should be fixed on such a basis that only a first-class man working at
his best can earn the average amount called for. This figure should be,
in the case of first-class men as stated above, from 30 per cent to 100
per cent beyond the wages usually paid. The task idea is emphasized with
this style of piece work by two things--the high wages and the laying
off, after a reasonable trial, of incompetent men; and for the success
of the system, the number of men employed on practically the same class
of work should be large enough for the workmen quite often to have the
object lesson of seeing men laid off for failing to earn high wages and
others substituted in their places.

There are comparatively few machine shops, or even manufacturing
establishments, in which the work is so uniform in its nature as to
employ enough men on the same grade of work and in sufficiently close
contact to one another to render piece work preferable to the other
systems. In the great majority of cases the work is so miscellaneous in
its nature as to call for the employment of workmen varying greatly in
their natural ability and attainments, all the way, for instance, from
the ordinary laborer, through the trained laborer, helper, rough
machinist, fitter, machine hand, to the highly skilled special or
all-round mechanic. And while in a large establishment there may be
often enough men of the same grade to warrant the adoption of piece work
with the task idea, yet, even in this case, they are generally so
scattered in different parts of the shop that laying off one of their
number for incompetence does not reach the others with sufficient force
to impress them with the necessity of keeping up with their task.

It is evident then that, in the great majority of cases, the four
leading principles in management can be best applied through either task
work with a bonus or the differential piece rate in spite of the slight