THE WAGES SYSTEM

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 203, 20 April 1932, Page 6

THE WAGES SYSTEM

. H.

Valder,

(By Mr

Hamilton)

PART ' 1 "It is unquestionable that, to-day, the great majority of wage-earners in the country incline towards a citizen's outlook. It is to be hoped that an equal proportion of employers are so inclined. Ilf so, the two elements have an unprecedented opportunity to begin under the auspices of the Natmnal Government, the great and necessary work of co-operative social reconstruction." "It is the business of our people, as the wardens of ' Western civilisation and of individual freedom," to evoTve a saner and sounder alternative than 'Manchester 'economics can suggest to Communism or Marxian Socialism. . . . " — P. Wickham Steed, formerly editor of "The Times," London. =8 -i: * That there is something wrong with the wages-system cannot be seriously doubted. The wage-earners proclaim it wherever their voices are heard. The wage-payers admit it at every twist and turn in the struggle i to maintain the privileges with which the system provides them. Now, what is this "Wages-System" it is proposed to discuss? In the first place it is part of a larger whole, it. is part of the present "industrial system," that organisation through which the means of living and the amenities of civilisation are produced and distributed. "Industry" lhay be defined as the association of two parties — the contributors of service (commonly called "Labour"), the aetive human factor, and the contributors of capital or property, the nonactive material factor — for the pur poses of production and distribution. The unconsumed aggregate of material things produced to satisfy Ihe "demand" of the community constitutes the community's "wealth" at any given moment. "Currency" has long superseded barters as the usual medium of distribution. Instead of direct barter or exchange, all commodities are exchanged per medium of the common measure. Two Functions Thus we have a community, the members of which are all exercising in varying degrees and in divers manners, the two functions of production and consumption. Wealth is produced and consumed. Either process may be swift or gradual, but there is, on the whole, a constant renewal and destruet;on of wealth, the process of accumulation becoming relatively greater as the machinery of production becomes more efficient. Now under modern conditions all the processes of production and distribution have to be organised, and the community, up to the present, has been content in- general to leave this organisation in the hands of individuals or corporations. Whatever ths method, however, it must be recognised that production and consumption are, in fact, reciprocal social functions. There is a movement of wealth, then, from producer to consumer and from consumer to producer.

History of the Wages-System. It would be interesting, if space allowed, to trace through the centuries the history of this system. Its roots lie in the dim past, when the prisoners of war, the male and the female, were set to the menial tasxs and eonstituted "property." From slavery it came to us through feudal serfdom, the ruling classes preserving, as they would, throughout the .long struggle of liberation, power over the lives — even over the bodies — of their dependents. How far the factory system of the e'ghteenth century was an improvement upon slavery, we need not discuss, for at least it brought ita revenge, a very gradual process of industrial emancipation. Even tne Industrial Revolution, however, did not destroy the chattel or property theory of human life as it applies to •industry. It lead to an improvement in conditions; but to this day the "wage-contract" itself is a bargam in which human serv'ce is dealt with on a chattel basis. To this day, in England, membership of a company, and the company is the usual form of industrial organisation, can only be ac quired by a property qualification, and the human element is thus absolutely in the hands of the owners of property. The owners of capital, therefore, annex all surplus profit. This is not a matter of sentiment or oi theory. It is a hard question of fact. Industrial Citizensh'ip. Now a consideration of the facts of our industrial system will shov that in the ultimate analysis "wealth' can be distributed only through the two channels of "wages" and "interest." Wages are fixed by bargaining between employer and employee and there is obviously a limit to the flow through that channel. Surplus profits, and these are lhnited only bj the income-earning capacity of the industrial team, flow through the channel of interest (which includes rent). What is even more important control is a perquisite of the "capt talist." This state of affairs is mucl more far-reaehing than we are apto think, because it belongs to customs, and customs which are rootec in history are very eas;ly taken foi granted. There come times, however when custom itself must be reconsid ered and revised, and that time has come in connection with the wages system. There is one big new faci with wh'ch the system must beconu reconciled, and that new fact is th( fact of democratic citizenship. There is a universal franchise in regard t( nat'onal government. We have ful democratic citizenship. We have nc industrial citizenship whatever. It great things we have power, in lessei things impotence. (To be contmued.)