The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-23

oDliit OI tfTc Oi utSiulhS hPth a wage which will be acceptable to both employer and employe are described by Father Ryan, author of "A Livsng Wage. and one of the foremost authorities of this country on minimum wage Legislation.
 The Minnesota minimum wage commits sion has issued its first wage orders. They fix the remuneration for women and minors of ordinary ability as follows: In mercantile establishments. telephone and telegraph occupations and all office work. So a week in cities of the first class: $. 50 in cities of the second. third and fourth classes. and $S in all other parts of the state; in manufacturing, laundry and restaurants and hotel occupations. 25 cents less than the foregoing rates, except that the lowest rate Is SS.
 Just as the wage orders were to be issued, the employer member of the com mission resigned consequently the orders were made by only two of the three mem- bers of the commission. The employers of the state are attempting to prevent the operation of the law on the ground that it Is unconstitutional
 CExcusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau.) .f.aa s,
 The minimum wage law Of Minnesota authorizes the minimum wage commits sion to establish advisory boards to as- sist in the task of determining living wages for women and minors. According ly the commission set up early in the present year three such boards, one for the mercantile and one for the manufac- turing concerns in St. Paul and Minneapo- lis, and one for both these industries in Duluth. Each of the three boards was composed of employers and employees POI nj fxn ft, xxtt1 a third group representing the general public.
 The law requires that the representa- tives of employers and of employees shall be selected by these respective classes "so far as practicable" The commission, however. found that this plan was not practicable. After consultation with lead ing employers. the commission itself chose the employers representatives. Quite properly they were all employers.
 In the matter of employees representa- tion, the commission was even less able to carry out the spirit of the law Not only did the employees fail to select their own representatives, but sufficient number of them could not be induced to serve on the boards. Of the 10 members representing the employees on the mer- cantfle board in the twin cities only two were working girls In the ordinary sense. Two were welfare workers employed in department stores. and the other six were club women. On the manufacturing board only one was an employe. In Du- luth the employees representation con tained 1 believe, somewhat larger pro- portion of working girls.
 Why Employees Will Not Serve
 The refusal Of the girls to go on the board seemed to be due partly to unwili- lngness to face the dilemma of either in- curing the dspleasure of their em- poyers or betraying the interests of their fellow employees. and partly to general timdity, diffidence and lack of energy and interest. As a matter of fact, at least one of the two working girls on the mercantile board voted against an ade quate minimum wage. and the single em- ploye on the manufacturing board was ab- sent when the wage recommendations were voted. The employees who were members of the Duluth board apparently displayed greater interest and courage. All the club women who represented the employees invariably worked and voted for adequate minimum rates.
 The facts narrated in the foregoing par agraph suggest that in many localities the time has not yet arrived when work ing girls can reasonably be expected to
 
 minimum wage boards. This measure of industrial democracy Is not practically att tainable where working women are unor- ganized. very considerable amount of outside assistance may very appropriate ly come from the more fortunate members of their own sex.
 Cost of Clothes
 The efforts of advisory boards to as- certain the minimum cost of living for working girls brought out many inter esting and instructive facts. In the mer- cantile board the subcommittee on clothing reported three estimates, averi aging s2.20. Four of the six members of the subcommittee of the manufactur- ing board agreed upon $1.92 per week as the proper minimum cost of cloth ing. It was generally recognized that this item of expenditure is somew wha t higher for store girls than for those employed in factories. In the matter of miscellaneous expenses, such as car fare, health, vacation, laundry, etc.. the subcommittee of the mercantile board reported minimum cost of Si.Sl per week. while the subcommittee of the manufacturing board agreed upon $1.90. The task of determining the minimum cost of board and lodging was consid . erably more difficult This was due mainly to two causes: First, the fact that the cheapest boarding houses were very limited in number. and, second. tho | question whether al, girls may req sonably be requifed to live two in a room. More than 600 boarding and rooming houses In St. Paul and Minne- apolis were visited and carefully ex- amined by agents of the commission. Of these, some 19 or 20 offered room and board for s4 per week or less. Only a minority of them. however. were re- ported to the commission as ''satis- factory"
 The figures most frequently sub mitted by the 600 and odd places in vestigated were as follows: For board and room in same house, one person pei | room. $5. two persons per room. s4.50 for board and room in different places one person per room, S5.50. two persons per room. $4.90.