Denver labor bulletin., 1918-01-05
.<PRODUCTION COST
high WAGES" NOT THE MAIN
ITEM WHEN FACTS ARE KNOWN
Trouble Is Most People Accept State
ments of Employers and Do Not
Stop to Analyze Situation.

The organized workers have ALWAYS
contended that increases in wages in
all lines of production have been much
less than the saving made thru the in
PRODUCTION of improved machinery and
labor-saving devices and that the
workers are entitled to a greater share
of these savings than they have ever
been able to get. On the other hand,
many employers of labor have been
striving to convince the consuming
public that increases in wages to the
workers account for high prices they
exact OF course any person who
would calmly analyZe the situation
could not be deceived by such protesta-
tions on the part of employers, but
the trouble has been that but few
people will bother their heads about
getting at the facts, il being much
easier to take the other fellows word
for it. Last Saturday, however, we
came upon the statement by a man on
the employers side of the fence which
ought to convince the most skeptical
that labor is not the guilty party.
Willis Polk is one of San Francisco's
leading architects and it is his busi-
ness TO figure costs of construction in
detail. Here is what he has to say
concerning building construction. and
in almost all other lines:
twenty-five years ago. when the
hodcarrier worked ten 20 eleven hours
n day for 81 l25. laboriously carrying
the hod up ladder after ladder, fair
measure for a days work was the
handling by him of about 800 to
1000 bricks. Today, with hodcarriers
working eight hours a day, receiving
n minimum wage Of IS. a quick-run
ming construction hoist. to say moth
ing Of the modern mortar mixing ma
chine which eliminates a large part Of
the cost and increases the quality Of
the mortar, is substituted for the un-
conquerable and painful slowness Of
the ladder Thus il comes about that
the present-day laborcr in eight hours
handles 10000 TO 1900 bricks for
50, plus the cost Of operating the hoist.
as against the old ten hours day at
81 25. handling n maximum Of 1000
bricks. plus the cost Of the ladders and
the loss Of time, The loss of time is
a serious item and is the basic prin-
ciple Of discount and interest
The same thing applies to the cost
of nearly every other economic ele-
ment in building construction. The
concrete mixing machine not only with
mechanical precision insures a per
, 1tCl mixture nut lOcA II more rap
idly and at less cost than the old un-
reliable and expensive method Of mix
ing concrete by hand.
"The pneumatic drill. or hammer.
drives rivets with accuracy and safety
at one-tcnth the cost of the former
slow, cumbersome, unsafe and eHpen-
sivc method of the Handwriting of
rivcts. or bolting together the differ
ent structural members of n steel
frame that have TO be assembled in
the field The pneumatic drill and
other mechanical tools cut. carve and
fashion three to four times more in
cubic feet Of stone work than was
formerly accomplished by hand. with
artisans receiving less wages and
working longer hours. The sand-pa-
pering machine, the floor polishcr the
portable sawmill and hundreds of
other devices used in building are all
tributary not only to rapidity in con-
struction. but to economy in cost
This more than equnlizes the higher
wages and shorter hours of labor now
prevailing" - San Francisco Labor
Clarion.