Grand Forks herald., 1919-12-18
COST Or LIVING. OR WHATa.

Mr.. Gompers objects to tho practice.
Of using the cost Of living as y basis
for fixing wages, and declares that
chat practice has the effect of re-
dnctns labor to a state Of slavery. e
The labor leader has reference, of
hbuzSe. in his comparison, to the fact
That in our days of African slavery
N that tho most advanced laws and
customs required of the slave owner
Vas that he should treat his chattels
Without unnecessary brutality. and
mould provide them with food, shell
ter end clothing. When he had done
that he had done all that was de-
naanded of him. and practically all
That he could do. for tho slave could
lot own property, and in most cases
It was an offense to teach him to read,
Or otherwise to provide for his en-
dghtenmcnt- Mr.. Gompers' conten-
lion is that to use the cost of living
as q basis for fixing wages is to place
the white laborer of today on the
same plane with tho black laborcr
before the war.
Mr.. Gompers is a believer In wages
in the investment by individuals. of
capital in industrial enterprises, and
in tho employment therein, at stated
wages, of mon who have no money
capital to invest, but who. instead.
are able, by the application of their
1,h 10 nit fo1
make it productive. He does not be-
lieve in the abolition or the confisca-
ton Of capital. He believes that cap
ital is useful and necessary. and that
those who invest. it should receive
proper returns from its use, On what
basis would he compensate labor, ii
not on the basis of the cost OF living
Some economists. real and alleged
assure us that labor should receive
the full value of what it creates '
Just what does that mean?' AS ex.
pounded by the Bolshevist school o1
philosophy it means that when a
million dollars has been invested ir
the building and equipment of a fac
tory, and another million has beer
spent for material. the men who arr
doing the manual labor against the in
Stituuon shall take possession of thu
plant and call it theirs, and appro
pirate all the raw material and fin
iahed product and divide it, or it
value, among themselves Mr.. Com
pers places no such estimate on tn
value of the laborer's services.
Mr.. Gompcrs would probably agre
that the laborer is entitled to 1.-The full
value Of what he creates II by tha
term is understood the full value o
what he puts into the product by hi
own labor. and it cannot be Ques
Just that But how is that value t
be determined! There is no sue
thing as an arbitrary standard of val
ues. When we discard all extraneou
material we find that the only stand
ard of values that there is, aside fro1
is the relation between the days wor
and the days needs Property
more or less valuable in proportio
as it is more or less desired, and a
it takes more or less labor to produc
it The market value Of com mmodit
labor that are required to produce
and the number Of days of labor tha
individuals are willing to give up fo
at And that brings us right back t
the cost of living.
The application of the cost of liv
ing to the wages of labor is prope
Or improper. depending entirely o
the standards Of living that tho ad
justery have in mind. If they ar
the Standards Of slavery, the prin
ciple is wrong; if the reasonab
standards Of modern America, the
ara right