The Elbert County tribune., 1919-05-09
CHURCH OPPOSES
REDUCING WAGES
Increased Incomes for Labor and
Participation in Management
Urged by Catholic Council.

Pledging hearty support to all legiti-
mate efforts made by labor to resist
general wage reductions, Bishop Peter
]. Muldoon of Rockford. Ill.,; Bishop
Joseph Schrembs of Toledo, O.. Bishop
Patrick J. Hayes of New York City
and Bishop William T. Russell of
Charleston. S. c., representing the hier-
archy OF the Catholic Church in Amer.
tea In Administering the National Cath
Ollie War Council, have issued the fol
lowing as part of an official pro-
nouncement on economic and social re-
construction:
Wage Rates Should Be Sustained.
''The general level OF wages attained
during the war should not be lowered.
in few Industries. especially some di
rectly and peculiarly connected with
the carrying on of war, wages have
reached n plane upon which they can
not possibly continue for this grade of
occupations. But the number of work
ers in this situation is an extremely
small proportion of the entire wage
earning population. The overwhelming
majority should not be compelled or
suffered to undergo any reduction In
their rates of remuneration, for two
reasons-first, because the average
rate Of pay has not increased faster
than the cost of living; second, be-
cause considerable majority of the
wage-enrners of the United States,
both men and women, were not receiv-
ing living wages when prices began to
rise In 1915. In that year. according to
I.auck and Sydenstrcker, whose work
Is the most comprehensive on the sub
ject, four-fifths of the heads of faml-
lies obtained less than 800 dollars,
while two-thirds of the female wage
earners were paid less than 400 dol
lars. Even IL the prices of goods
should fall to the level on which they
were In 1915-something that cannot
be hoped for within five years-the
average present rates of wages would
not exceed the equivalent of decent
livelihood in the case of the vast ma
jority. The exceptional instances to
the contrary are practically all among
the skilled workers. Therefore. wages
on the whole should not be reduced
even when the cost Of living recedes
from Its present high level
Living Wage Minimum of Justice.
"Even II the great majority of work
ers were now In receipt of more than
living wages, there are no good reasons
why rates of pay should be lowered
After all, living wage is not necessa-
rily the full measure of Justice. All
the Catholic authorities on the subject
explicitly declare that this is only the
ts,t.> of ir,ct In, ttx,
rich as ours there are very few cases
in which 1t is possible to prove that
the worker would be getting more than
that to which he has right If he were
paid something in excess of this ethical
minimum. Why then should we assume
that this is the normal share of almost
the whole laborlng population? Since
our Industrial resources and instru-
mentalities are sufficient to provide
more than a living wage for very
large proportion of the workers why
should we acquiesce In theory which
denies them this measure of the com
forts of life? Such policy is not only
Of very questionable morality, but is
unsound economically The large de-
mand for goods which is created and
maintained by high rates of wages and
high purchasing power by the masses
Is the surest guarantee of continuous
and general operation of industrial es-
adjustments. 1t Is the most effective
instrument of prosperity for labor and
capital alike. The only persons who
would benefit considerably through
general reduction of wages are the less
efficient among the capitalists and the
sumers. The wage-earners would lose
more in remuneration than they would
gain from whatever fall in prices oc-
Cured as a direct result of the fall in
wages. On grounds both of justice and
sound economics we should give our
hearty support to all legitimate efforts