material, therefore, must be taken up as few times as possible and carried the shortest practicable distance in securing the desired results. A portion of the problem must be solved before any physical work is performed, because the design of the shop will have a large bearing upon it. The Contracting Department of the organization is also an economic factor of considerable importance in shopwork.

A shop that is designed to handle all classes of fabricated steelwork will not handle any one particular class to the greatest advantage; hence, before the shop layout is made, this matter will have to receive careful consideration. If a general miscellaneous class of fabricated work is expected, the shop should be designed to suit such mixed fabrication; but if the circumstances are such that it is probable that the bulk of the manufacture will be of a particular character, it will be advisable to design the shop so as to handle that type of work to best advantage. If that is done, and if the Contracting Department of the organization keeps the shop filled most of the time with fabrication of a different class, the results will be unsatisfactory, thus proving the modus operandi to be uneconomic. It is true that at certain times it is impracticable to secure work of the character best suited to the shop, and then the results will inevitably be uneconomic; but it is better to keep the force occupied and everything moving, even at a disadvantage, rather than either to close down entirely or to let a portion of the men be idle. In that case it might eventually prove truly economical to operate temporarily at a small pecuniary loss. Nothing in shop or office is so disheartening or so disorganizing as idleness of employees; and when there is not enough work on hand to keep everybody on the qui vive, the general effort slackens and the efficiency of the entire organization is lowered. For this reason, in bad times it really pays to do work at actual cost or even a trifle below, so that, when the revival of business comes, all in the organization will be ready to tackle the new work with energy and efficiency. If, during the larger part of the time, work of the proper character is going through the shop, and if the results are particularly favorable, this will more than offset the uneconomics due to unsuitable operation for short periods.

The primary economic feature of any shop-layout is the elimination of unnecessary transportation and the provision for rapid passage there-through of all the materials which are being fabricated. The usual arrangement is to transport the metal longitudinally through on surface tracks and to carry it transversely by traveling cranes, thus reaching expeditiously every portion of the floor space. In some shops the cars are pushed along the tracks by man power, while in others electric or gasoline energy is employed. In these days of almost universal power operation and of high-priced-labor, it certainly is economic to use power for traction purposes. Of course, the cranes are operated electrically. Sometimes they are handled by special operators who ride on them, but often by the workmen on the  floor  by  means  of  hanging  ropes  arranged  in  a  very  ingenious