The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-08-28
Wages and High
Living
w. w. WORTHINGToN

WHICH we SET over against ali OCner
commodities and we know that when
the prices of all other commodities
rise the value of money must be fall
ing.
/ have also tried to show that the
effect of this condition is to work a
| special hardship upon that class
which is dependent upon fixed in
comes, that is. with fixed money In
comes, for the reason that their in
come constantly depreciates. The eff
feet upon business is to stimulate it
for the time being for the reason that
rising prices seem to hold out oppor-
tunities for greater gains. The real
result is partly beneficial in that a
stimulus is given to business and part
ly evil in that over speculation re-
suits and unreal values are created
which later burst to ruin and panic.
Two Hundred Years of Rising Wages
The next would naturally be What
is the effect of rising prices on
wages?' This class of incomes is not
effected differently from others. All
incomes depreciate when prices rise.
Nevertheless there are some consider
ations connected with the wage ques-
ton which make a somewhat different
problem.
Some force is at work on wages
which does not seem to effect other
values. For example, two hundred
years ago a bushel of corn sold for
about soc. A bushel of corn does
not bring much more than. that on
the average now. Yet wages have
Iv.ic
Not only have nominal wages (money
wages) risen but real wages, that ia
the purchase power of a days work,
have risen steadily ever since the
introduction of the factory system.
Since the close of the war wages have
risen over 100 per cent and the rise,
with some minor variations, has been
a steady upward trend. The same
thing has been true of the period of
rapidly rising prices since 1895.
Wages have more than kept pace
with the movement, and in terms of.
tie food of workingmens families,
wages have risen about s per cent
beyond the general rise in prices
Thus 1t would seem that wages are be-
ing effected in Il way not true Of
other values. A consideration of the
Law of Wages will help to clear
UP some later problems connected
with wages and prices. vac =
The Law of Wages
Economically considered, labor is a
commodity whose value is determined
in exactly the same way as the value
o anything else. The law at work
here is the law of supply and demand
but it is not always easy to see its
opera ton.
Generally, economists say that there
are three factors in production Land,
that is, natural resources of all kinds;
labor both mental and physical, and
capital. The rate of wages is de-
pendent upon the relative demand for
and supply of these three factors.
We can easily see that when labor is
scarce, other things equ.l, wages will
be high. When labor is plentiful.
other things are equal, wages Will be
low. When land is scarce, other
things equal, wages will be high fot
the reason that land is calling for
laborers. Hence, in new countries
wages are generally high. When
land is scarce wages will be low, other
things equal, for the reason that La
Dor is looking for employment Thus
in old and thic1Sly settled countries
wages are usually low. When capital
is plentiful, other things equal, wages
will be high, for the reason that labor
is In demand to employ capital. The
opposite is true when capital is
scarce.
The Opening Up of Continents
Herein lies one reason for the
steady rise of wages for the past two
hundred years Through transporta-
ton facilities new continents have
been opened for settlement and new
land has called loudly for labor to
exploit it. In addition, the efficiency
of all land has been vastly in
creased because of scientific discov-
cries of various kinds and through
the application of capital to produc-
ton. Every time you increase the
efficiency of land you virtually in
crease the amount of land to be Gull
tivated. America has called for la
Dor from the old world so loudly that
26,000,000 of people have come to our
shores since we began to count them
and we have absorbed the greater
part of the whole vast horde.
The Use of Machinery
The application of capital to all
kinds of production has resulted in
an enormous expansion of capital.
Capital has been cheeper than in any
age of the world 1t too has called
for labor and added it, weight in lift
ing wages. But these factors do not
explain the whole thing.
Labor Monopoly
1t is well known fact in this mo-
nopolistic age that if the supply of
an article can be controlled its price
can be lifted to any point consistent
with the interest of the monopolist.
Labor is no exception. 1t is an in
teresting thing to consider that the
application of capital to production
has had the effect of giving the la
borer added control of his labor. 1t
has done so in the following way:
The story is a long one but the con-
clusion of it Is that the labor's eff
ciecy has been greatly increased.
This increased efficiency at first sight
would seem to diminish the demand
for Labor and so reduce wages This
is jus, what would happen were it not
for the operation of counter force.
The laborer's increased efficiency
gives him an added power of chOica