New-York tribune., 1922-10-31
MEamEn ov TEE ASSOCIATED rrIsss
The Living Wage" Fraud

F~N" ~ ~
The Railroad Labor Board has
done many public services, but none
greater than its exposure OF that
SNUG economic fraud, the living
wage" theory of compensation for
rail workers. This theory has es-
capped hard knocks in the past
mainly because OF the clever trickl-
ness Of the phrase Giving wage"
Would anybody want to be accused
OF paying a "non-living wage :!
Would any American, in fact, work
for "non-living wage? He could
not do it very long unless he were
capitalist as well as worker.
So long as the Giving wage" was
only an abstraction nobody quar-
relied with it. It was economically
nebulous and innocuous. But when
people tried to apply it coneretely
it's illusory character became mani
fest and it's self-contradictions be-
gan to work mischief. A Giving
wage" is beyond practical definition
either economically or sociologically.
A dollar has a different value for
nearly every Garner and user. Its
purchasing power also varies enor-
Iaously in different localities. In the
same surroundings a 'living wage"
for one workman might mean eithe.
affluence or indigence for another
In a hundred different places there
would be hundred Giving wage"
standards for a hundred different
individuals. And the fluctuating quail
!ty Of these standards is further
accentuated when the number Of
persons dependent on the worker is
taken into account.
In ordinary industry fixed civ
ing wage" standard is what the no~
almost forgotten John j. Ingail,
would have called an ''iridescent
dream" To introduce it into q
nationwide industry like railroad
ing, where the working classifica-
tions are so diverse and the living
conditions of the workers are so
variegated, is pure economic mad
ness. What rigid standard of equal
ity can be set up for the employee
VINO mas to meet the high cost Of
living in big city and an employee
who benefits from the low cost Of
existence in a way station hamlet?
II classified wage must be ma
tion-wide or even regional--as is the
case with the railroads---iitt, it, inev,-
tably becomes more than q Giving.
wage" Instead Of minimum
measure 1t tends to become a maxi
mum measure. It is recklessly in
Hated by sociologists who are more
interested in the outflow Of wages
than In the output Of the labor
Wn'ch the wages pay for. No mini
mum living wage" scale has vet
oeen suggested by these expert.
which, If applied to all worker,
y would not eat up much more than
the nations annual income.
This fraudulent Giving ware.
standard, as the Labor Board saws
would wreck every railroad in ths
United States. and, if extended ts
other industries, would carry then
into communistic ruin" VIII,
would pay the So, 1872, 10000 addec
TO raj! pay rolls by a surrender to thu
living wage demands of the raj
workers and the Plumb plan ad
visers7 The public is clamorine fo,
rate reductions. 1T wants cheape,
rail service. III the Railroad Labo,
Board increased wages and the In
terstate Commerce Commission si
n,uitaneously reduced rates the road.
would be thrown into government
ownership and the s3,122, ,0oo, ,o0(
would have to be met out of ths
Federal Treasury, just as Mr.. Nc.
Adoo used to meet the war railroad
administrations deficits.
Railroad wages are still above
normal. They will eventually read.
just themselves, up or down, "a
wages in other industries. That Is
the only fair and reasonable basi.
Of comparison. Meanwhile the Rail.
read Labor Beard has helped the
cause of economic sanity and of
helpful recovery by laying once for
all the hothersome phantom of q
fixed rail living wage.n
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