The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-02-21


cident, invalidity and old age.
"The several states should enact
laws" the report stated, providing
for the establishment of wages that
will be, at least sufficient for the de.
cent maintenance of family, in the
case of male adults, and adequate tc
the decent individual support of fe
male workers. In the beginning the
legal minimum for male workers
should suffice only for the present
needs of the family, but should be
gradually raised until it is adequate
to the future needs as well.
Need of Insurance
"Until this level of legal minimum
wages is reached the worker stands
in need of the device of insurance. Sc
far as possible the insurance fund
should be raised by levy on industry
as is now done in the case of accident
compensation. And insurance scheme
or any administrative method, that
tends to separate the workers into a
distinct and dependent class, that Of
tends against their domestic privacy
and independence, or that threatens
individual self-reliance and self-re-
spect, should not be tolerated"
AS means of reducing the cast of
living the committee favored preven-
ton of monopolistic control of COM
modities and adequate regulation of
such public service monopolies as re-
main under private operation, and
elimination of middlemen by establish
ment of cooperative stores to deal in
the essentials of life.
Abolition of child labor, if neces-
sary by taxing it out of existence in
"stagnant states, extension of voca-
tional training and elaboration of the
present experiments in municipal
housing and medical attendance were
urged as steps toward equalizing the
living conditions of the employing
and employed classes.
Ownership by Workers
UNFOLDING the rights of labor to or
ganize and to deal with employers
through representatives., the report
urged gradual recognition of the
workers in the management and own
ership of the industries of which they
are part. As a first step it suggest
cd admission of employees to the in
dustrial part Of management through
formation Of shop committees to CO.
operate with owners of plants. The
next phase, participation in owner
ship, the committee conceded was not
of general value in a program for i'm
mediate social reconstruction. 1t
classed private ownership as prefera-
bic to a collectivist organization of in
it characterized as "a
state of Socialism which would mean
bureaucracy, political tyrany, general
social inefficiency and decadence"-
but asserted that the present system,
insufficient incomes for a
great majority of wage earners and
unnecessarily large incomes for a
small minority Of privileged capital
ists", needed modification and i'm
provement.
ut seems clear" said the commit
tee, that the present industrial sys-
tenn is destined to last for long
time in its main outlines, but the full
possibilities Of increased production
will not be realized so long as the ma
Jority of the workers remain mere
wage earners. The majority must
become owners, or at least
in part, of the instruments of pro-
iuction. They can be enabled to reach
this stage gradually through coop
erative productive societies and CO.
partnership arrangements. In the
'ormer, the workers own and manage
he industries themselves; in the lat
,er they own substantial part of
he corporate stock and exercise
reasonable share in the management.
However slow the attainment of these
,nds, they will have to be reached be-
ore we can have a thoroughly efficient
ystem of production. or an industrial
md social order that will be secure
rom the danger of revolution. 1t is
o be noted that this particular mod
fication of the existing order. though
ar-reaching and involving to a great
Xtent the abolition of the wage sys-
EN-, would not mean the abolition of
private ownership. The instruments of
production would still be owned by,
not by the State"
Labor a Human Being"
To bring about even moderate re-
orms, the Bishop asserted, both cap
tai and labor must get a new view
Joint. The laborer. they declared,
must come to realize that he owes
lis employer and society an honest
lays work in return for fair wage,
md that conditions cannot be sub
tantially improved until he roots out
he desire to get a maximum of re-
urn for a minimum of service.
The capitalist needs to learn the
truth that wealth is
stewardship; that profit making is not
he basic justification of business en-
erprise; that there are such things as
air profits, fair interest and fair
rices; that the laborer is a human
eing, not merely an instrument Of
reduction; and that the laborer's
light to a decent livelihood is the first |
loral charge upon industry. This is
he human and Christian, in contrast
D the purely commercial and pagan,
thics Of industry"