determine accurately the physical, mental, and psychical dif- ferences between blonds and brunettes. CHARACTERISTICS OF BLONDS The keynote of the physical characteristics of the normal blond is positiveness. He inchnes to be ANALYZING THE MAN 131 tall, robust, with a superabundance of buoyant, radiant health and vigour. Since his race was evolved in a cold, dark, harsh environment, all of his physical processes are rapid and active. In order to maintain heat, it was necessary for his ancestors to eat and digest large quantities of food and breathe in a great deal of oxygen. To main- tain health and survive in their environment, they needed strong, reliable circulations and circulatory systems. With digestion, respiration, and circula- tion positive and active, processes of elimination needed to be similarly quick and active. All of these characteristics, as well as the low temperature in which they lived, necessitated great muscular activity; as did also their need for food and cloth- ing. Because of his heredity and racial environment, therefore, the normal blond is characterized in every department of his physical being by positive- ness, rapidity, adaptability, energy, and activity. It is for these reasons that a blond seldom suflfers from chronic diseases. He becomes ill quickly and dies or recovers quickly. Since quickness and aggressiveness are physical attributes of the blond; since in his hunting, his sailing, and his fighting he has always been called upon for quick explosions of tremendous energy followed by periods of recuperation, the blond is 132 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS not particularly well fitted for long-sustained phys- ical action. He expends his abundant energy too rapidly. In athletics, therefore, blonds excel in the sprints and dashes, in jumping, throwing, vault- ing, and other such contests; while the brunettes are better adapted to long runs, wrestling, prize fighting, and other contests where endurance is the prime requisite. The early environment of the blond races was damp and rainy, and their mode of life required both swimming and wading. Blonds are there- fore, as a rule, fond of water. The majority of great swimmers, skaters, oarsmen, and yachtsmen are blonds. The early Aryans were the first navigators. During the time of the Aryan civili- zation in Phoenicia, the Phoenicians were the great maritime nation; and it was when the Aryans ruled in Persia, in Greece, in Rome, in Carthage, in Spain, and in France, that these different nations maintained supremacy of sea power. It was when the Aryan rulers had been elimi- nated by excessive sunlight that their sea power waned. The mental characteristics of blonds are the results partly of the influence of their heredity and environment directly upon their mental nature, and partly arise from their physical condition. Since the brain of the blond was evolved in an ANALYZING THE MAN 133 environment requiring the constant exercise of in- telligence, he is naturally creative, resourceful, in- ventive, original. These qualities, it will readily be seen, fit in perfectly with those which are the result of his exuberant health. THE DOMINEEKING BLOND The man who has a good digestion, a good cir- culation, who breathes deeply, and whose general health is robust and positive, will naturally be optimistic, hopeful, exuberant, eager, and fearless. Such a man is willing to take a chance, speculative, impatient, restless, always sighing for new worlds to conquer. The early struggle for existence of the blond races led them far afield. They hunted over miles of territory. They hunted in the moun- tains and on the plains. They went to sea in ships. Their very climate was freakish and changeable. As a result of these environmental influences, the blond developed an eager and active disposition, and is fond of change, loves variety, is happiest when he has many irons in the fire, and easily turns his attention from one interest to another. Be- cause of these qualities, and because of the joy of conquest developed through ages of triumph over unfriendly environment, the blond loves to rule. He is inclined to be domineering. He loves to handle and manage large affairs and come in contact 134 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS with life at as many points as possible. Because of his exuberant health, his splendid circulation, and his naturally optimistic, hopeful, courageous dis- position, the blond likes excitement, crowds, gayety. He is a good mixer — makes acquaintances readily with all kinds of people, but, on account of his changeable nature, is liable to be fickle. Thus every- where blonds push into the limelight, engage in politics, promoting and building up great enterprises, selling, advertising, organizing, colonizing, creating, and inventing. It is for this reason that blonds pre- dominate among royalty, nobility, and aristocracy. This has been observed by many investigators. In the Monthly Review for August, 1901, page 93, Havelock Ellis says: HAVELOCK ELLIS ON BLONDS AND BRUNETTES "It is clear that a high index of pigmentation, or an excess of fairness, prevails among the men of restless and ambitious temperament, the sanguine, energetic men, the men who easily dominate their fellows and who get on in life, the men who recruit the aristocracy and who doubtless largely form the plutocracy. It is significant that the group of low-class men — artisans and peasants — and the men of religion, whose mission in life it is to preach resignation to a higher will, are both notably of dark complexion. While the men of action thus ANALYZING THE MAN 135 tend to be fair, men of thought, it seems to me, show some tendency to be dark." On pages 95 and 96 he says: "It so happens that an interesting and acute psychological study of the fair and dark populations of Norway has lately been made by Dr. A. M. Hansen. This investigation has revealed differences even more marked between the fair and dark than may easily be discovered in our own islands, and this is not surprising, since our racial elements have been more thoroughly mixed. The fair population, he tells us, is made up of the born aristocrats, ac- tive, outspoken, progressive, with a passion for freedom and independence, caring nothing for equality; the dark population is reserved and sus- picious, very conservative, lacking in initiative, caring little for freedom, but with a passion for equahty. The fair people are warlike, quarrel- some when drunk, and furnish, in proportion to numbers, three times as many men for the volun- teer forces as the dark people; the latter, though brave sailors, abhor war, and are very religious, subscribing to foreign missions nearly three times as much per head as is furnished by fair people, who are inclined to be irreligious. The fair people value money and all that money can buy, while the dark people are indifferent to money. The reality of mental distinction is shown by the fact that a 136 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS map of the proportion of conservative voters in elections to the Storthing exactly corresponds to an anthropological map of the country, the con- servative majority being found in the dark and broad-headed districts. While, however, the fair population is the most irreligious and progressive, the dark population is by no means behind in the production of intellect, and the region it inhabits has produced many eminent men." In the same article, on page 97, he says: "It may also be remarked that the characteristics of the fair population are especially masculine quali- ties; while the characteristics of the dark population are more peculiarly feminine qualities. It so hap- pens also that women, as is now beginning to be generally recognized by anthropologists, tend to be somewhat darker than men." WOODRUFF ON BLONDS AND BRUNETTES On page 142, "The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men," Major Woodruflf says: "The fair man tends to be bold, energetic, restless, and dom- ineering, not because he is fair, but because he be- longs to an aboriginal fair stock of people who possess those qualities; while the dark man tends to be resigned and religious and imitative, yet highly intelligent, not because he is dark, but be- cause he belongs to a dark stock possessing these Copyright by D. F. Barry. Fig. 1. American Indian. Observe high nose and strong chin ANALYZING THE MAN 137 characteristics. While, however, the fair popula- tion is the most irreligious and progressive, the dark population is by no means behind in the pro- duction of intellect." One of the first thoughts of the average reader of this chapter will be of some blond or brunette who contradicts every one of these generalizations. Lest this be discouraging, we call attention to several important considerations : First, there are many blonds and brunettes, who, for pathologi- cal reasons, are not normal; second, albinos or near albinos are not the only blonds; third, the observation of an unpracticed eye is not always re- liable; fourth, there are eight other variables yet to be observed, each with its many variations and their important significance; fifth, the character- istics accompanying variations in colour find many avenues of expression, not all of them patent to the casual observer. CHARACTERISTICS OF BRUNETTES Just as the normal blond is physically and men- tally consistent with what might be expected of one of his evolution and history, so is the normal bru- nette. Since the brunette races were evolved in a kindlier climate than the blond, less physical and mental positiveness was required of them, and they have been able to survive without the exuberant 138 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS health, vigour, inteUigence, resourcefulness, and aggressiveness required of blonds. Their respira- tion, digestion, circulation, and elimination are all slower and more moderate than in the blond. Since size has not been necessary for their survival, they do not incline to be so large as blonds ; nor are they so active, so quick, or in any way physically so positive. Brunettes require less food and breathe less oxygen than blonds. Since all physical proc- esses of brunettes are slower, they expend their energy less rapidly, and are therefore more endur- ing. They do not become ill so quickly, but are more subject to chronic diseases. Because his environment has not required it, and because of his negative physical nature, the bru- nette is not so bold, not so aggressive, not so reck- lessly indifferent to consequences as the blond. For these reasons, and because his mode of life as well as his climate has tended to sameness, the brunette is more conservative, more constant. In keeping with all of these qualities, the brunette does not seek the limelight, crowds, dominating position, and excitement, but prefers a few friends, well beloved, a quiet home, the affection of his family and pets, and an opportunity to enjoy the beauties of nature. Because the brunette has not been compelled to give all of his time and energy to a struggle for his life with harsh material condi- Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y, Fig. 2. A Turkish Parade. Turks, evolved in cold, light northern Asia, are brunettes with convex noses ANALYZING THE MAN 139 tions, tie has evolved a tendency to introspection, to the development of philosophy, religion, mys- teries, and other products of metaphysical and spiritual activities. It is significant that Christian- ity, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Mohammed- anism — the four principal religions of the world — have their origin and their most devoted adherents among brunette peoples. ORIENT AND OCCIDENT The diflference between the Orient and the Oc- cident is very largely a difference between blonds and brunettes. It is typical of the oriental bru- nette that he should incline to mysticism, occultism, psychism, meditation, self-denial, and non-resist- ance, living on a meagre diet and rather indifferent to material things. It is also characteristic of the occidental blond that he should be materialistic, commercial, scientific, manufacturing, an organi- zer of trusts and combinations, a builder of rail- roads and empires, interested chiefly in the things he can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, and giving the unseen world but secondary consideration. The brunette, having time at his disposal, has evolved patience, and with it a disposition for detail, for minute specialization. Not having a genius for organization and government, he is usually willing to permit the domineering blond to 140 THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS take this burden off his hands. To-day, wherever there is stable government, it is either in the hands or under the influence of blonds — white men. India is ruled by blond England, as is Egypt. Turkey and the Balkan States have been in a state of suppressed and active turbulence ever since the line of blond rulers died out, and are now being reduced to something like order by blond Europe. Mexico and some of the South and Central Ameri- can republics achieved whatever measure of sta- bility they had under the rule of blond Goths and descendants of Goths from Spain. Now that these white strains have been killed oflf by excessive sunlight these countries have become so unstable that some kind of white protectorate seems neces- sary. Prison statistics show that the blond is most frequently guilty of crimes of passion and impulse, crimes arisingfrom his gamblingpropensities and ill- considered promotion schemes; while the brunette is more likely to commit crimes of deliberation, speciaUzation, detail, such as murder, counter- feiting, forgeries, conspiracy, etc. Because the blond is healthy, optimistic, and naturally good- humoured, he eliminates anger, hatred, melancholy, discouragement, and all other negative feelings from his mind as easily as he eliminates waste prod- ucts from his body. Because he is naturally ANALYZING THE MAN 141 slow, cautious, conservative, and inclined to be serious and thoughtful, the brunette is far more liable to harbour resentment, to cherish a grudge, to plan revenge, to see the dark side of life, and often to be melancholy and pessimistic. The same qualities that cause the blond to be cheerful and optimistic when things go wrong, give him a tendency to permit things, if they seem trivial to him, to go wrong. On the other hand, the same qualities that cause the brunette to be careful and painstaking with minute details also incline him to worry and grow despondent when trouble comes. INDICATIONS OF COLOUR SUMMED UP In brief, always and everywhere, the normal blond has positive, dynamic, driving, aggressive, domineering, impatient, active, quick, hopeful, speculative, changeable, and variety -loving char- acteristics ; while the normal brunette has negative, static, conservative, imitative, submissive, cau- tious, painstaking, patient, plodding, slow, deliber- ate, serious, thoughtful, specializing characteristics. In applying this law of colour to people of the white race, the method is simple. The less the pigmentation in any individual, the more marked will be the characteristics of the blond in his phys- ical, mental, and psychical nature; the greater im THE JOB, THE MAN, THE BOSS the degree of pigmentation, the more marked the characteristics of the brunette. FOEM The Evolution of Form Primitive man was not only brunette, according to anthropologists, but had a short, wide, low- bridged nose, with large, round nostrils leading almost directly to the throat. Primitive man doubtless inhabited the tropical and subtropical regions of the earth. Dwelling in a warm climate, he was slow in all his muscular and organic re- actions, had comparatively little need to develop bodily heat, and was not compelled to great activity in order to obtain his relatively meagre necessities of life. For all of these reasons, therefore, primi- tive man required only moderate supplies of oxy- gen. His breathing was therefore shallow and slow. The warm, moist air of his natural environ- ment needed little or no tempering before enter- ing his lungs. Therefore a short, wide air-passage fitted his requirements admirably. It was all the better because the air of the tropics is rarefied by heat and contains less oxygen in a given volume than cold air. When man, either voluntarily or as the result of overcrowding, migrated into colder and harsher climates, conditions were changed. The air, being Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. Fig. 4. Filipino Girls. They have the characteristic con- cave foreheads and noses, and convex mouths and chins of brunette races ANALYZING THE MAN 143 cold, was more condensed, and contained more oxygen in proportion to its volume than air in the warmer climates. Short, wide air-passages to the lungs were not necessary. On the other hand, they were a disadvantage, as cold air quickly killed off those with the flattest, widest noses and shallowest lungs — just as it kills negroes by pneumonia, bronchitis, and tuberculosis in our Northern climes to-day. While the greater density of the air in- creased its richness in oxygen in proportion to volume, its lower temperature necessitated a larger consumption of oxygen in order to maintain bodily heat. There was also an increased demand for oxygen due to the greater muscular activity needed to hunt down, capture, carry, and otherwise pro- vide food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. So man in his rigorous environment breathed greater volumes of air, and at the same time required the air he breathed to be warmed and moistened before reaching his lungs. EVOLUTION OF THE LARGE, HIGH NOSE Since those with the shortest and flattest noses were killed off by the climate, it follows that those with the longest, highest, narrowest noses sur- vived. This process of selection developed a race with noses high in the bridge, well set out from the face, and with narrow, elongated nostrils. Cold 144 THE JOB, THE I^IAN, THE BOSS air, thougli admitted through such a nose in large quantities, would be drawn in thin ribbons over and around moistened and heated surfaces, and thus prepared for the lungs. The high, thin nose was therefore evolved in the same environment with blondness and is associated, along with blondness, with nobiUty and aristocracy by artists, poets, dramatists, and the people generally in both an- cient and modem times. Next to colour, therefore, the nose as seen in profile is perhaps one of the most ancient as well as one of the most easily observed and popularly regarded indications of character. Not all high, thin noses, however, were evolved along with blondness. The brown and yellow races of the cold, light northern plains of Asia and Amer- ica also have them. Such noses are shown in figures 1 and 2 (American Indians and Turks). The faces of brunette peoples who hve in warm, moist climates show how common is the broad, flat nose among them. See figures 3 and 4 (Ne- groes and FiUpinos.) The height and thinness of the nose among the people of India has been found to correspond very closely with their height of caste. H. H. Risley in his book, "The Types and Castes of Bengal," pages 80-81, says: "If we take a series of castes in Bengal, Behar, or the Northwest Province and arrange them in the order of the average nasal s -a -a CJ > o o