Yet,
with all this, it is not true that "men are mere machines." It is not
true that opportunity has been lost in organization. If the young man
will liberate himself from these ideas and regard the system as it is,
he will find that what he thought was a barrier is really an aid.
Factory organization is not a device to prevent the expansion of
ability, but a device to reduce the waste and losses due to mediocrity.
It is not a device to hinder the ambitious, clear-headed man from doing
his best, but a device to prevent the don't-care sort of individual from
doing his worst. That is to say, when laziness, carelessness,
slothfulness, and lack-interest are allowed to have their own way,
everybody suffers. The factory cannot prosper and therefore cannot pay
living wages. When an organization makes it necessary for the don't-care
class to do better than they naturally would, it is for their
benefit--they are better physically, mentally, and financially. What
wages should we be able to pay if we trusted a large don't-care class to
their own methods and gait of production?
If the factory system which brought mediocrity up to a higher standard
operated also to keep ability down to a lower standard--it would be a
very bad system, a very bad system indeed.
Pages:
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470