and others who were engaged in walking, running, and lifting weights in
various ways. However, the records of these investigations were so
meager that no law of any value could be deduced from them. We therefore
started a series of experiments of our own.

Two first-class laborers were selected, men who had proved themselves to
be physically powerful and who were also good steady workers. These men
were paid double wages during the experiments, and were told that they
must work to the best of their ability at all times, and that we should
make certain tests with them from time to time to find whether they were
"soldiering" or not, and that the moment either one of them started to
try to deceive us he would be discharged. They worked to the best of
their ability throughout the time that they were being observed.

Now it must be clearly understood that in these experiments we were not
trying to find the maximum work that a man could do on a short spurt or
for a few days, but that our endeavor was to learn what really
constituted a full day's work for a first-class man; the best day's work
that a man could properly do, year in and year out, and still thrive
under. These men were given all kinds of tasks, which were carried out
each day under the close observation of the young college man who was
conducting the experiments, and who at the same time noted with a
stop-watch the proper time for all of the motions that were made by the
men. Every element in any way connected with the work which we believed
could have a bearing on the result was carefully studied and recorded.
What we hoped ultimately to determine was what fraction of a horse-power
a man was able to exert, that is, how many foot-pounds of work a man
could do in a day.

After completing this series of experiments, therefore, each man's work