Evening star., 1921-09-12

S,OUO washington navy Sdiu ShAPsoJS 90
at a mass meeting in the Avenue
Grand Theater yesterday. representa-
tives of the men today are in Atlantic
City seeking to appeal to President
Harding for review Of the recent
wage reductions ordered by the gem
eral navy wage board. The en-
ployes'. representatives. William H.
Johnston. president of the lnterna-
ticnal Association Of Machinists: N:
p. Alifas. president of district - OF
the International Association OF Ma
chinists, and Herbert p. Leeman. pres
ident of Columbia Lodge. No. ~, IN
ternational Association Of Machinists,
left last night for Atlantic C1ty'
where they will make an effort to
present personally to the President
the resolutions adopted at the mass
meeting. ~
The resolutions protest against in
justices which are being imposed
upon navy yard employees in the gulse
of economy" and urge the President
to direct the adoption of a wage
schedule commensurate with 1acts
which have been gathered ''Or at least
allow the present scale to remain in
effect until the cost of living Is
actually reduced"
SaueV AEOltfuEy NcouCt1Ons
Speakers at the mass meeting de-
clared that the departments scale
was an arbitrary reduction" from a
scale of so cents an hour recommend
ed by the navy yard authorities and
by the local wage board. Under the
new schedule, it was asserted, week
ly earnings of skilled mechanic
would be $500. which is $14.4S a
week less than the minimum required
IN nrt q a mil lNy nf n
and decency as determined hU the De-
partment of Labor"
why the Washington navy yard
employees should be compelled to work
for maximum rate of 73 cents an
hour when thousands of men within
a radius of $50 miles are getting any
where from 80 cents to 81 an hour
is difficult to harmonize with facts
and justice" declared Mr. Leeman.
To make the employees wages equiva-
lent to those received in 1914. he said,
they should be paid about 80 cents an
hour. Alifas and Johnston sustained
Leeman's remarks and approved the
adoption of the resolution calling for
a review of the award.
The resolutions upon which the
navy yard workers are basing their
hopes for executive action in their
favor reads:
During the period of the war,
when approved views of progress in
normal times were not sought, the
building labor adjustment board and
other boards. representative in whole
or in part of the government, laid
down the following principles in the
setting of wages. both in government
and private employ:
-. The right of all workers. in
cluding 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 worker
and his family in health and reason
able comfort.
"'3. The relation between wages and
the cost of living should be a factor
in determining wages.
80. Inequalities of increases In
wages or of treatment. the result OF
previous wage orders or adjustments
should be considered
"Since the war many pronouncements
have been made by. the President OF
the United States. cabinet officers and
other high officials of the United
States government to the effect that
it is desirable that the wage Garner
should maintain an American stand
ard of living be able to live in health
and decency. and properly educate his
children. the latest of these pro-
nouncemcnts being made in the Labor
day address delivered by the Secre-
tary of Labor, Mr.. James J. Davis, in
Detroit, in which he said in part .
81 am against the living wage. II
is not enough. We need to hear some.
thing of the saving wage. 1t is not
enough for a 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
hn do nd more
than this. He wants to save. and ne
should and must be able to do it
"The bureau of labor statistics OF
the Department of Labor. in August
1919, calculated the cost in Washing
ton. d. c., of an exceedingly modest
budget for workingman's family
consisting of husband, wife and three
children, to provide "a standard OF
living that they termed standard OF
health and decency.' the average cost
of which in May. 1921 Cthe lower
point mark in the downward trend
in the cost of living). in nineteen sea
cost cities of the United States would
have been s2,276.68, this budget pro-
yiding absolutely no luxuries, con-
templated no savings and assumed
that the worker had in his posses
sion household goods. The cost OF
hour for an employe working full
time throughout the year, would be
81 cents.
"During the hearings accorded the
navy yard employees and their repre-.
sentatives by the navy wage board
of review the facts were brought ou'
that: a,
"(a) 1t would take wage OF 81
cents an hour to provide a budget
for the workers family in health and
decency, and (b) wage data presented
by the employees representatives ves
paying 80 cents an hour to first-class
mechanics, this being the average
first-class rate in many localities; and
'.The Secretary Of the Navy, acting
upon the recommendation OF the wage
board, acknowledged that
cordance with the increase in the cost
of living as compared with the pre-
war costs mechanics would be en-.
titled at the present time to about 81
cents per hour.
"'2. Many private employers are
".s. The cost of living is now on
the upward trend and
Notwithstanding the fair and just
attitude which the government has
usually heretofore manifested in the
setting of wages and the facts which
the workman's representatives pre-
sented in support Of their claims, the
Secretary of the Navy rendered de-
cision granting only 73 cents per hour
as a maximum rate for the basic
trades and proportionateiy less than
this for other less skilled groups, 1t
beinp acknowledged in the wage
boards % report that this new scale
represented an increase of only As
per cent above the pre-war wage
level to meet an increase In the cost
Of living amounting to 30 per cent
above that level
1T appears that the prime reasons
,rIinh nromnted the puttnig into ef-