The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-08-13
THE LABOR QUESTION

\ paper read before the Honolulu
Social Science Association June rs,
1897, by w. f. Frear.
One reason why wages are consid-
cred an indication of high cost is be-
cause industry is looked at chiefly
from the standpoint of the capitalist
alone. But if wages are in a sense
cost to the capitalist, they are reward
to the laborer, just as interest IL in Il
sense cost to the laborer, but reward
to the capitalist. Looking at industry
as n whole, however, and not from
| the standpoint of one only of che
interested parties, both wages and in
terest are reward. They, therefore,
cannot be cost; a thing cannot I've IT'S
| own cost If wages and interest are
| cost then the man who works for
| himself and with his own capital has
no cost, for he pays no wages or in
! terest, and if all should WORK in that
way none would have any cost. and
none would be at a disadvantage IN
competition with others. because no
one would be carrying on his industry
at less cost than another-all which
would be absurd. Or, again, If the e.
wards of industry, whether in the
form of We yes and Interest, ur in the
form of the product of the person
who supplies his own labor and capt.
tai. are cost, then it follows that the
greater the rewards are, the greater
the cost, and the 1ne who gets the
most is at a disadvdnta re with the
one who gets the least. which also is
absurd. The truth is that the separa
ton of labor and capital is but re
form of what is called division of Ia
Dor, and is voluntary arrangement
both parties with view to increasing
the aggregate product obtained from
nature, and not with view to en-
abling one of the pr les to make a
living out of the other. The rewards
of mans industry. whether he wori;s
alone or in conjunction with others,
are the result of his capacities and
opportunities, and the greater his
capacities and opportunities the great
err the reward and the less the cost of
obtaining each portin of il.
IF there were no obstacles TO the
mobility of labor al capital, i'll
other won dis, if there We're free com
petition, or if opportunities were
equal, into rest, or profits (as we snail,
though unsc;entifclllv, call the re-
wari of the capitalisD world he the
same, and wages would be proper
tional to capacities everywhere and
in all industries. For if wages should
become temporarily higher in pro-
portion to capacities, or if profits
should become higher, in one indus
try or in one country than in another,
labor or capital, as the case might be,
would move from the latter to the
former until equilibrium were re-
stored. But labor and capital are not
perfectly mobile. Capital is usually
more so than labor, especially as be-
tween different industries in the same
country, and consequently profits are
substantially the same whether I'M
skilled, skilled or professional labor is
employed in the same country. For
if profits should become higher in an
industry in which one class of labor
is principally employed, whether at
higher or lower wages, capital would
be transferred from the latter 10 the
former. or further accumulations of
capital would be directed more extern
sively into the more sprofitable indus
try until the profits should be reduced
to the level of profits in other indus
tries. The capitalist therefore who
pays the high wages in one industry
is not at disadvantage with the
capitalist who pays the lower wages
in another industry. And in the same
industry different laborers are paid
different rates of wages for doing the
same kind of work, and yet the capt.
talists find just as much profit in EN-
ploying the high priced ones as in
employing the low priced ones, for
they are all paid according to their
efficiencies or capacities. If there
were more profit in employing the low
priced laborers, either the higher
priced ones would leave and work fol-
themselves, thus diminishing the sup
ply of labor of that class, or capital
lists would compete with each Other
for the low priced laborers, thus in
creasing the demand for that class
until the wages of all should be pro
portional to efficiency.
Labor is not so mobile as capital
even as between different industrie!
in the same country. There are many
obstacles--personal, social, educa
tional, financial-to the rise of mos
persons to the position of skilled o.
professional laborers, and hence as W.
ascend in the scale the rewards o
labor increase more than in proper
ton to the increase in capacities; il
other words, the higher we go thu
less crowded is the field and thu
greater are the opportunities, ant
there is scarcity or monopoly o
opportunity value in addition to al
efficiency or capacity value. But il
so far as there is free competition O
mobility the rewards of labor are pro
portional to the capacities of the la
borers. All those in the same grade
that is, all who have equal oppor
tunities, whether engaged in tn
same or in different occupations, ar
rewarded according to their capaci
ties.
As between different countries
there are obstacles to the movement
of both labor and capital, and henc
both are more scarce in newly set
tied than in older countries, am
therefore have scarcity value in ad
dition to an efficiency value. That
to say, in the less crowded countries
I'm tho lacS crowded nrOfpS