The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-11-17
The SITUATION is CRAVE

Rates of Pay Placed Side by Side With
the Cost of Family Health and De-
cency Reveal Great Discrepancy
Against ths Worker--Wage Contract
is Based on No Standard of Ethics.
The phrase He gets all that he is
worth means merely this that the
employer is paying him as much as he
has to pay another equally efficient
person to do the same thing. Whether
he is hiring bricklayers. bookkeepers
or coal beavers, the wage he pays de
pends upon the supply and demand of
labor This law is excelently illus
trated during a time Of financial and
Industrial depression, VIII e there are
surplus of labor and dedrth of oppor
tunity for employment Many indus
tries at once reduce their wages be-
cause they are able to get all OF the peo.
pie that they want ut a lower figure.
The wage contract, as it is called,
knows no social morality and is based
on no standard OF social ethics. 1t is
subject only to the law of supply and
to the law of monopoly price. The
employer pays his labor as little as he
can The worker demands and gets
as much as he can. Until recently
there has been no general idea that
minimum wage was social neces-
sity. The individual laborer bargain
ing with the employer made the best
terms he could. If labor was scarce
he was successful; if it were a drug
on the market his wages were reduced
to a starvation level
Another consequence follows from
the ruthless bargaining Of the com
petitiye labor marke. The bargain
takes place between the employer and
worker irrespective Of social obliga-
tions. The consequences are doubly
disastrous to the man with the fam
lily depending upon him 4 common
quarrying, for example
may be carried on by married or by
single men The employer does not
even put himself to the trouble OF ask
ing whether the prospective employee
is married or single, because that
makes no difference if a man is handy
with his tools The man with a fam
lily is brought into active competition
ith the man who has no family obli-
cations. The native born head OF a
household must accept labor terms
which are satisfactory to the foreign
born single man Industry does not
inquire into workers. social obliga-
tions II simply asks whether he is
able to do the work and at what price
The competition of the labor market
does the rest
Society demands and expects that
men shall support families. The fu
ture Of the state hinges upon the full
fllment of this presuppositiou At the
same time the modern economic or
ganization makes no attempt to assist
the man who is bringing MP a family
to face the competition Of the man who
has no family dependent upon him
There is no relation between the So
cial Gamilyl needs Of man ana the
wage which he receives Wages are
fixed wholly independent of social re
lations
The American wage is aud-sociaL
The present system OF Waee payment
fails TO stimulate workers to industry
and thrift because it has not given
them a reward in proportion to their
exertions and ability There is no re.
lation between product and wages
Rather wages are fixed by competition
and monopoly The present wage scale
fails completely to provide a return In
proportion to social needs The sim
plest requirements of social progress
call for ambition, for justice and fol
the provision OF health necessities The
present American wage scale offends
even these primitive social standards.
The American wage is grossly made
quate. Examined from any point OF
view it fails to provide a sufficient re
turn to the wage Garner who is carry
ing the burden Of a young family.
American industry pays TO the over
whelming majority of wage earners {
wage Of less than $1,000 year Ever
where no allowance is made for un
employment the wage rates of three
quarters of the men fall below 500 ;
year Perhaps three wage earners il
zach hundred are paid over $50 pc
week Ia yearly rate Of $1,000. Com
pared with the sums which are me
with In the business world. the wage
OF the workers is small
The wage rates paid by industry
placed side by side with the cost o
family health and decency, reveal al
appalling situation. In great number
of cases the wages are insufficient t
provide for the health and decency o
moderate sized family
American wages as a business prop
psition are even less adequate thai
they are for the provision of healtl
and decency. The ordinary principles o
sound American business practice ar
all violated in the financing of th
workers family Scott Nearing, Ph. ID
In Annals of the American Academy.
H..