Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-09-12
Resolution Adopted 4 Dc by
Alexandria Mach b !,
Union, Alexandria Lodge,
No. 1896, Naval Tor
,pedo Station.

Whereas, during the period OF the
war, when approved views OF prog
ress in normal times" were not sought
tho National War Labor Board, the
Ship Building Labor Adjustment
Board and other Boards, representa-
tive in whole or in part of the gov
eminent laid down the following
principles in rhe setting OF wages,
both in government and private en-
ploy:
Al. The right of all workers, in
Guiding common laborers, to a living
wage is hereby declared.
"2. In fixing wages, minimum
rates of pay shall be established
which will insure the subsistence OF
the workers and his family in health
and reasonable comfort"
8. "The relation between wages
and the cost of living" should be
factor in determining wages.
a. Inequalities of increases IN
wages or or treatment. ten result OF
previous wage orders or adjustment"
should be considered.
Whereas since the war many pro-
nouncements have been made by the
President of the United States, Cabl-
net Officers and other high otflcials
of the u. S. Government to the ef-
feet that it is desirable that the wage
Garner should maintain an "Ameri-
can Standard of Living" be able to
live in health and decency, and prop
erly educate his children, the lates;
of these announcements being MADE
in the Labor Day address delivered by
the Secretary of Labor, the Honorable
James j. Davis, in Detroit, in which
he said in part:
81 am against the living wage. It
is not enough. We need to hear some
thing of the saving wage. 1t is not
enough for man merely to exist, to
meet the cost of living whatever it
is. to pay the rent and buy food and
clothing for his family. A man like
the American workman needs, he
earns and he demands something
more than this. He wants to save
and he should and must be able to 90
it."
Whereas, the Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics of the Department of Labor in
August, 1919, calculated the cost in
Washington, D. c., of an exceedingly
modest budget for a workingman's
family consisting of husband, wife and
three children, to provide a standard
of living that they termed "a standard
of health and decency," the average
cost of which in May, 1921 (the lower
point mark in the downward trend in
the cost of living) in nineteen Sea-
coast Cities of the United States,
would have been S2276.68, this budget
providing absolutely no luxurles, con-
templated no savings and assumed
that the worker had in his possession
household goods. The cost of this
budget when reckoned by the hour for
an employee working full time
throughout the year would be Ole.
Whereas during the hearings &C
corded the navy yard employees and
their representatives by the Navy
Wage Board of Review, the facts
were brought out that:
(a) 1t would take wage Of gle an
hour to provide budget for the
workers family in health and decency
and (b) wage data presented by the
employees representatives showed
that many employers were paying 90c
an hour to first class mechanics, this
being the average first class rate in
many localities; and
Whereas, the Secretary of the Navy
acting upon the recommendation OF
the wage board, acknowledged that:
l. If wages were to be set in ac-