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Show THE CITIZEN 6 action as will insure full play to the individuals ability. Furthermore, these two standards Buying Power and Living Wage are both static. That is, they apply only to countries and conditions where there is no industrial progress, no increase in the national productivity, as a result of science and invention. They might be sufficient for China, but they wont do for the United States. We must have another standard which will take into account the right of all the. people to share in the progress of the nation and its increased output of commodities. The third standard is, therefore, Have wages increased in proportion to the national productivity, when population increase is taken into account? We have, therefore, three standards (1) Buying Power; (2) Living Wage; (3) National Productivity by which we may test the wages of American labor and thus arrive at a reasonable answer to the question, Are Wages Too High? ARE WAGES TO HIGH? (By Basil M. Manly, director, Peo- ples Legislative Service, former joint chairman, National War Labor Board.) The Peoples Legislative Service has been requested by a number of United States senators and representatives to furnish the facts that will answer the question Are Wages Too High? They want to know, because this great question directly or indirectly, affects and determines decisions upon every governmental policy. Their experience on the floor of both houses has shown that there exists a widebelief that the spread and of labor, wages particularly on the unionized in and railroads industries, were raised during the war and the two succeeding years to exorbitant levels and that there is no possibility of a return to sound conditions until wages in all lines of industry are forced down. Out of this belief arises a prejudice against labor that strongly influences the attitude and decisions not only of congress but also the executive departments and may it be said without contempt the judiciary deep-seate- d as well. This prejudice, although directed primarily against organized labor, is not, however, limited in its effects to what has come to be known as labor legislation, but extends far beyond to nearly every question in which the rights of the common man, whether farmer, wage earner, small business man or salaried man, are weighed in the balance against the interests of corporate and individual wealth. Consciously or unconsciously tax, tariff, transportation and general social legislation are influenced by the feeling that wrage earners rode high on the wave of inflation that swept over the country and that, if they are now stranded on the rocks, it is a matter to which legislators and executives may at least be indifferent. This belief in the exorbitance of present-dawages can be met and the prejudice arising from it can be dispelled only by a consideration of the facts. The Three Standards for Judging y Wages. Before we attempt to review the facts that bear on this question, we must first establish standards upon which to form our judgment. For without standards all statistics are meaningless and confusing. Without them, there is no sound basis upon which any one can say that $1.00 a day is too low a wage or $25 too high. Although we hear a great deal about a fair days wage for a fair days work, any Intelligent person can see that unless we have some fundamental standard for bur judgment, a fair wagemay mean anything or nothing. . The economists who have studied this question have, after many years of consideration, come to use three fundamental standards by which they attempt to judge wages. The first standard is established by the question, Have wages kept pace with the cost of living? It is obvious that if wages have not been increased as fast as the prices of food, clothing, shelter and all the other things the worker must buy, then the buying power of his wages has declined and he is certainly worse off than he was before. If, therefore, we find that the wages of any class of workers will actually buy less of the necessaries of life than they would 10 or 20 years ago, there should be no doubt that wages are not too high but are actually too low. No one disputes this. But suppose we find that the wages of any workers have increased even faster than the cost of living, are we therefore to decide with equal positiveness that such wages are too high. Let us see. Suppose that twenty years ago these particular workers were notoriously sweated or were admittedly underpaid. It would then be necessary that their wages be advanced faster than the cost of living in order to bring them up to any decent level. It would manifestly be unfair to plunge them back into the abyss of sweatshop wages, simply because the statistical index of their wages had increased faster than the cost of living index. We must, therefore, have some other standard by which we can test wages so that we may not misjudge case? like these, and this brings us to the second standard used by the econo-- ' mists. This second standard is contained in the question, Are the wages of these workers a living wage that is, are they sufficient to maintain a family of average size in health and reasonable comfort? But this is a standard which establishes only a minimum, and is therefore applicable only to the lowest paid adult workers. By it we may judge only the wages of the unskilled, for it is obvious that a skilled worker is entitled to something more than this bare minimum. This was recognized by President Harding when he said in an address on May 24, 1921: "In our effort at establishing industrial justice we must see that the wage earner is placed in an economically sound position. His lowest wage must be enough for comfort, enough to make his house a home, enough to insure that the struggle for existence shall not crowd out the things truly worth living for. There must be provision for education, for recreation and a margin for savings. There must be such freedom of eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiniiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiiiiii11111111111! - 5 Bathe at Crystal Hot Lakes Clear Warm Water I .i 1 ---Cr- ystal it 2 m ... , i , j I An ideal warm water bathing pool 100 feet by 240 feet. Clean white sand bottom and beach; sanitary bath houses; 1 good crowds, : 3 5 2 1 W Drive out during the week end. I Many employers have forgotten glowing promises they made during the war, and instead of developing a ideal with their employes, to lengthen hours are . striving they and reduce wages. Recently the general council of Trades Union Congress chal- enable ers to purchase as large a food, clothing and the oth ies of life as the wages to the same class of wor! In order to get a proper on this whole question, it jj first to fix in ones mind mental fact that, because prices and profiteering, the a means of maintaining a l worth, when we entered t 1917, only half as much as of 1900, and by 1920 only , Compared with 1900, theni dollar of the workers wages only 49 cents in 1917 an in 1920. The man who mj day in 1900, therefore, had $6.00 a day in 1920 simply t, even i (To be continued.! the-Britis- h bett I the fix That a vorker employed for eight hours a day may produce a greater output than another of equal capacity working twelve hours a day: That a group of workers showed an absolute increase of over 5 per cent, m of output as a. result of a diminution of 16 per cent in the length of the working day.. That another group increased their I average rate of output from 152 to 276 as a result of shortening the day from twelve hours to eight hours per shift. fc ,The unionists declare that even if they failed to prove that long hourri ' and low wages do not lead to increased prosperity they would still be opposed to the suggestion that the workers standard of life should be lowered, to : secure this objective. ah individual the. working man i2 is As., just as helpless as a- sapling in- a: tempest. .Uiatjhe. intends to work for whom lie pleases and fdr as hours as he pleases, and he I maymany feel. that, he bafotbe .moral right " '.'i to do .so, but.he.ixasndt.5 2. Should khow as And then, again, he vill, sooner- officer perhaps yhen, s it is too la'tel that hq must ask lifs 'employer for 'leave to' Wtftfk 'ftirmrliat lie 55 - -- -' the wages above a living prevent the loss of lives and to compel payment for ij The working people are oping the principle and in solidarity, which promises ethical no to of the most potent the future, and Jl which is s than the con more Christian and selfishness which many 0 the indispensable basis of Through united effort, labor has lessened the honn for all workers. Instead in the poisonous atmospbfl1 trial plants for fourteen hours a day, they now not hours, and some day, will be less than that the Fifteen years after half-dahad become outdoor trades and in th i it was found: - bei i The assumption that longer hours bring increased prosperity, is also based upon a fallacy, the unionists declared. In support of this extracts were given from a report issued by the British home office in 1916 on the consequences of industrial output on fatigue. As a result of investigations - has mi e tries concerned. - for as through united action and bargaining, to shorten the v raise wages, and in many i prove the conditions of the it has prevented reduction pay; it has made homes betta secured better clothes, more comforts, and has made and factory a better place in work. Organized labor has been irig force in state legislature congress not only for labor, h men; it has compelled the laws to protect the health of ers; to take children from factory, and place them in limit the hours of labor for lenged the employers claim that business will revive in proportion to the expenditure saved on wages, either by extending hours or lowering wages. The unionists insist that low standards impair the workers efficiency and adversely affect output in regard to quality and quantity. This, the unionists said, is harmful to industry and to the community. They pointed out that neither low wage industries nor low wage countries have been distinguished for efficiency or prosperity and that although the total wage reduction last year amount to more than 286,000,000, there has been no appreciable gain in the various indus- . Day I chooses to pay and as he desires. Organized labor ve -- jfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMIll'IKlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHaillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllla,ll,IIIIBlllil11111 now are sufficient to Eight-Hou- r .He.-majr'.sa- y Crystal Hot Lakes is located near the State road and 1 56th South Street. Living? Folly; e Low-Wag- Witt Let us apply ' our first Buying Power and detern the wages paid during -- -- ... Have Wages Kept Pace -- - y fices not affected 7 onjJ trades .tions,rthe printing Pefc? ed a Voluntary and hau-athat the Saturday come effective Hay ' thfe agreement, betw-'osociations of. employers international .printing was made in April men kept their part n j . arid .confidently xPe?ipir ers would carry 'ut agreement. In L'il9n y?. pointed. The lvs,utfl Ti than a year of uvlesSh'S Salt Lake Typcirappiw Wasatch 7762, (AdvntisentfW ' America but ishie camb. peace, but she will Colby. . com pA ii Hi |