The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1918-08-10
union HATERS
WORK OVERTIME
Maximum Wage Fixed By War
Labor Board Most Any
Employer Can Pay,
CONTINUED from page ~

laborers and mechanics fixed by any
body upon the earth is opposed to the
very soul of our movement; and
Whereas, If this Joker is allowed
to remain upon the statute books of
the country it will create a constantly
increasing unrest and destroy the con-
fidence of thinking men in the in
tegrity of the lawmakig machinery
of our nation; therefore, be it
Repeal Is Demanded.
Resolved, That the Chicago Fed
Grafton of Labor, representing over
100000 workers in the city of Chi
cago, in regular meeting assem- bled,
denounces this act as subversive of the
high principles declared again and
again by the President, as a coward
~ blow at the legitimate trade union
movement of the country while we
are engaged in world war and an
honest and hearty cooperation is be-
ing had between fair employers, the
national government and the work.
ers in industry throughout the land;
and be it further
Resolved, That we demand the i'm
mediate repeal of this Joker upon
the reassembling of congress after the
recess, and that an investigation be
ordered by a joint committee of the
senate and house of representatives,
in conjunction with the department
of justice, to expose the names Of
the conspirators who accomplished
this act, the means and methods Of
it's accomplishment, and to punish any
violation of the federal statutes that
may have taken place; and be it fur
Their
They Mean Business.
"Resolved, That a copy of these
resolutions be forwarded Immediate
ly, under the seal of the Chicago Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, to the President Of
the United States, to the Hon. Champ
Clark, speaker of the house of rep
resentatives, to the Hon. Thomas r.
Marshall, vice president of the United
States, and to the American Fedora
ton of Labor, with the request that
Immediately upon the opening of con-
gress this communication be read in
both branches"
Chairman F'rankfurter of the war
labor policies board has issued a
statement, through the committee on
public information, in the course of
which he says:
1.-The need for increased production
of war stuffs through stabilized in
dustrial conditions has, furthermore.
hot
on it's own initiative, without the adj
vice and even without the knowledge
of the war labor policies board, in
structed the policies board to. stand
ardize wages.
But, although the showing made
by the army, navy and fleet corpora
ton was overwhelmingly convincing,
the policies board would have hest
tated to ask labor to make whatever
sacrifice wage Standardization involves
if the proper safeguards had not been
erected. If profiteering had been al
lowed to go on unchecked, and the
cost of living had not been controlled,
Standardization would not have been
right"
Sacrifice To Wrkers.
1t appears, then, that Mr.. Frank
further now believes that wage stand
ardization does involve a sacrifice to
the workers. He also believes that
profiteering has already been checked,
and that the cost of living has been
controlled. Otherwise, he says, it
would not have been right" to COM
pei the wage workers to make this
sacrifice.
He names various measures taken,
or proposed, to reduce profiteering,
and says: "All these measures, past
and pending, have revealed the de-
termination of the American people
to let no one make money out of the
| war;"
Maximum Wage System.
AS step toward establishing the
Standardization" which in the sun
dry civil act is a maximum wage
system, and which will prevent the
workers from making money out OF
the war;" the war labor policies board
has held a number of conferences
with the chief officers Of the inter.
national unions and the employers
associations in the metal trades, the
building trades, etc. The executive
council of the American Federation
of Labor has also been approached
What impression the plan has made
upon the leaders is not yet clear:Upon
all occasions the war labor policies
board is giving an explanation that
it does not propose, in the negotiation
of an agreement between the unions
and the employers as to wage stand
ard, to fix any but a minimum rate
Of pay. It does not agree with the big
lawyers who say that the sundry civil
act Joker" covers all war work.
Members Of the national war labor
board have declined to express any
opinion as to whether maximum wage
legislation, or Standardization" such
as is described as a sacrifice, can be
made effective. It is evident, however
that they disagree with any claim
that the cost of living has been con.
trolled, or that profiteering has beer
curbed.
Backward 600 Years.
Attention is being called to the fact
that the statute Of laborers, enacted
in England in the Thirteenth cen
fury. authorized certain courts to fl,
maximu UNI wages for laborers, and tt
ie1,