WAGES AND PROFITS.

Evening Star, Issue 7333, 4 October 1887, Page 4

WAGES AND PROFITS.

TO THE EDITOR. Slß,—Your correspondent “ Common Sense ” says that I give. myself away when I propose that wages should bo regulated by profits, and declares that in these dull times employers would be only too glad to entertain the idea. No doubt they would. But how about prosperous times ? The employer in dull times says to his men “ I can’t afford to pay you the wages you have been receiving,” and the men are compelled to submit to reduction. When times improve the men naturally ask for at least a return to the former rate, but almost invariably they are met with the reply; “If you are not satisfied with your wages, you can go; there are plenty of men to take your place ” which, unfortunately, is the case, as the labor market, even in good times, is almost always overstocked. It is to remedy this state of things that I propose that workers should not be slaves, as they a> e in this respect at present, but to a certain extent co-partners with the employer. As to the other suggestion of “Common Sense,” that a lower rate of wages would bring more work, I must confess that 1 fail to see it. Perhaps a few men might get odd jobs in back gardens, given them by people tempted by the low remuneration to be paid; but that work generally could bo created where none is required, simply by lowering wages, seems to me absurd. Where you have no demand for work it cannot be provided at will, except, of couso, in the way cf relief works, which I don’t think is what your correspondent means.—l am, etc., Economist. Dunedin, October 2.