Chapter 16 Summary

The new cost accountant, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bernov, arrives at nine o'clock on his first day. He had been working at Sytin's, a large press. Talking to Frank and Selwyn, he puts forth a number of ideas of things that would increase profitability, but that would be hard on the staff. Selwyn Crane asks him how he sees the firm's future. Bernov talked about a system of merit pay for workers, increased fines for drunkenness, lowering payments for wait time and no humanitarian allowances. He defines prosperity as giving everyone the money they deserve. Selwyn punctures him by saying that "We musn't consider what money they deserve...but whether we deserve to have the money to give them." Bernov tries to save face by saying that the question of whether management deserve their profits has no relevance to their economic performance.

At four in...