Denver labor bulletin., 1918-10-12

in a large number of cases unanimous
ly applied the foregoing rules and
principles, and accordingly held that
the financial condition of the employ
ing corporations was entirely irrele-
want under the principles proclaimed
by the President, and would not be
considered if proposed increases of
pay to workers were just and proper.
Obviously, to have regard to out
side considerations, such as are in
volved in the claim of financial ina
bility to pay, might entirely defeat the
wage fixing function of the board by
proof that even a fair wage could not
be paid to employees without financial
detriment, or that minimum rate of
pay, ''insuring the subsistence of the
worker and his family in health and
reasonable comfort" would be confis-
catory.
Calls for Revolutionary Action.
If workman engaged in an essen
| tial industry is expected to perform
| his part uninterruptedly in necessary
war production, it will not do to say
to him, upon presentation ofShis just
demands, that the tremendously in
creased expense of fuel and raw ma
terials has been taken into account by
his employer and paid in full, but that
the legitimate increase in the cost of
labor must be ignored, even tho it
means deprivation and suffering to
him, to say nothing of the menace to
his family life; or, that his employer
has not looked ahead to the inevitable
rise in labor cost as he has to the cost
of fuel and materials, and that the
worker must bear the burden of this
lack of foresight; or, that the en-
ployer has entered into fixed contracts,
based in part upon the rate of wages
being paid at the time of the making
of the contracts, thus relieving the
consumer of the legitimate addition to
the cost of the product on account of
the war and again thrusting the bur-
den upon the underpaid worker; or,
that the worker should be called upon
(a) to use up his pre-war savings, (b)
to take his children out of school and
place them in industry, tc) or to re-
ceive aid from charitable and benevo-
lent sources for the upkeep of HIM
self and his family while the war is
being prosecuted.
"A state of war is recognized by all
as an extraordinary emergency" and
this is true even tho it extends over
4 very great period of time. And II
is an emergency which calls, among
vision and reformation of contracts
the readjustment of prices to the con
sumer. and changes of the most fun
damental character in the organization
and operation of industry, even to the
communicating and control of private
enterprises by the government itself
when found necessary and eNpedient
Must Not Shift the Burden.
Il
where substantial increases have beer
made, has unhesitatingly recommended
increases in the rates of public utili-
ties, as well as price readjustments in
existing contracts with the govern
ment or private individuals or cor
porations. so that the ultimate con
sumer might not shift the burden
fairly his, to the back of the worker
or his employer.
Moreover, another argument fire.
quently urged by employers, i. e., that
the amount of increase in wages is
added directly to the expense of the
concern and must result in an equal
diminution of profits, is in the main
fallacious.
1t is based upon the assumption
that the employer is to pay higher
price for the identical character and
the same amount of service. That
this assumption is erroneous has been
conclusively proven by many genera
, tions of industrial experience. Work
ers who are i'll treated by their EN-
ployers and not sufficiently compen-
sated to enable them to maintain a
high degree of efficiency, render one
kind of service, usually poor and halt
ing. Employees who are adequately
paid, hence in sound physical condi-
tion and mentally alert, render an en-
, tirely different and improved. quality
} and amount of service. Experience
!, has proven that the increase in the
: amount of service rendered and its
improved quality compensates, if it
does not entirely offset, the increase
in the mere monetary wage.
Better Pay, Better Service.
Some of the largest of our nations
industries have in the past voluntarily
. made large increases in wages, against
the protests of business competitors
associates and even economists, the
prediction being that the effect would
be the financial prostration of the in
dustry. The immediate and practical
results, however, completely refuted
these forebodings, for the expense per
unit of product was materially de-
creased as result of better service
rendered, and the profit of the employ
er showed corresponding increases.
Contributing to this beneficial re-
suit may be mentioned, among other
factors, the immediate decrease in the
turn over" which means the constant
hiring of vast numbers of workers
to take the places of those who leave
the employment, unable to continu-