Chairs to Make the Rest Most Effective.
The merchants have again been the pioneers here, in realizing that reclining chairs or couches furnish the most effective rest. It is not necessary here to discuss the physiological effects resulting from a change of blood pressure. It should be noted that even a few minutes in a reclining position provides such rest as could not be gained in a much longer time if seated upright in the most comfortable of chairs. If attending conditions allow of reclining chairs or couches, for at least the exceptional and emergency cases, these should immediately be provided. It surely does take real courage for the management of an organization of strong and strenuous men to install reclining chairs, couches, and high foot-rests for rest periods; but fame awaits the one in this field, who can make the practice general. The brain worker of all types has long realized the benefits of the occasional use of the reclining chair. Flat couches without even the smallest of pillows are a part of the regular working equipment of some of our greatest brain workers. It is considered no disgrace, nor is it worthy of note, if a tired soldier flings himself flat upon the ground to rest. It attracts no attention for an exhausted worker to go to sleep on a hard wooden bench at noontime. But to put a couch in some quiet spot, or even a chair with extra-high, large, flat, arm rests, where the same type of rest might be enjoyed most effectively, this seems radical, and “might make the men think we had gone crazy.” It might be objected that the worker should not allow himself to become so fatigued that this type of rest is necessary. The answer is,—if rest in this position will overcome what is almost complete exhaustion, what increases in national efficiency and prosperity may it not cause in overcoming quickly less violent stages of fatigue?
Next to the couch or reclining chair, in efficiency, is the arm-chair. There are “arm-chairs,” and chairs with real arms specially fitted to the individual worker. These will be even more efficient if provided with a foot-rest. We have actually installed such arm-chairs out in the works with very good results. We have had many a case where even the workers laughed loudly when the special, unusual chairs were brought in. They began to use them more out of friendliness towards us than out of any belief in the special usefulness of these peculiar chairs. However, at the end of a few days of actual use, they were able to handle their work in greater quantities and with less fatigue. “It’s a joke to work like that,” one said. Some of the workers claimed that they did not need such a chair, but, after it became the fashion to use it, each one seemed glad enough for the better rest provided.
From this type of chair down to the smallest possible seat, the gradation is gradual and constant. In certain types of work, like selling in a drygoods store, the space is sometimes so narrow that the only type of chair practicable, under present conditions, is the small folding seat that can slip under the shelves or fold up against them when the girl is serving a customer. Such also is the type of chair that folds up under or next to a machine, which the operator is tending, and which can be pulled out during the periods when the machines need no tending, and the operator is simply inspecting or waiting for the next tending period. Every one realizes the advantage, as a resting device, of anything upon which one can occasionally sit. The two-inch, iron arm of a seat on a railroad train, the tiny seat that folds into a walking stick or umbrella, that the enthusiast at the races takes with him,—these are typical examples of seats that seem almost ridiculous, yet that have an enormous effect upon the amount of fatigue accumulated in a few hours, or in a day. “A chair to rest in;” this is the second slogan. If a chair is not procurable, then some sort of a seat, even a packing box with no back, even a post to lean against, or a rail to lean upon,—anything to shift the pressure is better than nothing. Far better a seat with no back, immediately, than the best type of chair in the indefinite future. Get some sort of seat for the worker to-day, and begin planning for the efficient chair at the first day possible.
The final word on chairs in this preliminary work is that some sort of a chair should be provided for every member of the organization. There is a wide-spread belief that one chair for every two or three or more workers is sufficient; that “they can change off using it.” The argument was something like this: “No one needs to sit more than one-third of the time, therefore one chair to each three workers is enough,” etc. The chief fallacy is the implied idea that the rest periods of the workers can be so arranged that the chairs can be in constant use, and that each worker will have a chair at his or her disposal at the proper time. Now in theory, of course, this is not an impossible arrangement. It might have to be made if chairs and seats cost many dollars apiece, and it probably would be done then, if there was a proper realization of the importance of overcoming fatigue. But when chairs are as cheap and plentiful as they are now, there is no excuse for thinking of such a condition. In practice, where there are not enough chairs for every one, at certain times of the day the chairs are empty, as every one is busy. At other times, when work is duller, the chairs are all used, and many workers are trying to rest as best they can, standing. These conditions can be noted in any drygoods store, in any shop or factory where there is an inadequate supply of chairs. “A seat for each and every worker whether he needs it or not;” this is the third slogan.