Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-08-10

uon na1vw wneLnvr 4I4o4J peop1S
| nave me Same feeling apouL II, Du1
do KNOW unat every time 1 read Ger
lous arllc4rs ABOUT LAc1ency, | al AlS
Sourlety anu 50 1orIn, thes give me
the NUGGETS. / am not opposed to THESE
things OF course, but, what wl14-o
the-Wlsp it is to expect any OF them 10
better the con0ltlon OF labor
Ii all men doubled their emciency.
then the work OF the world could be
done by nall the number OIL workers.
And they would do it tor less pay per
day than they now get . conclu-
sion seems TO be inevitable
Ii through thrl1l anu ect 5my people
lived on half as much as they do now.
then wages would be correspondence
reduced. WHAT else could happen in u
world where, due to artificial condl-
lions, there are always more men than
there are JOBS. The law OF competl
ton is written as deeply in the e1e-
mental constitution OIL Things as IS the
law of gravitation in physics.
Practically it means that when there
are more men thar jobs the tendency
of wages is down to the lowest amount
OH which the workers can live. On
Jobs than men, then the tendency of
competition would be to raise wages
to the level OF what the worker pro
duces.
1 have no fault to find with competi-
ton. 1t is simply a natural law. In
itself it is neither good nor bad. Its
goodness or badness depends on the
way society adjusts itself to it. II
there are more jobs than men, then
competition is good. If there are more
men than jobs it is bad. The real ques-
ton then is not what we shall do
about competition, but how we may
create a 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 practicable.
One impractical way would be to en-
courage drunkenness. II enough
workers were incapacitated 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 increased 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 be-
tween men and jobs may be perman-
emily changed; by which the wages OF
all men concerned 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 eoun-
try 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 nation 1t
consisted of thirteen colonies scattered
along the Atlantic seaboard. Back of
these colonies stretching out for three
thousand miles to the Pacific, was
vast black yard" of fertile and unused
land If Bill Jones or Tom Smith,
working in a factory in Boston or
Baltimore or elsew here, became dis
satisved with his job 1t was simple
thing for him to leave and take up q
quarter section or whatever he could
work of this unused back yard"
By doing this he took himself out Of
competition with the workers of Bos-
| ton and Baltimore. He became the EN- :
ployer Of. his own labor. 1t was a
cinch that he would not go back to
his old job for less than he: could make
working for himself But he did not
get all the benefit Not by any means.
With enough Bill Joneses and Tom
Smiths had followed his example,
there was a scarcity of labor in Bos-
D. lxnT
was benefited. Wages went up. The
workers that remained automatically
received this benefit without effort on
their part.
The departure Of enough Bill Joneses
and Tom Smiths did the trick for all
1t created a condition in the cities
wherein there were more Jobs than
men. 1t automatically established a
minimum wage. That minimum-for
all workers-was the amount any aver
age man could make for himself on
the hitherto unused land in our ma
tional back yard.
| Alexander Hamilton saw all this AMI
tried to head it off. He tried to have
a law passed whereby the national do
main would not be sold except in such
large tracts that no one but the rich
could buy Fortunately he didn't sue
coed. And because he DIDN'T succeed
the wages of American labor were
ixed-so long as free land was avail
able-at what averages ability coulc
produce employing itself in agricul-
ture.
That free land is now ALL or prac-
lieved to be right by promise Of state
hood, against whom those enlisted un.
der the stars and stripes must fight