Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-11-09
RISING REAL WAGES
CAUSE, EFFICIENCY
Big GAIN over 1914

| New York, Nov. ga broad and
| distinct tendency toward rising real
wages, that is. wages measured in
terms of what the worker can buy
with his earnings, is traced by the
National Industrial Conference
Board, Eat Park Avenue, New York,
in a comparative study of represent
ative industries.
Increased application Of power,
better utilization of labor, mechan-
, ical ingenuity and managerial eff
cheney, according to the Conference
Board, are steadily tending to reduce
unit cost Of production, thereby
| cheapening the general cost Of living
with resulting increasing prosperity
for all.
While this tendency is not equally
noticeable in all industries, the diff
ferences in wage levels and cost of
production are largely attributable
to the different degree of efficiency
of production prevailing in the re-
spective industries, the Board points
out in comparing conditions in major
industrial branches. The iron and
steel industry, according to the
Boards analysis, is a striking ex-
ample of what progressive, modern
lied methods can do. While wage
levels in the iron and steel industry
are NOW about lao percent above the
prevail level, according to the Con-
ference Boards study, the average
price of its products at present is
only about "a percent higher than in
1914. In other words. while wages of
iron and steel workers are nearly two
and a half times as big as they were
before the war, average prices of
iron and steel products have risen
only about a third.
Another notable illustra ton Of this
tendency Of declining costs, bene-
| fitting the wage Garner within the
industry as well as the consumer at
large, is the automobile industry.
/ where wage levels now are about liz
percent higher or more than double
of what they were before the war,
while average prices of automobiles
are actually 20 percent lower than in
I 1914, an instance signally rejecting
the improvement of industrial
; processes.
Similar conditions are found to OBJ
tain in the chemical, foundry and
machine shop, the rubber. furniture.
leather and other industries. The
same Is also true of the public
utilities generating gas and electric
7 ity, where wages are more than
double of what they were in 1914
GIG percent higher), while the cost
of gas and electricity for domestic
consumption, as estimated by the
Conference Board, averages only Az
percent higher than the 1914 level.
The important role played by adj
ministrative and technical progress
| in lowering the unit cost of produc-
| ton is graphically illustrated in a
separate study of the Conference
Board of the volume of production as
compared with the application of
power and number of wage earners
during the last quarter of a century.
The total volume of production from
1899 to 1928, according to this study,
increased 1856 percent, installed
primary power 236 percent, while
the number Of wage earners during
the same period increased only 80
percent. Since 1914. however. the
Conference Board points out. both
the application of power and the
number of wage earners have in
creased less than the volume of
production, conclusively showing the
advance in efficiency of management
in utilizing both machinery and
labor.
The concrete result of this in
creased industrial efficiency the
Conference Board study declares, is
reflected in the fact that while the
American workman today, IL we
measure the purchasing value of his
earnings in terms of the same stand
ard of living as prevailed in 1914
but discount the rise in retail prices,
is "a percent better off than he was
at the beginning of the war Gin
July 1910, and percent better off
than he was at the peak of wage
earnings during the imitation period
Of 1920.