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DECEMBER 1901 PHONOGRAPH MUSIC LIGHTENS LABOR. Another new use for the Phonograph has been dis- covered. It has been said that love lightens labor. I have found that music also will have the same effect. The city electric railway runs by my home, and one after- noon I saw a large force of colored men, evidently in the last stages of fatigue, at work on the track a short distance away. They soon were opposite our parlor window, and I setup my Edison Phonograph using the 56 inch horn; and, drawing aside the lace curtains, pointed the horn out toward the workmen. It seemed oh such hard work for them, tamping ties out there in the broiling sun, and the swing was very slow. I started with the ** Coon band Contest ’ ’ and they looked around with a jerk and listened with all ears. In a few moments they had taken up the swing of the cake walk, and by gradually raising the speed, I soon had them tamping away in perfect unison, about thirty of them, all striking at once and increasing with the increased speed of the record. Their grins, too, were in unison. They were delighted. I gave them some more coon music and by carefully timing the speed easily induced them to do at least a third more work than they would have done otherwise, and I am sure that the work was less laborious. With many men on work of this character, this method would prove of vast importance to contractors. The men work better and faster, and are kept in much better humor. It is not impossible that incipient strikes could be prevented by the use of Phonographs, judiciously placed, on other lines as well as railroad building. I believe that few em- ployers know how much they lose not lookine a little after