Denver labor bulletin., 1918-08-03
MAXIMUM WAGE JOKER IN SINDRY
CIVIL BILL PUT OVER IN CONGRESS

The executive council Of the A. F. Of
l. has also been approached. What
impression the plan has made upon
the leaders il not yet clear. Upon
all occasions the war labor policies
board 10 giving an explanation that
it does not propose, In the negotia-
ton OF an agreement between the
unions and the employers - to wage
standard, to FIX any but . minimum
rate OF pay. It does not agree with
the big lawyers who say that the sum
dry civil act "joker" covers all war
work.
Precedent IN thirteenth Century.
Members Of the national war labor
board have declined to express any
opinion as to whether maximum wage
Legislation, or Standardization" such
as il described as . sacrifice, can be
made effective. It is evident, how
ever, that they disagree with any
controlled, or that profiteering has
been curbed.
Attention is being called to the fact
that the statute Of laborers, enacted
in England in the thirteenth century,
authorized certain courts to fix maxi
mum wages for laborers, and to pre-
scribe punishment for either laborer
or master who violated the rule. These
courts controlled not only the wage
but the distribution Of employment
Confusion of Effort
Curiously enough, the emergency Of
the present war has brought about an
attempt to "cut corners" in dealing
with labor as n commodity, and to both
control distribution Of labor and the
wages Of labor. Nobody would for an
instant pretend that American labor
is less devoted to the winning Of the
war for world democracy than are the
social groups that can get along easily
with a minimum of democracy. Yet
the confusion of our industrial sys-
tenn, coming into contact with the
amazing complexities of the war, has
created further confusion of effort,
and in the midst of this new confu-
sion an attempt is apparently being
made TO do with American labor what
the old English king found impossible,
finally, to do with English labor.
Some other way 10 solve the wage
question during the war will probably
be found; certainly the Chicago reso-
lutions indicate a belief that the way
of maximum wage laws and assump-
tons that labor is profteering will
not do.
Shipping Board Lowers Pay.
Nor are these plans merely on pa
per. The shipping board is to some
extent at least compelling manufac-
turers, in lines similar to those which
supply its equipment, to pay less
wages than the board itself pays
That in done in order to keep suffi-
Gent men at shipping board jobs.
Thus, a tank manufacturer in Okla
homa reports to the shipping board
that when he was negotiating n raise
in pay demanded by his employees, he
received the boards letter, and in
formed the men that the agreement
was of, and that new scale Of pay
in harmony with the boards sugges-
tons would have to prevail. All the
men quit, and the employer reported
that he was looking for n new force.
Thomas for Anti-Strike Law.
Senator Thomas Of Colorado and
Senator King Of Utah have again
asked the President TO support them
in proposing hnti-strike legislation to
Congress aftet the recess. So far as
known, they offered no answer TO the
one question involved: How IL the
wage worker to know that his wage,
IL fixed, and his job, II supplied him,
will be adequate to meet his cost Of
living for the coming year, and that
the conditions will be such that he
can bind himself under no circum-
stances to quit Both parts Of the
question are human considerations. A
senatorial election makes no man n
seer.