Show 4 F I Harnessing Opportunity I MEMBERS of the executive council of tile the ivl American Federation of Labor have determined determined determined deter deter- mined to seek a new basis of determining wages The council concludes that wages are fixed by the cost of living and that this system is fundamentally fundamentally fundamentally funda funda- mentally wrong The council has tackled a broad problem and one which will tax the ability of its membership for solution In the first place humanity is not generally agreed that wages are determined solely by the cost of living If this were true there could b be no individual individual progress and we are bound to admit new men are are winning success daily At the same time all fair minded people are bound to admit that wages and th the cost of ot living I 1 r I p rr I I Y lr are r intimately associated d. d Every clean honest t. t and industrious hu human n being i is entitled d to a a wholesome eso me living When pre prevailing wag wages s. s fail il to provide this guarantee it ft is bad bac f for r the citizenship citizen n nhip ship hip an and the country So it is that I. I labor bor makes only a fair demand when it insists that th the wage gc scale scale provides a decent living Jiving It lt do does s no po not necessarily necessarily necessarily follow that wages wages' must be reduced 50 that the workingman can hope for nothing more than thana a living when living costs are lower Every human being is entitled to daily progress progress progress ress providing viding his manner of living reflects reflects' thrift and industry If this is denied hope is g gone ne and 4 the individual or nation without hope is lost But how are we to effect these guarantees Surely we we cannot hope to give these guarantees when wasteful and s shiftless methods ar are chiefly responsible for the lack of progress We can can ap never never hope to harness opportunity so that it may maybe ay be passed around and divided according to a a preconceived plan In the past we have see seen numerous individuals come conic out of the crowd andrise and andrise andrise rise to places of distin distinction tion and success They ha have ve come come from every class and are testimonials I to th the fact that opportunity exists and deny the assertion th that t workmen are arc paid a wage which h provides a living and nothing more Individual 1 i initiative must be preserved and honor accorded the man who wins We Ie cannot standardize su suc r cess The Federation of Labor Lalor cannot cannot hope to provi provide e its is membership with the guarantees of f progress So long as men men live soine some individual will make more progress than others and and there then is no way of changing this except as the individuals themselves change The federation however can discourage any philosophy y which tends to reduce the earning power of the individual below the point of personal efficiency In this it it will have the support of the citizenship Our progress as a nation is dependent upon th the success of our I people and the advancement of our people is is' is dependent up upon n the progress of the individual Man is entitled to more than ihan a a living but he cannot cannot cannot can can- not expect to have it without the exertion of thought and effort Wages must permit a margin of profit if the present age is to record material advancement |