The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY. JANUARY 2. 1923. WORK AND WAGES.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1923, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY. JANUARY 2. 1923. WORK AND WAGES.

One of the eternal question's to he laced this year is in Regard to "ork anil wages, and the ability to bring about an adjustment which will be satisfac- ! tory all round. It is a complex question, subject to many side currents, but the law of economics will keep on imposing its inevitable consequences where excesses are being unduly indulged in. America is very much perturbed over the problem, and a financial journal gives a close analysis of , the economic side of the question in the following reference which is as applicable to the course of events in New Zealand as in the United States. The paper proceeds:— ln all the wage disputes and controversies over hours of labor the most of the trouble is due

to tlie tendency to think only of the immediate relations between wageworkers and employers, and overlook tin* r.lilions he tween the v. (l , , p.ndneer and the w age-worker as a consumer. There is always the a>- • ::mj>tion that wa^e-inneases arc made at the expense <-t the emph’yer and affeet no one else, and that nothin" hut otMieiul \vajj;e-in< reasi*s are renuiied to adva-nce the standard of li\injj; for wa^v-workers. The ot the war-time showed this to he a fal- > lacy, for there never was fitrOriim" by employers thaii when wsioes were at the highest level. Consumers in the end pay all the costs of production, including real advanc(*im*nl of the v.; :"0-earniu" class, a.s is now abundantly illusirated in Kurope. is nieasmod, not hy moneywa«j;es, hut hy the comforts that will luiy. T\fr H. Hull, an eminent engineer of this country, wrote a very interesting and instructive hook upon economics some years a"<». in which he set forth vor\ clearly the interest of wajre-workers in promoting increased pruduetions rather than in | eowentra«tin<r attention upon hiirbor wajie rates and shorter hours. In the course of his argument, lie said, i Money, the medium of exchange, is ! a necessity to modern civilisation, hut, | unfortunately, its use sometimes obscures or distorts industrial facts. IVo- • dueers. especially \uiee.earners are apt * to think their comforts would he doubled if their pay were doubled. To analyze this, let us suppose that at a given time the pay of all persons eni "aoi‘<l iu any gainful occupation he ! doubled, while production remains the j same. Is it not clear that the cost of everythin" would be doubled, and that j each one, with his double pay. would be able to buy only as much as he did before. On the other hand. let us suppose that the pay remains the 'nine to each, and that at a triven time by improved machinery or otherwise, the productive force of each worker is doubled. Is it not plain that the cost of everything would he reduced one half, and that each one. on the same pay. would he able t*> buy twice as much as before? The only practical way to double the reward to worker' is to doitlde their products. Larger production per man, through niaehinor and improved methods, account* for ) iho fact that workers aio to-day ahlo in enjoy comforts which fifty years ago would have boon impossible. II nioiicv were itnatoil, .n.i.iy of ifie popular 1 ..’elusions would noi exist. AH would understand thai if every worker turned oil I twice a> many products as formerly. deposited them in a public receptacle. and (ben each carried away what he desired, in proportion to wliai he had deposited each would carry away twice as much, and tints have twice n< much to enjoy. < )ne of the reasons for the slow recover,' from the effects of tiie war endoiibledly is the shortening of the lion is of labor and the increase in the cost ol nianiilaetnred and mineral products and of transportation which hns resulted from this policy, ft was in fact most inopportune to curtail production at a time when the greatest possible production was needed, but il was done upon the theory that the standard of living fur the workers -hotilil lie lai.-ed and that it could lie done at the ex|ense of the emp’oyer-. which of course proved to be fallacy. The scaling down of production lots increased costs and costs must be covered by the prices charged consumers, i The shortening of hours for railroad employees, mine-workers and factory- i workers is especially burdensome to the farmers, for it increases the cost of J everything; they have to buy. while as , they work on their own account they i rotitirnte to work as many hours as formerly. It is one of the factors in ihe unbalanced state of prices. The t bet rv S that as much work would he done in j eight hours as in nine or ten has not j been established by the experience of I the industries generally. The pace of , industry is generally fixed by machinery. which as a rule moves at the I smite pace in an eight hour day as in i the longer periods.