Denver labor bulletin. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-19??, 1918-08-10


should likewise be assured.
"That this board should be careful
in its conclusions not to make orders
in this interregnum based on approved
views of progress in normal times,
which, under normal conditions, might
seriously impair the present economic
structure of our country.
THAT for the present the board or
its sections should consider and de-
eide each case involving these prin-
ciples on its particular facts, and re-
serve any general rule of decision
until its judgments have been suffi-
GENTLY numerous and their operations
sufficiently clear to make generaliza-
tons safe"
Demand Higher Standard.
Needless to remark that that Ian
guage was drawn up by William How
ard Taft. 1t reflects the desire of
himself and the five employers on the
board to play for time, before agree
ing that any definite amount is fair
minimum wage in the United States
today. Also, it expresses their belief
that II is better to give what amounts
to a health and comfort" standard
coming before the board, during the
war, than to grant even the average
of these awards to all of the under
paid workers.
Then why did Frank P. Walsh and
the five labor members of the board
drop the minimum wage plan and, ac-
cept the Taft motion?
Probably because they were not
ready to say that any particular
amount of money represents a fair
minimum wage for any worker. These
are days of rapid change-almost of
revolution in the industries. Wages
that were extravagant last month may
be low this month. Men are demand
ing a higher standard Of family ex-
penditure- They find that they can
use better food, better clothing, more
money for trips out of town on Sun
day, and more money for lodge or
trade union or church Schooling
costs more than it used to cost. La
Dor saving machinery in the kitchen
has become a necessity.
Prices Up, Wages Up.
All this is additional to the big fact
that every item of food and clothing
and shelter has kept going up in
price. Profiteering continues. Wages
will go up as long as prices go up,
and then as long as the standard of
living moves upward.
So both sides let go their hold of
the minimum wage fixing plan at the
same moment
The employers imagine that after
the war they will be able to get
clearer idea of just what they will
have to pay In the back of their
minds is notion, probably, that wage
workers are going to be in a panic
to find jobs. Then will come the en-
ployer's turn to dictate.
The labor members of the board,
somewhere in the bottom of their
minds, probably have a suspicion that
going to have a great deal more to
say about the distribution of indus
trial profits than they can have dur
ing the war. They don't know just
how, but they feel that the big ma
jority is going to be heard.
And there you have it-no general
minimum wage rule, for the present.
Everybody Against Joker"
1t is in the light of this decision
that the fate of the maximum wage
joker slipped into the sundry civil
appropriations act must be guessed.
Everybody is against it The war la
Dor policies board, representing the
various government departments en-
gagged, in war activities, seems to have
made no progress in deciding on the
standards" which are to be the max
imum of wages TO be paid out of gov
eminent funds. Congress will prob
ably have to repeal the joker, as none
of the labor organizations will agree
to make any wage sacrifice to comply
with a cast-iron rule which violates
the fundamental principle of the right
of human being to improve his con-
ditian
1t has been suggested that there is
just one condition on which this maxi
mum wage rule might be accepted
by the wage workers for the period
of the war That condition would be
the placing of all other persons-the
citizens who do not work for wages
under the same level of income. If
maximum wage of IS day be set
for carpenters working on construc-
ton of buildings for the army, and all
other carpenters in government serv-
ice or working on contract jobs are
to be held down to IS day, then why
not hold down other classes of citi-
zens to something about IS day in
come, too?
Congress is just now rigging up the
new income tax rates. 1t was sug-
gested by William Kent that a limit
of 100000, or maybe $4,000 a year,
should be put on private incomes dur
ing the war. Not member of the
House committee on ways and means
voted for any such limitation.
Tackling n Big Job.
If Congress decided to limit incomes
to something near the wage maximum,
then organized labor would be de-
lighted to accept the Underwood joker.
Monnfir,n tho natal fraIo. .s..s....