ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author read Mr. Whitmore’s articles on Machine Shop Costs with much interest, and should like to be allowed to make a few comments, and at the same time to advance a new theory. The cost of manual labor may be said to be the rent for which workmen’s services are obtainable, and the corresponding cost of machine labor is the rent for which we might be supposed to hire the machines. Mr. Whitmore’s final stumbling block is “expense of interest, repairs and depreciation on tools whose use is confined to the machine.” As the original value of the machines includes a complete outfit of such tools; interest, repairs, and depreciation have therefore already been figured. The distinction proposed by Mr. Whitmore as between machines in general use and those used for special purposes only would virtually mean establishing an individual standard of full capacity for every machine in the shop.
