I See Vol. I, pp. 227, 318, 322.
But the wage system has brought with it grave problems of inequality of incomes and of opportunity that at times threaten the very existence of democratic society. It means for the mass of men continuance throughout life in the posi tion of hired workers, with no possibility of becoming self directing enterprisers. In connection with increasing division of labor, it means for great numbers unvarying application to one narrow task, with little understanding of its relation to the whole and with less joy in workmanship than the old independent handicraftsmen had. Yet is it correct to say that the wage system causes these inequalities in ability and in variety and agreeableness of tasks? Is it not rather itself the result of the differences of ability, a way found through society's long experience by which individuals may choose their occupations within the range of their abilities to gratify the desires of consumers, a way of attaining a high degree of efficiency in production? 3 The problem for a wise political economy to solve is, and will be, to retain the best in the wage system, while remedying its evils or reducing them to a minimum.
§ 5. Time work. Wage payment implies a contract by which the employee on his part agrees to render service and the employer on his part agrees to pay for it. The methods of determining and measuring the amount of service of the employee are called "methods of industrial remunera tion." The many varieties may be grouped in two classes, time payment and piece payment, corresponding with the two modes of measuring labor, time work and piece work. Time work came first and was long almost the only method. In time work the employee is paid by the hour, day, week, month, or year, as the case may be. This is very satisfactory for small enterprises, where the master works with his own hands alongside of the employee, oversee 3 See Vol. I, chs. 16-19.
ing him, teaching him, and stimulating him by his own pres ence and example of industry. This method prevails still in nearly all farming work, in many kinds of manufacturing, in most transportation, in clerical positions in trade, and in gen eral where the employee must perform a variety of tasks.
Considering a brief period, it might seem that in time work the worker is paid by time regardless of his effort or per formance. However, in every industry there is a recognized, fairly definite standard of accomplishment for those getting the regular market rates of wages, so that the time standard implies some performance or piece standard also. But this is judged by the employer only in a general way, and very commonly men of different degrees of efficiency continue for some time to receive the same money wage. Still, where any differences become noticeable to the employer in quantity of work, quality of work, or personal qualities of honesty, reli ability, and good temper, the better workman is likely to obtain a better position, higher pay, more regular employ ment, or some other form of reward. The employer is more likely, at the end of any period of employment, to discharge the man who falls short either in quantity or quality of work, and to retain and advance the better worker. The method of time payment does not directly tempt the workman to slight the quality of his work by haste. It does not keep constantly before the worker the thought of his own interest in rapid work, often with an accompanying nervous and mental strain. In most occupations, therefore, the workers prefer time work. In does not take exclusive account of the quantity of material product, but leaves place for estimating various personal qualities of the employee which are of value in a business.