Evening star., 1935-02-08
The Prevailing Wage.


When the Senate Appropriations
Committee yesterday voted into the
Presidents work relief bill the Nc
Carran amendment providing for the
payment of the prevailing wage" to
men and women employed on work
relief projects it turned the spot
light squarely on the difficulties which
signed to give relief Made work. after
all, is form of charity. 1t is some
thing that the President does not wish
to have continued moment beyond
the time when private industry can
re-employ the now unemployed. And
it is for the dual purpose of providing
a driving force to send men back to
private employment as soon as jobs
offer and to spread the butter of Gov
ernment work relief as far as possible
that the President has been against
the payment of the prevailing wage
scale-the scale that is paid for sim
liar work in private industry and on
private jobs Both are excellent rea-
sons. But there is another side to
the question.
When the Government undertakes
to set up scales of wages below those
paid for similar work in private in
dustry the effect inevitably is to
bring down the wage scale in private
employment It had such an effect
when the Government slaShed wages
of all Government employees fifteen
per cent in 1888. At that time, al
though wages in private employment
had been reduced, there was further
reduction. following the example set
by the Government. 1t is not sur
priSing, therefore. that organized labor
and workers generally look with dis
favor on the proposal that those en-
ployed on huge work relief projects
should be paid around $50 a month.
Administration leaders insist that
to compel the payment of the pre-
vailing wage scale would be to wreck
the work relief program; that there
would be no possibility of putting
3,5OO.000 unemployed to work for a
year or even a part of year with an
appropriation of $4000,000,000. Fur
thermore, the President is demanding
that Government work should not
interfere with the return of workers
to private employment. At the same
time the President says that the curse
of the dole must be taken off Amer
leans, lest it break down the morale of
the people. Men who get something
for nothing. who get money without
labor of either hand or brain, in the
end have no desire to give anything
in the way of work.
The prevailing wage scale may be
applied to work relief projects and at
the same time the President may
employ the same number of persons
he set out to employ without increas-
ing the S4000,000000 appropriation,
through the expedient of cutting down
the hours of work for each individual
on these projects. For example, in
stead of working forty hours week,
and being paid $3.50 for it, a man
may work twenty hours week at
prevailing hourly wage scale and re-
reive a similar amount. In this way
the urge for return to private and full
time employment may be retained and
the work relief funds may be spread
over wide field. 1t is true that the
employed time of the men and women
on work relief would be greatly re-
duced. Nevertheless, they would be
working for what they received in the
way of money.
The Government, if the plan of
paying $50 a month to employees on
work relief is carried into effect, also
would be in the position itself OF
paying vastly different scales of wages
for similar work. 1t would be not
only ridiculous, but unfair and tragic,
If the Government should limit one
group of workers to $50 a month on
a public works project, and next door
to them pay much higher wages on
a Government project that did not
come in that category.