Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-18
His Conclusions.

1
minds of those who now harbor and
nourish it"
His Conclusions.
In conclusion, Mr.. Colby says;
"First-The wages received by a
large majority of the workers in the
industry are not sufficient to guaran-
! tee decent living and are far below
an amount to makes possible any pro-
! vision for the future. By a living
wage 1 again pean IS a week for
women and s12 d week for men.
Can society demand that the con-
. tractor pay more for labor than the
labor is worth to him? One answer
IS: No, not unless society, by means
: of Industrial education, supplies the
. contractor with efficient labor that is
j worth a living wage. The other
answer is: Yesi Fix a minimum wage
! by law and the industry will not suf-
fer, because, first, it would enable the
employers to prevent the under-cut-
ting of wages by the mushrooms in
the trade; second, it would diminish
the parasitic character of many fac
/ tories; third, it would abolish the
sweat shops;' fourth, it would COM
pei the contra etor to develop the ca
pacity and efficiency of his incom-
petent workers; fifth, it would tend
TO induce contractors to hold on to
their old employees; sixth. it would
bring contractors and manufacturers
to realization of their public re-
sponsibilities. Without the facts,
however, nothing can be done, and
therefore suggest a thorough investi-
CATION of the industry by the indus
try itself. This should be DONE under
the provisions of a protocol, such as
was recently entered into by the
United Garment Workers of America,
the United Manufacturers and Mer-
chants Association and the United
Clothing Contractors Association.
This protocol provided for the APP
pointment of an official conference
committee, consisting of six repre-
sentatives designated by the manu-
facturers and six representatives des-
ignated by the union, to consider all
the matters presented by the union
as the basis for the strike. The
conference committee to remain in
session until conclusions were ar
rived at and to have full power and
authority. at the joint expense of
both organizations, to make inves-
tigation into the conditions of the
industry, to obtain statistical infor-
nation concerning wages and hours
of work and comparative conditions
in other cities and to consider ways
and means for the uplift of the in
dustry as a whole In order to come
to an understanding upon all of the
matters involved, the parties agreed
that there should be Immediately
constituted a board of arbitration in
the industry, consisting of three rep
resentatives, who should have full
power and authority to settle all
matters in dispute in the event that
the conference should fail to agree.
"The protocol should also provide
for the preferential shop device
designed to meet the insistence of
the manufacturer for an open and of
the union for a closed shop. Under
the preferential shop agreement the
employer maintains union standards
as to hours, etc, and gives a prefer
ence to members of the union. On
the other hand, the union is bound
to maintain discipline in the shop
among its members, to compel them
to abide by their agreements and
see that they live up to the pro-
visions of the protocol"
"Second-That the hours of labor
are too long during the rush months.
and productive of injurious effects
! "a
physical health of the workers.
I'm England, France and Germany,
where laws have been enacted to
secure a normal day. the result has
been to spread the work out more
evenly over the twelve months of the
year. In 1902 and 1908 the committee
Of the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science appointed to
/ investigate the effect of legislation
covering this evil took occasion to
point out that the English acts had
| led to the work being spread more
uniformly over the week. month and
year.
The question Of piecework so
closely allied with overtime work is
different matter. Here we must
destroy the evils that exist in its
practise and not the principle itself,
for the principle is sound and allows
for that natural variance in the out :
put of workers, without which you
kill all spirit, initiative and ambition.
The danger. however, of piecework
is widespread. especially in poorly or
ganized industries, where there is no
collective bargaining to protect the
worker, but speeding up is probably
its worst feature. While 1t means
more money for a short time 1t re-
suits too frequently in lowering the
piece price and then the same fever
ish haste becomes necessary to earn
the lower wage.
"Third-Sub- contracting should be
abolished.
"Fourth-Work should not be given
out to be finished at home.
THE reason for home work is OBJ
Vious; it is a cheaper means of pro
duction because women can work on
IT. at low rates internationally along
never yields a livelihood. [ found
one widow hudded into small rooms
with six children trying to support
herself on $3.50 a week, perfectly
hopeless task She had reached the
starvation point and had been as
sisted by the union strike fund. Home
work has been characterized as 6
plan to throw workers into starVa'
ton and then use their starvation as