The Topeka state journal., 1922-08-01
SHIFTING LIVING STANDARDS.

/ quarters the cnler note Inat seems 10
be emphasized is the necessity for a
certain standard of living for the en-
ployes. The position is taken that the
highly organized state OF modern So
ciety obligates the employer to give
/ his laborers a wage that will enable
them to live in keeping with a certain
standard of living. This idea is back
of the so-called minimum wage con-
troversy, thus indicating that the
principle of moral responsibility on
the part OF the employer toward his
operatives is coming up more and
more for recognition.
The following statement was made
! in the United States senate in the de-
bate on an amendment of the labor
board section of the Cummins-Esch
law. The proponent of the doctrine
was the senator most prominently
identified with this legislation. He
said:
MY view OF It is that here are two
men, and one man may agree to work
for the other at any wage that he
would be willing to accept, whether
it is just and reasonable or not; but
when organized society comes to fix
ing the wage, it is no more right to
fix a wage below the point Of living,
and comfortable living. than it is to
fix a return on capital below a rea-
sonable point"
The greatest obstacle in the way of
a wage adjustment based on any rec
ognized standard of living is that
there is no fixed standard. The So
called standard is ever changing.
There was a time when the 1aborer
who owned a comfortable home and
received a wage sufficient to enable
him to obtain plenty of good food.
fuel for the winter. educate his chill
dren. pay his taxes and lay by a little
for the proverbial rainy day was fairly
well satisfied.
Then camo the modern home with
the bath. the furnace, the sleeping
porch and other expensive additions
to the standard of living. These things
were followed by the advent of the
phonograph. the motor car and the
greatly increased expense of main
tanning pupils in our high schools and
colleges.
All these new things have come to
be regarded, If not as actual necessi-
ties. at least as things to which every
worker is entitled. When wages shall
have been so adjusted that these de-
sires can be gratified, new ones will
be certain to arise. There still would
remain the summer cottage by the
lake or in the mountains and many
other things now accessible only to the
rich.
There is nothing Objectionable IN
any mans having an ambition to pos
sess every means OF enjoying life and
he is entitled to it II he earn it. But
can he earn #? For each increase in
wages everybody, including the
worker himself, must pay.
The world would be much better
off If every man, woman and child,
employer and employe alike, were
comfortably housed, fed and clothed
and supplied with proportionate de-
gree of those luxuries which add to
the pleasure of existence.
Unfortunately, there is the economic
as well as the social side to consider.
Standards of living are not controlled
by money wages, but by the supply of
goods and services available for the
community. II money wages deter
mined standards of living. the Russian
laborer receiving thousands of rubles
for his daily effort would be the mos.
prosperous toiler in the world.
The doctrine of the minimum wage
or the insistence upon high standards
of living involves a dual responsible
ity. a principle that is not generally
recognized. In order 70 maintain
these standards, goods must be pro-
duced in ever increasing volume per
Init Of labor. Employer and en-
ploye, capital and labor as well, are all
in the same boat.
1t is n matter OF simple arithmetic
Lately the mathematics has been
against the high standards of living.
This is largely because the practices
OF organized labor have been tending
to restrict production and thus lessen
the total supply of goods and serv-
ices. When coal miners want to work
only five days a week and the print
ing trades fight for q forty-four hour
week or less. the output of coal must
diminish and less work IS done in the |
printing establishments. When a |
bricklayers' union limits the number |
of bricks laid per day to zoo when the |
capacity OF an efficient workman is |
1000 or more, the bricklayer may feel |
that he is enjoying a certain standard |
of living by going in a leisureIy |
fashion about his tasks, but he is re- |
ducing the standard OF living for many |
others because he adds SO much to the |
altitude of the monthly rent bill
In the final analysis. both the la
borer and the employer are servants
and the real master is the ultimate !
consumer who pays the bill.
Augustus Thomas, who has been /
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