The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-01-02
OFFICIAL PAPER McCONE COUNTY
HOW MUCH DOES 1T COST A MAN
IN STRENGTH, MONEY AND
ABILITY, TO PRODUCE A
DAYS LABOR?

How much profit does d workman
reap IRON ms uays labor? How mucl
ought he To reap Does a good llV
ing come under tie head OF pront, o.
Is 1t properly a part OF the cost O
producing days labor? How lar cal
human energies be measured and hu
mau values standardized in order
that the cost of days labor may
nc standardized?
questions ike these occur in one
period or another OF every mans thou
gnr about system OF ecOmics which
snail be more solidly based than any
when serves us now.
but more academic interest at
tacnes to these questions, Tor they
are the real, even ii unspoken, basis
Tor mucn OF the irritation and confu-
sion winch exists in the industrial
world today.
Inc warkingman is beginning to
uIQci SlduQ tudl NC 10 III o0SAiSo'-
III, raw material is human enei gy.
u.s product is days work. All other
business men seek a profit above
cost OF production, why should not he?
The dinicuity thus fan has been in
making our the cost sheet. How much
does 1t cost to produce days work
that is the question for which their
seems to be no satisfactory basic
answer.
1t is perhaps possible accurately to
determine--albelt with considerable
interference with the days work it.
self-how much energy the days work
takes out of a man. But it is not all
possible to accurately determine how
mucn it will require to put back that
energy into him against the next days
demands. Nor is it possible to deter
mine how much of that expended en-
ergy you will never be able to put
back at all because a sinking fund
for the replacement of the body and
vital strength of a worker has never
been invented.
1t is possible, however, to consider
these latter problems in lump and
provide for them under form of old
age pensions; but even so, we have
not thus attended to the question of
profit which each days labor ought
to yield in order to take care of all
and the inevitable deterioration which
falls upon all earthly things.
Moreover, there are questions hav-
ing to do with the reproductive per-
lod, which would have to be solved
Here is the man, let us say, ready
70 begin his servic to society by turn
ng out days work throughout his life.
How much did it cost to rear and edu-
cate him to his present age and USE
illness? And how can that be figured
is part of the cost of the energy he
puts forth as he works today? Now,
f it were the case of machine, you |
would know what to charge. The |
machine cost a certain sum; it wears |
tut at a given rate; it would cost |
an amount to replace.
t is simple matter to figure the
ctual cost of the machine and its pro-
uctiye work, and add the profit.
Can we do that with men? Rather,
an men do that for themselves, SO
hat selling days work they will
ave as intelligent an idea of the cost
f that days work and the profit it
ught to bring, as any manufacturer
ught to have of his product?
The problem becomes more COM
Heated when you consider the man
i all his aspects. For he is more
ian workman who spends GER
in number Of hours at his work in
le shop every day.
If he were only himself, the cost
his maintenance and the profit he
lght to have would be a simple
after. But he is more than himself.
e is citizen, contributing by his
ltivation and interest to the wei 9
re of the city. He is probably
living under conditions '
1ich represent more than mere main
nance, in that they represent the
aces Of social life. More than that, 8
! is probably father with more 7
less numerous progeny, all of whom t
ust subsist and be reared to USE
mess on what he is able. to earn.
Now, It Is obvious that to regard the
N alone, refusing to reckon with the F
me and the family in the back .
ound. IL to arrive ct series Of fact a
lich are nisleadfng and which = t.
= can newer suEi6s sven for 4 d
ibeary soastiOu q - questions g
y censssn -