The Shorter Working Day

Abstract

I would, at the outset, like to explain some of the peculiarities of this subject. In the first place, it is very broad and touches too many phases of modern life for theory to come to any other conclusion than to tangle itself hopelessly with ethics, religion, sociology, and economics. Secondly, since it deals with man, it therefore becomes directly associated with man's variability, which of course changes the character of the study from definite to indefinite. Finally, it is only too true that a critical judgement may arise from one source--individual practical experiments. And so I leave you with, a conflict of theories, too few industrial cases, and too indefinite a conclusion. I must add that these and other deficiencies would be exceedingly more numerous if it had not been for the patience and guidance of my teachers, Professor H. Michell, Professor K. W. Taylor, and Professor W. B. Hord. To these I feel a deep obligation, as I do to Mr. F. A. Sherman, and Mr. F. A. Looseley who have so kindly assisted me in the research work done at the Dominion Foundries and Steel Company.