The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-11-19
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.

As result of the recent increase
granted the Eastern trainmen by the
board of arbitration, there has been
much discussion relative TO increases IN
wages and in the cost of living Wages
cannot be advanced in any industry
without adding to the cost OF opera
tion and production in that industry
unless there is corresponding ad-
vance in the efficiency OF labor. In
every industry the wages of labor arc
the main factor in operating expenses,
and in most industries, as for example
in the transportation business, wages
are very much the most important
element
Some Of the economists who have
considered the subject point out that
we have been caught in sort OF
vicious circle. If the cost Of operation
and production is augmented to any
great extent, then the rates or prices
charged for services rendered or the
goods sold by that industry must be
increased But higher charge for
services and goods is, of course, an IN
crease in the cost of living, and conse-
quently calls for another increase in
wages, which in tNrn will produce an
other increase in the cost of living,
which will again Justify another in
=. 6 ,t,,,,
Economists would not consider the
situation so alarming if they did not
agree that the general advances In the
prices OF commodities and also the In
crease in the railway expenses through
ont the world were being attended
| by a decline in the efficiency of labor
| Evidence accumulates in Europe, III
Australia, and in North America that
| the efficiency OF labor is diminishing.
| Complaints of this, coming from widely
| separated parts Of the world, are ex-
pressed in almost identical language.
1t is clear that the decrease in the
| efficiency Of labor, If not accompanied
| by any reduction in the wages of labor,
must tend to increase the cost Of pro-
| duction. and therefore the prices OF
commodities; and this result will be
much more extreme if the decline IN
the efficiency of labor is attended by
an increase in the wages of labor. If
the decline in labor efficiency is great,
this. together with increases in pay,
will nullify the tendency of labor-sag-
| ing machinery 10 reduce the cost of
production.
If il is true that the increase in the
cost of living can be ascribed to ad-
vances in wages and reduction of eff
ficencv. il is obvious That to increase
wages because the cost Of living is in
creased is not to gain relief for the
entire community. Very much the most
important thing, therefore, would APP
pear to be the decrease in the cost of
production and distribution The only
way TO advance the real wages of
labor is to advance the productiveness
of labor. because the real wages of
labor are what they will purchase in
goods, and the only way TO increase
the amount of goods that any given
amount OF pay VIII procure is TO ue'
crease the cost of production. The ele-
lnent of monopoly prices, of course, is
not here considered.
If il is true that American labor
which was rated higher than any other
labor of the world in efficiency few
wears ago. is losing efficiency, the cost
of production cannot be decreased tC
, any considerable extent. While il may
bc true that this decrease in efficiency
is due 10 the fact that hundreds oi
thousands of European laborers, skilled
: and otherwise, are constantly taking
{ the places in the trades formerly oc
cupied by native workmen, il woulC
seem that American methods anC
standards of living would tend L
J, bring the efficiency of the European
q laborer up 10 the average efficiency o.
. the American laborer. Such has beer
our experience in the past. and it il
= certainly alarming TO hear that Ameri
e can labor has reached the highest poin
;, of its efficiency and is declining.
o Whatever may be the cause Of tn
. increase in wages aud prices in gen