The starting switches of draw presses are protected by big red tags
which have to be removed before the switch can be turned--this prevents
the machine being started thoughtlessly. Workmen will wear unsuitable
clothing--ties that may be caught in a pulley, flowing sleeves, and all
manner of unsuitable articles. The bosses have to watch for that, and
they catch most of the offenders. New machines are tested in every way
before they are permitted to be installed. As a result we have
practically no serious accidents.
Industry needs not exact a human toll.
CHAPTER VIII
WAGES
There is nothing to running a business by custom--to saying: "I pay the
going rate of wages." The same man would not so easily say: "I have
nothing better or cheaper to sell than any one has." No manufacturer in
his right mind would contend that buying only the cheapest materials is
the way to make certain of manufacturing the best article. Then why do
we hear so much talk about the "liquidation of labour" and the benefits
that will flow to the country from cutting wages--which means only the
cutting of buying power and the curtailing of the home market? What good
is industry if it be so unskillfully managed as not to return a living
to everyone concerned? No question is more important than that of
wages--most of the people of the country live on wages.
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