Most practical men would (knowing the opposition of almost all tradesmen
to making any change in their methods and habits), however, be skeptical
as to the possibility of actually achieving any large results from a
study of this sort. Mr. Gilbreth reports that a few months ago, in a
large brick building which he erected, he demonstrated on a commercial
scale the great gain which is possible from practically applying his
scientific study. With union bricklayers, in laying a factory wall,
twelve inches thick, with two kinds of brick, faced and ruled joints on
both sides of the wall, he averaged, after his selected workmen had
become skilful in his new methods, 350 bricks per man per hour; whereas
the average speed of doing this work with the old methods was, in that
section of the country, 120 bricks per man per hour. His bricklayers
were taught his new method of bricklaying by their foreman. Those who
failed to profit by their teaching were dropped, and each man, as he
became proficient under the new method, received a substantial (not a
small) increase in his wages. With a view to individualizing his workmen
and stimulating each man to do his best, Mr. Gilbreth also developed an
ingenious method for measuring and recording the number of bricks laid
by each man, and for telling each workman at frequent intervals how many
bricks he had succeeded in laying.

It is only when this work is compared with the conditions which prevail
under the tyranny of some of our misguided bricklayers' unions that the
great waste of human effort which is going on will be realized. In one
foreign city the bricklayers' union have restricted their men to 275
bricks per day on work of this character when working for the city, and
375 per day when working for private owners. The members of this union
are probably sincere in their belief that this restriction of output is
a benefit to their trade. It should be plain to all men, however, that