ecessity for determining the weight of the output of each
contractor. Moreover, he has no object in mixing waste with the ore,
barring the breaking of the walls. This system therefore requires
the least superintendence, permits the modern type of hoisting,
and therefore leaves little justification for the survival of the
tonnage basis.

Where veins are narrow, stoping under contract by the square foot
or fathom measured parallel to the walls has an advantage. The miner
has no object then in breaking wall-rock, and the thoroughness of
the ore-extraction is easily determined by inspection.

BONUS SYSTEMS.--By giving cash bonuses for special accomplishment,
much the same results can be obtained in some departments as by
contracting. A bonus per foot of heading gained above a minimum,
or an excess of trucks trammed beyond a minimum, or prizes for
the largest amount done during the week or month in special works
or in different shifts,--all these have a useful application in
creating efficiency. A high level of results once established is
easily maintained.

LABOR UNIONS.--There is another phase of the labor question which
must be considered and that is the general relations of employer
and employed. In these days of largely corporate proprietorship,
the owners of mines are guided in their relations with labor by
engineers occupying executive positions. On them falls the
responsibility in such matters, and the engineer becomes thus a
buffer between labor and capital. As corporations have grown, so
likewise have the labor unions. In general, they are normal and
proper antidotes for unlimited capitalistic organization.

Labor unions usually pass through two phases. First, the inertia
of the unorganized labor is too often stirred only by demagogic
means. After organization through these and other agencies, the
lack of balance in the leaders often makes for injustice in demands,
and for violence to obtain them and disregard of agreements entered
upon. As time goes on, men become educated in regard to the rights
of their employers, and to the reflection of these rights in ultimate
benefit to labor itself. Then the men, as well as the intelligent
employer, endeavor to safeguard both interests. When this stage
arrives, violence disappears in favor of negotiation on economic
principles, and the unions achieve their greatest real gains. Given
a union with leaders who can control the members, and who are disposed
to approach dif