PIECEWORK.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1151, 17 February 1874, Page 2

PIECEWORK.

[iHOARO.] Tlie Trades Union lenders and agitators are bitterly opposed to the piecework sys« tem. Payment for the work done, instead of payment by time, is incompatible with the enslavement of the workmen. The time-payment system—a relic of slavery and serfdom—keeps down the working man, for, if he is more skilful and more industrious than others, the employer alone profits. The piecework system gives to superior, or greater industry, its meet reward. At present, the Trades Union agitators, the men who live by the spluttering of their tongues and not by the labor of their hands, are organising strikes against piecework; but when the working men are freed from Trades Union tyranny, they will insist upon;the universal adoption of the system now denounced in their name.

The main argument of the agitators is that piecework fosters selfishness* When we investigate this allegation, we find that selfishness means a man making the best use of his talents instead of doing as little as possible in order that idlers, boobies, and drunkards may be comforted and encouraged. Conceive this absurd theory being generally applied. The farmer says, "Tsha'n't manure my land, for I see my neighbour neglects his, and the more wheat I grow the cheaper will be the corn and the worse for my neighbour." The doctor says, "I could cure that man, but 1 shall let him die, because Dr. So-and-So has failed with the same disease ; and, if I succeeded, I should get all the practice, and that would be selfish". The Chancellor of the Exchequer says, " I could relieve the people of the pressure of taxation and give an impetus to industry and trade, but it would be selfish of me to show more skill than my rivals." John Brown, having a splendid set of teeth went to a dentist and asked him to extract them. "What for ?" asked the dentist. " Why, " said John Brown, "you see sir, that my neighbour, Bill Jones, has no teeth, and, in consequence, what he eats don't nourish him, and he is weak, and, half his time, too ill to be at the shop. It is selfish of mo to keep strong and well and able to work. So please draw my teeth." The man who makes the most uso of his talents benefits the community as well as himself. Besides, it is necessary for the moral and mental welfare of the workman that ho should have the chance of social progress. The faculties decay, and the moral tone is lowered, when the man is reduced to the condition of a machine. Payment by time should bo abolished. Payment for the labor done—that is, the piecework system—is the need and the right of the free laborer, and should be universally adopted.