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THE FALACY OF UNLIMITED MEANS.

HOW THE WORKERS ARE MISLED. SOCIALIST CRITICISM OF THE ARBITRATION COURT. One of the Red journals which actively supports the Hollond party in a recent leader, or misleader, makes an attack upon Mr Justice Fraser, Pi’esident of the Arbitration Court, because he recently said that • the Court, in fixing wages, took into consideration whether the industry could pay or not. He said “the Court calculated wages in >accordanee with the cost of living, but also in accordance with what each industry was able to pay.” The satement of- the Judge will appear to most people as one of sound common sense, but we find the writer in this Red Labour Journal treating " the President’s remark a§ one of frank economic heresy. This 5 paper argues that the cost of living is one principle, what the industry can pay is another, and the . Court cannot give consideration to both. It declares that “if the cost of living is to be the governing consideration, then the Court’s notion of what an industry can pay in • wages must not be allowed to vitiate the calculation in any way.” That sort of reasoning is but the. outcome of prejudice and a mental tendency to postulate an abstract rule from which there must be no deviation. This is how many of the workers are misled in that .from week to week they have such nonsensical views presented to them as “the labour view.” To argue that the question of whether the industry can pay a particular rate of wages, should be ignored is neither a sane labour view nor a sensible opinion of any kind. There is no contradiction in the Court’s action of judicially considering both what constitutes a living wage and what wages costs the industry can meet and still keep going. Evidently the Red extremists think that wages have no relation to what the industry can pay. The illusion is abroad in many minds that, if a private industry or Government Department is over-loaded with costs it does not matter much for somewhere —not specified—there is a great resevoir of wealth from which we can go on drawing unlimited means to supply all wants. Iri Australia there have been instances where a basic wage has been fixed solely on the assumed ground of the cost of living only to discover later •that the industry could not go on. The result has —been that works have stopped and ' for a time no wages paid at all. It is an economic falacy to assume that wages costs of any industry can be treated lightly or ignored. If wages are fixed at a higher stan- ** "dard than what the industry can pay from its revenue then such industry is breaking down and may, if the process continues, reach the stage when wage payments cease, and neither the cost of living, or any other principle, can have any. bearing. Socialists are in the habit of sneering at the idea that an industry must be made to pay. When examined reasonably it is seen that the question of whether an industry pays becomes just the simjfie one of whether it shall exist or not. Notwithstanding the shibboleth of the Reds that “employers and employees have nothing in common” there is no getting away from the fact that all depend on keeping the industries alive and active. In our opinion the Arbitration Court is wise in considering whether the industry can bear the wages rates it proposes to fix. Where that question ignored the danger would be immenant of some industries being forced into the position where they would have to refuse employment and the wage darners would be imminent of some indusHow to improve our industries so that they may be in a better position to pay is what both employers and wagp earners should concentrate on. (Contributed by the N.Z. Welfare League.)

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19220801.2.18

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2461, 1 August 1922, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
651

THE FALACY OF UNLIMITED MEANS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2461, 1 August 1922, Page 3

THE FALACY OF UNLIMITED MEANS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2461, 1 August 1922, Page 3

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