FIXED MINIMUM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3965, 23 January 1917, Page 2

FIXED MINIMUM.

NO MORE STARVATION WAGES.

(By G. N. Barnes, M.P., in "The People's Journal.")

The war has brought many changes. Not the least of them is that a shortsighted acceptance of economic law lias, in certain things, given place to the application of the principle of control. Wage adjustments, prices of goods, and even the • time-honoured claim of the landlord "to do what he liked with his own," have all been brought under review in the light of

ultimate common good. Mr ltunciman, the President of the Board of Trado, has now intimated a probable extended application of the principle

among wage workers, by stating that the Government is seriously considering the fixing of a minimum wage for all workers. The intimation predicates, I believe, far-reaching considerations of public policy. The extension may 'bring the Government up against facts fraught with good or ill, according as they are faced and handled. There are, for instance, rival sectional organisations in the industrial field which, could paralyse the-community. There is, it is truo, at the same .time a! growing sense of responsibility, but there is no pre-arranged provision for community interests being safeguarded in possible disputes, or adjustments^ between them. These things, however, although clearly within the scope of the policy adumbrated by the President, are yet somewhat in the air. The immediate considerations are how the extended principle is to be applied, and to whom it is to be applied. 1 believe it must be applied in such a way as to contribute towards a better organisation of industry and towards bringing industry into working relation with the State; And that, I believe, means State decree and mutual arrangements by employers ami. .employed in some form of combination. ■ Boards 'of the latter would have to function differently according to different trade conditions and requirements, but the presence of State representatives would be a condition common to all of them. The step foreshadowed by Mr Runciman must affect at first those just above the line of demarcation, below which are the workers covered by the Trade Boards Act. These arc mainly to be found in the distributive trades and in agriculture. ' -

There are, for instance, shop assistants. These form a class which ia one of the most dependent, but which at the same .'time is one of the easiest to deal with ( because of the relatively high standard of education. A woman vfas advertised for the other day by a shopkeeper in.Glasgow, at a, wage of 10s per week. Probably she would be required to be a person of some appearance and .good address for that. This may be exceptional, but nevertheless it is a fact that there arc many thousands of shop assistants whose pay ranges from 10s to fJOs per week. How they live is a mystery known only to themselves, but one thing 'is clear, and thnfc is the fact that permanent health .\nd efficiency are impossible on the wages in question. Arising out of that is the further fact that many of the assistants must ultimately become a charge on the public purse' In the long view, therefore, low wages are seen to be based on a mistaken policy, eve-n when economically considered. The protection of shop assistants is called for in the ultimate public interest. ■, . ; < How is it to be done ? Frankly I don't know. But I should think it will be done primarily by a State decree, to be backed up by boards to deal witn exceptions and variations. The co-operative movement has, as a matter of fact, shown the way. By resolution of Congress, scales of women's wages, graded according to age, were recommended years ago to affiliated societies, arid have generally been adopted. I believe that by the setting up of. sectional boards all questions of village shops and family service, on the one hand, or of higher wages for areas of ■higher, rents, on the other, could be straightened out, just as similar questions are now dealt with by the committees of co-operative societies. But there would have to be a base line made mandatory for the general mass of the workers. There are next the agricultural labourers, and also the railway workers, whose wages approximate to those in agriculture. There would be a greater difficulty here in application of the principle of universality. ' In Scotland the agricultural labourer"is a robust and comparatively well-paid man, while; in the West of England he is an- aniomie automaton. To lift up the:latter to the level of the former involves time, and a lower base line to start with. But the method of procedure would have to be the same in both cases. It would be by sectional boards acting on the authority of tho State, representative of all three interests, and operating from certain base lines first agreed upon. And it may be added that the time is propitious in that farmers' prices and profits admit of a considerably increased wage bill, and are likely to be maintained at the present high level, in part, at all events, even after the war. It is indeed an ill wind that blows good to nobody. The railway men have got an increase of ,10s-per. week in their wages during the war. It is called a war bonus, and, inferentially, is to be paid only while the war lasts. But it has been conceded on the ground of increased prices, and if increased prices be in part maintained after the war, it follows that part of the 10s at least will haye to be .retained. Wages will thus be oh a higher level. Fortu-, navtely,;all'the machinery exists for the necessary negotiations."' The railways will probably remain under unified State control, and wages will be a State charge as at present. AH that is wanted, .therefore, is the addition of mandatory .authority for the necessary adjustments.

The same applies, in more- or less degree, to all the well-organised trades. They have all got advances during the war. Those, however, amount,, for a normal working week, to little more than half of the amount of increased cost of living. In so far as the mechanics in the'engineering and shipbuilding trades are better off than in pre-.-, war times, it. is due mainly to over-;' time, which will cease with the cessation of war. There wilK therefore, bo a demand for retention of war rates of wages.

The question of wage adjustments is, in fact, found to be, in a practical sense, a part of the problem of demobilisation, .and demobilisation will bring with it "new difficulties, to the solution of which old ideas may be found .to bo of little pra-ctieal use. Hitherto tlio Unions of skilled*** and

well 'organised workmen have been against State interference with their wages, but I am inclined to think that there will be a change in their attitude when State control has lessened the difference between their rates of pay and those of the lower grades of labour, and when, as seems probable, there may bo a period of lessened demand for their labour. And when that time comes the machinery in their case will also,bo found all ready for making the necessary adjustments. Both sides are well organised. All that is needed is some authority which shall control suicidal competition for orders on the part of the employers, on the one hand, and equally suicidal competition for employment by workmen, on the other.

There remains the question of the effect of all this on prices. I am optimistic enough to believe that it will be but small, and that .the increased wages bill of the employers may be made good by increased physical' and technical efficiency of the employees, as well as by avoidance of loss through strike or lock-out.

At all events, Mr Bunciman has my best wishes in any •effort ho may make to substitute a. now order for the old anarchy, and—what is perhaps more important still—in anything ho may do towards infusing a new spirit into those who had accepted poverty and dependence as their preordained I6t in life. ■ We, cannot affoi-d' to go back to tne old squabbles, neither should we be. content to see acquiescence in injustice. Labour will yet cease to be con-, tent^to, be regarded as a mere dead commodity; it will yet take its place on a basis of citizenship and as the source of all commodities. Mr Runciman will be a fortunate man if it be given .to him to lay the foundations of that edifice of the future by the establishment of a. minimum standard- of life for those at the bottom. a