Morris Llewellyn Cooke (May 11, 1872 – March 5, 1960) was an American
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, best known for his work on
Scientific Management
Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...
and
Rural Electrification
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...
.
Biography
Born in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...
as one of eight children of William Harvey Cooke and Elizabeth Richmond Marsden, Cooke attended
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...
and obtained his degree in
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
in 1895. He then joined the work force as a machinist. In 1900 he married Eleanor Bushnell Davis, a granddaughter of the industrialist
Daniel Bushnell
Daniel Bushnell (1808–1891) was an American industrialist and one of the original shareholders of the Standard Oil Company.
Early life
Daniel Bushnell was born in New York City in 1808 to Alexander Bushnell (1771–1838) and Sarah Wells (1772â ...
.
Cooke directed the
Rural Electrification Administration
The United States Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to rural communities. These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services. it is ...
from May 1935 through March 1937. In March 1937, Cooke resigned and was succeeded by John Carmody. In 1940 Cooke became a technical consultant for the Office of Production Management, where he led an American technical mission to Brazil. In 1943 he headed the
War Labor Board panel to mediate a coal miners' strike. In 1946-1947 he was a member of a committee to survey the patent system. In 1950 President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
appointed Cooke chairman of the
Water Resources Policy Commission
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
Cooke was recognized for his work on obtaining inexpensive electricity for residential use, facilitating better labor-management relations, and the conservation of land and water resources. As he wrote in 1913, "We shall never fully realize . . . the dreams of democracy until the principles of scientific management have permeated every nook and cranny of the working world."
Work
Scientific management
In 1903 Cooke met
Frederick W. Taylor, a
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
, who strongly influenced him. Taylor chose four men, one of whom was Cooke, to implement his theories of scientific management in the work force. At this time, Cooke and Taylor developed a professional relationship. Taylor's principles influenced Cooke to believe that "the application of scientific management principles to industry would benefit all of society."
This belief led to the creation of Cooke's own scientific consultancy firm in 1905.
In 1907, Cooke wrote a book, ''Industrial Management'', which was never published but arguably influenced F.W. Taylor's ''
Principles of Scientific Management
''The Principles of Scientific Management''1911 is a monograph published by Frederick Winslow Taylor. This laid out Taylor's views on principles of scientific management, or industrial era organization and decision theory. Taylor was an American m ...
'' (1911). It was based on Taylor's lectures which Cooke had attended.
In 1908-09, Cooke consulted at
Williams & Wilkins
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is an American imprint of the American Dutch publishing conglomerate Wolters Kluwer. It was established by the acquisition of Williams & Wilkins and its merger with J.B. Lippincott Company in 1998. Under the LWW ...
in Baltimore. Friction with another scientific management protégé of Taylor's,
Henry Gantt
Henry Laurence Gantt (; May 20, 1861 – November 23, 1919) was an American mechanical engineer and management consultant who is best known for his work in the development of scientific management. He created the Gantt chart in the 1910s.
Gantt ...
(whose family home was in Baltimore), led to Cooke's interventions being largely inconsequential.
[Kelly, Paul J., and Peter B. Petersen. 'Scientific Management and the Williams & Wilkins Company (1908-1909)' ''Academy of Management Proceedings'' (1992).]
In 1911, Cooke was appointed director of the
Department of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
by Philadelphia's reform mayor,
Rudolph Blankenburg
Rudolph Blankenburg (February 16, 1843 – April 12, 1918) was an American businessman and manufacturer, who became a politician and elected mayor of Philadelphia, leading a reform administration from 1911 to 1916.
Biography
Blankenburg was bor ...
. It was here that Cooke began to implement Taylor's principles of Scientific Management in order to change what he considered inefficient management practices in several departments. This change saved taxpayers thousands of dollars. This work was later reflected during World War II when he served on several boards. While serving on these boards Cooke was able to improve the storage of military goods. He also reorganized the Quartermaster Corps, and provided more electrical service to shipyards.
Between 1923 and 1925, Cooke administered a survey under Pennsylvania governor
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...
. This survey "emphasized public support for rural electrification and state-directed reorganization of the electric industry."
Rural electrification
Morris Cooke had been interested in, and began working toward, the idea of
rural electrification
Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...
beginning in the 1920s. Cooke had been a progressive Republican prior to 1930, but following the election of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, Cooke shifted his support and became a liberal Democrat. Morris Cooke was selected for several committees by President Roosevelt; these included:
* the Upstream Engineering Conference,
* the Great Plains Drought Area Committee, and
* the Mississippi Valley Committee.
However, Cooke was most influential in his appointment as the director of the
Rural Electrification Administration
The United States Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to rural communities. These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services. it is ...
. This agency had been newly organized by the Roosevelt administration and was set up to finance the construction of power distribution systems in rural areas lacking electricity.
Selected publications
*
Academic and Industrial Efficiency' (1910)
*
Scientific Management of the Public Business'(1915)
*
Our Cities Awake' (1918)
* ''Brazil on the March'' (1944)
* ''Organized Labor and Production'' (1940)
* ''Giant Power: Large Scale Electrical Development as a Social Factor'' (1925)
* ''Modern Manufacturing: A Partnership of Idealism and Common Sense'' (1919)
References
Further reading
* ''The Life and Times of a Happy Liberal: A Biography of Morris Llewellyn Cooke'' (1954), Kenneth E. Trombley
* ''Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Progressive Engineer'' (1983), Jean Christie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Morris Llewellyn
1872 births
1960 deaths
American business theorists
American industrial engineers
American management consultants
American mechanical engineers