The Irish standard., 1914-07-18
CLAIM TO A LIVING WAGE
Dr.. John A. Ryan Defines Meaning of Liv.
ing Wage an the Claim of
the Laborer.
Must Have Environment in Which Religion and Nor
atty Can Be Safe Guarded with Reason
able Effort.

Rev. John A. Ryan of St. Paul
Seminary in recent issue of the
Live Issue discussed the living wage.
Father Ryan's treatment of this i'm
portant subject is timely and i'm
portant.
Briefly defined, living wage is a
wage adequate to a decent livelihood.
It is that amount of remuneration
which will provide the laborer with a
livelihood becoming to. worthy of,
proper to a human being. Hence the
concepts of living wage and decent
livelihood are fundamentally moral
rather than physical or economic.
They apprehend the laborer as per-
son, as a quasi-sacred entity, as a
being possessed Of intrinsic worth. as
ian end in himself" The laborer is
not conceived as mere means to any
other individual, nor to any social
purpose or interest. He is person,
morally obliged and morally prtvi-
legged to pursue self perfection. to de-
velop his personality, to live a reason
able human life. For this purpose he
must have the means of exercising
and developing all his faculties, phys
1cal, mental, moral and spiritual. To
what degree? Well, to some degree;
to a reasonable degree; to that de-
gree at least which is necessary in
order that he may live as a human be-
ing, and not as horse or a pig. So
much at least is embraced in the idea
of a decent Nvlihood.
The Decent Livelihood
In more concrete terms, decent
livelihood comprises food, clothing,
and housing sufficient in quantity and
quality to maintain the worker In nor
NAL health, in elementary comfort,
and in an environment in which NOR
tality and religion can be safeguarded
with a reasonable amount Of effort.
It embraces, moreover, that quantity
of provision for the future which is
necessary for elementary security and
contentment; and sufficient oppor.
tunities of recreation, amusement. so
cial intercourse, education, reading
matter, and church membership to
conserve health and strength, and to
exercise in some degree the higher
faculties. Although these statements
may still seem to be somewhat vague,
their contents could be readily put in.
to more definite and satisfactory
terms in any community by any com
mittee of Intelligent and honest per
sons. And the estimate or formula
ton upon which the committees
would be able to agree, would be suf
flciently high for all practical pur
poses. Once the members Of the com
mittee acknowledged that a human
being is moral entity whose needs
are on an essentially different and
higher level than the needs Of brute
they would find it practically easy to
agree upon minimum Of goods and
opportunities which would reasonably
meet and safeguard all the workers
essential needs and purposes. Now
a wage adequate to provide the indt
vidual with all these requisites is 9
living wage. except in the case Of
adult men. Since the headship of q
family is necessary for the normal de
velopment of personality. for right
and reasonable life, the material
means required for the proper dis
charge of this function must, gener
ally speaking. be included in the la
boring mans decent livelihood and
living wage.
The Basis Of the Wage
The grounds upon which the claim
to a living wage may be based arr
moral, religious. social and popular
First comes the moral basis. Like al
other persons. the laborer has a nat
0f8l THU " 4v0 4AOA S40 0O0AASS VI
the earth; for, on the one hand. al
men are Of equal moral and intrinsic
worth, and. on the other hand, Coz
has made the earth the common heri
tage Of all His children. Further
more, men have equal rights to liv'
decent lives. to decent livelihood
from this undivided heritage. II
withhold from some persons th'
means Of living decently Is no NOR
reasonable than to withhold from
them the means Of bare subsistence
to deprive them Of bare subsistence i
no more justinable than to take ava!
their liberty or their Lives. Wh1'
these rights differ In degrees Of In
portance. they are an essential. q