Connecticut western news., 1919-02-13
CHURCH OPPOSES
 REDUCING WAGES
Increased Incomes for Labor and Participation in Management
 Urged by Catholic Council.

Hedging hearty support to all legitt- mate efforts made by labor to resist general wage reductions, Bishop Peter J. 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 ica in administering the National Cath ollie War Council, have issued the fol- lowing as a 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 a plane upon which they can not possibly continue for this grade of occupations. But the number of work CTS 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-frst, because the average rate of pay has not increased faster than the cost of living; second, be- cause a considerable majority of the wage-earners 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 Lauck and Sydenstricker, whose work Is the most comprehensive on the sub ject, four-fifths of the heads of fami- lies obtained less than 800 dollars, while two-thirds of the female wage earners were paid less tlldE 100 dol lars. Even if 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 if the great majority of work CTS 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 minimum of justice. In a country as rich as ours there are very few cases in which it is possible to prove that the worker would be getting more than that to which he has a 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 laboring population? Since our industrial resources and instru- mentalities are sufficient to provide more than living wage for a very large proportion Of the workers why should we acquieSce in a theory which denies them this measure of the con- forts of life? Such a 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 a continuous and general operation of industrial es- ] tablishments. It is the most effective instrument of prosperity for labor and capital alike. The only persons who would benefit considerably through 3 general reduction of wages are the less efficient among the capitalists and the more comfortable sections of the con- sumers. The wage-earners would lose | more in remuneration than they would | gain from whatever fall in prices oc- ! cured as 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