New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-26
MINIMUM WAGE
HARMS WORKERS
National Manufacturers
Assert 1t Destroys
Ambition.
FRANK p. WALSH
ALSO CENSURED
u. s. Industrial Commission
Chairman Accused of OppOs-
ing Employers.

That the time is not yet ripe for eN-
pcrimentiug with minimum wage leglS-
lation il the belief of the National Bet
torment Committee Of the Nnauoral
Association Of Manufacturers, which
made its report on that phase Of social
legislation at Yesterdays session OF the
associations annual meeting. at the
Waldorf Astoria. This il the first time
that the manufacturers have set them
selves on record on this plan. and sew
cral interesting conclusions were sub
mittod by the committee.
Il found i'm IFS investigation that the
attempt TO regulate and control wages
by the state had invariably failed; that
the opcration Of the minimum wave
had invariably proved unsatisfactory TO
both employers and employees; that
there was no cause for recommending
the project at this time; that econom-
ically the theory Of this plan was not
sound; that there was no demand Tor
minimum wage legislation; and that
the plan operated with injustice 10 botn
the inefficient and the highly eihclent
workers.
In this country, the committee found
that the minimum wage had been ap-
plicd to only one industry in single
state the brush making trade, IN
Massachusetts,. Here practically every
employe affected by the law had been
discharged. and 81 per cent Of these
workers were still unemployed last
February, six months after the law went
into effect The committee CONTENDS
that the minimum wage has tended 10
become the maximum, and has equaliZed
salaries to the detriment OF the more
efficient workers.
The minimum wage, the committee
reports, deprlves inefficient men OF OPP
portunity and efficient workers OF am
btion, and also annihllates competitive
industries. Suggested az a cure for the
sweating system which the committee
SAYS is an isolated phenomenon Of IN
dustrial life, and must be eliminated,
no matter how drastic the eventual
remedy il is found TO be lmpractica-
Bile, and is effective only by depriving
persons Of employment.
At both the morning and afternoon
sessions Of the meeting the Federal In
dustrial Relations Commission came IN
for considerable comment. In the for
mer Colonel George Pope, the president
of the association, took a critical view
of the body which has been holding It's
told the 100 members at the Waldorf
that in his opinion it was a failure.
THE commission" he said, was in
stituted and inaugurated by the pre-
vious administration. II is obvious that
q body Of this kind should be impartial
The public has a right 10 expect at
least impartiality, because OF the quasi
judicial character Of the commission.
But il soon became evident that there
was an obvious intent by certain mem
bers of the body 10 strengthen the hand
OF organized labor, and the chairman
has been made conspicuous by un-
guarded public utterances with respect
TO certain matters hardly within his
scope
Colonel Pope continued that, while
the commission had heard a great deal
of testimony, il had submitted only one
preliminary report. il is his belief
that the result Of the deliberations and
Investigations VIII be of doubtful value.
Walter Drew, counsel OF the Ma
tional Frectors' Association, also
touched upon the work Of the commits
sion. and praised Chairman Frank +.
Walsh for coming out into the open
and stating his opposition 20 the Ma
tional Manufacturers Association.
The speaker named as the one funda-
mental weakness Of trade unionism
power without corresponding respon-
sibility." THE one fact which best
explains the phenomena Of the closed
shop" he said, "is the lack OF civil re-
spon3ibility on the part OF the union
for its acts. The owners of destroyed
work, caused by the executive board
Of the iron workers, cannot bring ac-
ton against the union and recover
damages from its treasury. What is a
damage suit against the individual
members worth for practical purposes ?
Nothing"