The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-02-13
SHOULD PAY WOMEN
EQUALLY WITH MEN
Declared Administrative Committee of
National Catholic War Council
Minimum Wage Scales Are
Recommended.

| W dshjhgIOn, -. -, req. 0.--AuopLlOn
OF minimum wage schedules, mante-
nance in general of the wage levels at
tanned during the war and permanent
establishment of the national war labor
board and the United States employment
service were advocated as essentials OF a
just reconstruction in a report made pub
lie to-day by four Catholic bishops, con
stltuting the administrative committee
of the National Catholic War Council.
While favoring, in the interests of
health and morality, prohibition of child
labor and reduction to the smallest prac
teal limits of the employment Of women
in industry, the committee urged equal
pay for women doing equal work with
men. 1t declared also for insurance of
workers against illness, old age, and I'M
employment until wages are high enough
to tide over such periods, for abolition of
monopolies, for continuance of heavy
taxes on large incomes and excess profits,
J Tor cooperative merchandising in neces-
sites to reduce the cost of living and
for government assisted colonization Of
unoccupied farm lands by demoblized
soldiers aud sailors
As a measure outside its present re-
! construction program but Of value in
I solving the problems of capital and labor,
the committee urged gradual participa
ton by labor in the management and
| eventually in the ownership of industry.
The report, entitled Social Recon
! struction; a General Review of the Prob
lens and Survey of Remedies" was is
sued in the names OF Bishops Peter j.
Muldo0n of Rockford, Ill.,, Joseph
Schrembs OF Toledo, o., William r. Rus
/ sell of Charleston, S. G., and Auxiliary
Bishop Patrick J. Hayes of New York
As members of the war councils admin
J istrative committee, they represent the
3 Catholic hierarchy On America in general
direction Of war work in this country
! and overseas.
Declaring that the deep unrest" so
emphatically and widely voiced through.
out the world is a most serious menace"
the bishops held up social justice and
contented people as the only safeguard
Of peace.
/ The authors of the report disclaimed
any attempt to formulate a comprehen-
siYe scheme Of reconstruction Their
( recommendations it was stated, were
confined TO reforms that seemed to be
/ desirable and also obtainabie within
/ reasonable time, and to those general
principles which should serve as guide
! for more distant Developments
IL a..
/ military forces, the report endorsed the
/ suggestion of Secretary of the Interior
! Lane that discharged men should be Civ.
en- an opportunity to work at good wages
in retaining unused lands, afterward to
be assisted by government loans to es-
tablish themselves As farmers. II cred.
tied the federal employment service with
"a fair degree of development and eff
cheney during the war and urged that
Congress continue and strengthen the
organization as a means of helping TO
solve the ever present problem of unem-
ployment.
: The bishops rated the national war Ia
! Dor board as "one of the most beneficial
government organizations of the war
Its efforts, they asserted, had prevented
innumerable strikes and raised wages to
decent levels in many industries"
| Its main guiding principles the re.
port continued, have been a family liy-
! ing wage for all male adult laborers;
recognition of the right of labor to or
ganize, and to deal with employers
! through its chosen representatives.; and
! no coercion of noR.union laborers by
members of the union. The war labor
1 g.
| by Congress, and endowed with all the
power for effective action that it can
possess under the federal constitution
! The principles, methods, machinery and
results Of this institution constitute
! definite and far-reaching gain for social
! justice. No part of this advantage should
be lost or given up in time of peace
( While holding that mere justice, to
( say nothing Of chivalry," dictates that
women who filed in industry the places
made vacant by men called to war
should not be compelled TO suffer any
greater loss or inconvenience than is alb
solutelv necessary in the readWstment
under peace conditions, the report de
clared that no female worker should re
main in an ocCupa. On harmful to health
or morals In this classification, street
car operation and the cleaning of loco
motives were especially mentioned. An
efficient national employment service, it
was stated, would be able to shift to do
nestle and other suitable lines Of activ-
( ity women war workers whose circum-
stances required them to continue as
wage earners.
The committee asserted that in a few
industries directly connected with the
carrying on of the war, wages had
reached a plane upon which they could
not possibly continue for this grade Of
occupation but declared that "the gen
eral level of wages attained during the
war should not be lowered" The aver
age rate of pay, it was stated, had not
increased faster than the cost of living,
and a considerable majority of wage
earners, both men and women, were not
receiving living wages when prices began
| to rise in 1915.
TO support it's contention that ION the
grounds both of Justice and sound eco.
Monies we should give our hearty sup
port to all legitimate efforts made by
labor to resist general wage reductions.
even when the cost of living recedes from
its present high level" the committee
said
Even if the great majority of workers
were now in receipt of more than living
wages, there are no good reasons why
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