of the house, the girls' mothers, preserve fruit from June
strawberries to autumn apple-butter, and exhibit it proudly in row after
row of glass jars. But the girls' wages could not pay for such living
conditions. The girl who was boarding, and whose wages were sometimes $5
a week, could not always pay her board bill and had almost nothing left
for other expenses.[61]

In regard to health and fatigue the main difficulty here, as at the Cloth
Finishing factory, was in the lifting of heavier pieces of cloth. Two of
the girls had suffered, since the introduction of the bonus and task, by
straining themselves in this way. One of them was at home ill for a week,
and is now quite well again. The other girl was away for two months, and
though she is now at work, had not fully regained her health. The company
had at once obtained employment less straining for the first of these
girls, and the second said that the firm had always been fair with her in
arranging the work. It was said that it had been Mr. Gantt's intention to
have the heavier lifting done by men and boys, instead of combining it
with the larger tasks the girls now accomplished under the new system.
But the department had never fully carried out its intention, and
unfortunately since Mr. Gantt's departure rather more of the heavy
material had been ordered from the house than before.

The general good will of the firm, the picturesque factory site, the
pleasant work-rooms, and the attractive living conditions of the Delaware
workers gave them an extraordinary opportunity to pursue their labor
healthfully. But because of its incomplete adoption, Scientific
Management, though it had shortened hours, and in most cases had raised
wages, had proven of less potential value to the workers than to those in
the more difficult industrial situation obtaining in the cotton mill.

VI

In general, then, Scientific Management for women workers in this country
may be said as far as it has been applied to have increased wages, to
have shortened hours, and to have resulted fortunately for the health of
women workers in some instances and unfortunately in others.

Wherever a process presented a difficulty which remained unremedied, if
the task were multiplied, the difficulty, of course, was multiplied. No
matter how greatly the weight of a wagon is lightened, if there is a hole
in the road of its passage, and the road is now to be travelled sixty
times a day, instead of twenty t