ABSTRACT
In fixing the most suitable length for the working day, two opposing factors have to be reconciled, the economic factor and the human factor. The hours of work of the labourer, such as the engineer, who was largely dependent on machinery as well as on his manual skill and strength, might be fixed at 8 per day, whilst those of the operative who was dependent chiefly on machinery, such as the textile worker, might be fixed at 9 or to per day. Monotony is stated by the Health of Munition Workers Committee to be “analogous to, if it does not represent, a fatigue process in unrecognised nerve centres.” Münsterberg states that “the problem of monotony comes very near to the question of fatigue. Night work for women is objectionable also on moral and social grounds.
