The Gem worker and the Idaho labor herald. (Boise, Idaho) 1914-1917, 1916-06-29
(By George A. Briggs

have the same feeling about it, but
do know that every timeI read SER
ious articles about Efficiency, Thrift,
Sobriety and so forth, they give me
the hdgets. l am not opposed to
these things of course, but what
will-o'-the-wisp it is to expect any
of them to better the condition of
labor.
If all men doubled their efficiency
then the work Of the world could be
done by half the number of workers.
And they would do it for less pay
per day than they now get That
conclusion to me seems inevitable.
If through thrift and economy peo-
pie lived on half as much as they do
now, then wages would be corre-
spOndingly reduced. What else could
happen in a world where, due to
artificial conditions, there are always
more men than there are jobs The
law of competition is written as
deeply in the economic constitution
of things as is the law of gravitation
in physics.
Practically it means that when
there are more men than jobs the
tendency of wages is dows to the
lowest amount on which the workers
can live. On the other hand, if there
were more jobs than men, then the
tendency of competition would be to
raise wages to the level of what the
worker produces.
have no fault to find with COM
petition. 1t is simply natural law.
In itself it is neither good nor bad.
Its goodness or badness depends on
the way society adjusts itself to it.
If there are more jobs than men,
then competition is good. If there
are more men than jobs it is bad.
The real question then is not what
we shall do about competition, but
how we may create condition where
the existing ratio between men and
Jobs will be reversed.
This can be done in many ways,
but only one of them seems practi-
cable. One impractical way would be
to encourage drunkenness. If enough
workers were incapitated by drink
the sober ones would get better
wages. This would not be because
they were sober, but because the
others were drunk. When the drunks
signed the pledge and went back to
work then the number of sober men
competing for jobs would be so in
creased that wages would fall
This suggestion is absurd of course,
but it is none the less logical. There
is a way however by which the ratio
between men and jobs may be per-
manently changed; by which the
wages of all men may be increased.
And under such circumstances every
one could be free from the fear that
his increase was at another's expense.
This way had a try out in this
country. 1t is responsible for the fact
that wages as a rule have been higher
here than elsewhere. Let me tell you
about it.
When our country became a nation
il consisted of thirteen colonies scat
tered along the Atlantic seaboard.
Rack of these colonies stretching out
for three thousand miles to the Pa
cifc, was a vast "back yard" of fer
tile and unused land. If Bill Jones
or Tom Smith, working in factory
in Boston or Baltimore or elsewhere,
became dissatisfied with his job it
was a simple thing for him to leave
and take up quarter section or
whatever he could work of this un-
used back yard"
By doing this he took himself out
of competition with the workers Of
Boston and Baltimore. He became
the employer of his own labor. 1t
was a cinch that he would not go
hack TO his old job for les than he
could make working for himself But
he did not get all the benefit. Not
NV anv means. When enough Bill
Toneses and Tom Smiths had fol-
lowed his example there was scat
citv Of labor in Boston and Baltimore.
Every worker there was benefited.
Wages went up. The workers that
,tnuainsd automatically received this
geeest without effort on their part.