Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-23
THE WAGE QUESTION.
Difficulty in Defining What Is q Fair
Days Pay.

Difficulty in Defining What Is q Fair
Days Pay.
From the Engineering News
In testifying before the United States In
dustrial commission, short time ago, MI.
Chas NJ Schwab, president OF the United
States Steel Corporation, remarked that ne
"believed in the policy Of paying labor
every cent 1t Is worth" Again. In the
Declaration Of Principles recently made
by the National Metal Trades Association
we find 1t stated that "a fair days work
deserves a fair days wage" We take these
merely as typical utterances. Similar ones
are often heard when the relations Of labor
and capital are prominently before the pub
lic The point to which we direct attention
Is that such statements, no matter how
sincerely they may be made. accomplish
nothing toward defining the true relations
between those who work for wages and
their employers. Mr.. Schwab would pay
labor every cent 1t Is worth: but Just there
lies the question. what Is 1T worth? what
shall be the measure Of a fair days
wage or, for that matter, Of the fair
days work" which is to earn it? More
than this, who shall apply the measuref
The employer, Of course, answers that he
alone can decide what rate Of wages he
can afford to pay, and this seems almost
self-evident. The worker however. objects,
and demands that he be given a voice In
fixing his own compensation and terms Of
counted a very wrOng-headed and unreal
sonable person for such objection.
Why not. 1t Is continually urged. leave
these things for free competition to settle?
Let the law of supply and demand operate
freely, and wages will be kept up on the
one hand by the rivalry of competing en-
ployers to secure men, and kept down on
the other hand by the rivalry of competing
workmen to secure employment That Is
the way society should work out its saliva
ton by accepted theories Of political econo-
my. Why does 1t not work that way In real
life? There are many reasonsj but the
chefeSt is that human labor cannot be
bought and sold in the same way as wheat
and iron and lumber. To have free compe-
tition regulate prices In an equitable way
1t is essential that buyer and seller shall
meet on something like an equal footing.
This Is not the case in the sale Of labor
The employers position is strong. The in
dividual workmans position Is weak. To
the employer the hiring or discharge of a.
man involves almost nothing. To the man
1t may mean the change between self-sup-
port and beggary. The competition be-
tween different employers for the purchase
of labor. which Is counted on to keep up
wages, is seldom an actual fact. Even in
Industries where employers are numerous
they do not bid against each other in the
open market for the purchase Of labor like
buyers of wheat.
Again it makes no difference to the bush
ell of wheat whether 1t goes to London or
to Hong Kong But to the laborer even
small change in his location means often
sacrifice and loss almost impossible to esti-
mate. Most men, especially those with
families dependent on them, will hesitate
long before changing from one employer to
another. even In the same town or city,
and far more when change involves re-
moval to new location where all sorts Of
unknown difficulties may await. While the
force of competition Is thus weak In help
Ing the workman. 1t Is strong on the slide of
the employer to keep wages down. No
matter what his liberality, he cannot pay
wages much above his competitors or they
will underbfd him in the market. Under
usual business conditions and In most To-
calities and industries the employer never
goes out In search OF workmen. Applicants
for employment constantly appear aft the
shop door. What they want is job. and
the rate OF wages to man tramping in
search OF work Is not all-important This
Is part OF the competition which threatens
the men inside the shop door; but another
and equally important part is the competi-
ton among themselves. The employer Is
one. HIS workmen are many. HIS aim is
to make them compete with each other in
their work, that he can get the largest
days work for the smallest wage This is
the principle underlying all system of niece
work. premium plans or other methods Of
paying labor In proportion to the amount
of work produced. The workman on the
other hand, not unnaturally objects to
competition inside the shop, and to all
these methods which involve 1t. 1t Is by
many deemed very strange that workmen
should prefer to be placed on a dead level
so that the best workmen earn no more
than the poorest. The fact is that they do
not prefer this feature. They choose 1t
merely as a lesser evil to them than any
form Of competition inside the shop which
shall make the output Of the most skillful
the standard Of work and the pay which
the most straitened will accept. the stand