The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-11-26
C0hSERvES HUMAN RACE.
On the Other Hand, the Competitive
Wage Condemns the ToiIer and His
Family to Lifelong Servitude-The
One UpIifts, the Other Degrades
Physically and Mentally.


Family to Lifelong servitude-The
One UpIifts, the Other Degrades
Physically and Mentally.
People are accustomed to think of
the living wage in terms of competi-
ton. says the SAoe Workers Journal.
That is to say, it is not SO much queS-
ton of what the labor of a man is
worth or what he is entitled to In re-
turn as it is question of how much
cheaper one man can be hired than an
other or how far the wage can be re-
duced by putting wage earners in com
petition with each other to bid for
work at the lowest price Obviously
this is entirely contrary to the real liv
ing wage. This is purely a competitive
wage based upon the idea in the mind
of the nployer of taking advantage Of
the NJ es5ities of the workers to the
very last extremity.
The living wage recognizes the right
Of the wage Garner to life, liberty and
well being. The competitive wage
con 3emns him to sacrifice all his own
rs
upon him. The one aims at the con
servation of the human race and the
other at its destruction. The one will
produce superior generations of men in
the future, while the other can have
no other effect except TO produce fu-
ture men lower in physique and in
mental power
The living wage must not only sup
ply the necessaries of the family While
the wage Garner is employed, but 1t
must be high enough to provide against
seasons of unemployment and against
accident or sickness. In other words,
there must be a surplus above the re-
quirements for the bare naceSsaries and
even reasonable comforts of life, so
that the family may not be destitute
under ordinary conditions of employ
lneut or of sickness or accident. III
every respect living wage that is in
truth living wage must provide for
the well being and comfort of the wage
Garner and his family. assuming, Of
course, that the expenses Of the fam
lily are not protiigate and that the earn
ings are not wasted on vicious habits.
living wage has got to be under
stood as providing for the education of
the children and keeping them at
school until they have matured. The
idea of immature children being forced
into the mills and workshops at tender
years and without education is becom-
ing more and more repugnant TO the
best thinkers, who agree that the sur
est way to destroy the future of the
human race is 10 dwarf the minds and
the bodies of the children by condemn
ing them to hard labor when they
ought to be at school.
There is another factor of the living
wage that deserves especial attention.
The living wage in its broad sense will
prolong the lives of the wage earners.
In statement published i'll the Chica-
go Herald Major General William c.
Gorgas. conceded to be one of Amer
ica's leading sanitary experts and who
converted the Panama canal zone from
a pesthouse into a health resort. said,
Add to the laboring mans wage from
$1.25 to $3.50 a day and you will
lengthen the average Americans thread
of life by thirteen years at least"
The average human life is now said
to be forty-two years. BY simply add
ing to the living wage General GOrgas,
who, by the way. is surgeon general of
the United States army. says the aver
age Of human life can be increased to
fifty-fye years, and DR.. Victor G.
Vaughn of Ann Arbor, Mich, late pres
ident of the American Medical associa-
tion, makes the further important
statement that IF every city would in
stall rules and regulations for health,
such as William G. Gorgas might give,
the lives of our children could be
brought up to an average of siXty-five
years"
One other factor in regard to the liv-
ing wage would always be kept close
to the heart and mind of the wage
Garner, and that is that it is the trade
union movement that does more for
the living wage than all other human
agencies combined We are indebted
to the scientists for their knowledge
and for the sympathetic opinions they
express; but. after all, it is the wage
Garner in combination with other wage
earners in their trade unions that must
secure the living wage for himself
and he must secure it according to
the advancing standards and costs OF
living as they may be from time to
time. The purchasing power of the
wage of today may be insufficient to
morrow to provide the same standard
Of living and all the comforts and en-
joyments that go with it. 1t is our ia.
Dor unions that we must depend upon
to meet the new conditions as they
arise from day to day If we want an
increasing living wage, which means
more healthful conditions and longer
lives, we must keep our unions in con
dition of membership, finances and OF
loyal support of the workers so that
no opportunity to advance the living
wage shall be wasted nor any call
made upon the movement to find IL
wanting, for. after all. the trade un-
ions are as good, rs effective, as reifa
BILE, as the individual members that
compose them.