Hence, when in the reduction of the working day to less than twelve hours was being debated, the masters almost unanimously declared that their overlookers in the different rooms took good care that the hands lost no time, that the extent of vigilance and attention on the part of the workmen was hardly capable of being increased, and, therefore, that the speed of the machinery and other conditions remaining unaltered, to expect in a well managed factory any important result from increased attention of the workmen was an absurdity.