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October 3, iosed that the
decree of the commission, which cannot fail to have the Mppofl of the
public, will receive, on the whole, the same resjMinse from employers as
if it were obligatory. Hut it is to lie hoped that the Massachusetts Legis-
lature will arrange in its next session for effective enforcement of such
carefully made decrees.
Objections Usually Advanced Againit Minimum-Wage Legislation.
Four objections are constantly urged and may be answerccl in the
following way:
Docs such legislation discriminate against the unlit? The law in
each of the aliove localities provides that one or the other of the sii|icr-
vising bodies may issue licences to the physically disabled or unfit, pro-
viding for them a rate Mow the minimum. It was stated last year that
in England, of the 300,000 employes covered by the legislation only IJJ
hail received such a s|iecial license out of the 200 (approximate) who
had applied. The chief factory ins|icctnr at Melbourne, the Hoard of
Trade office at London, and Prof. M. H. Hammond of Indiana, who
made an extended investigation of the Australian system, are authors of
the following statements: (1) "Legislation which fixes a standard wage
undoubtedly has the effect of displacing the unlit. < >ur ex|ierience, how-
ever, shows that this dislocation is not serious, and that, as a rule, things
regulate themselves fairly well. * * * 1 do not think there is any
evidence that philanthropic agencies have ever lieen called upon to in-
crease their work through minimum-wage legislation." "So far as the
Hoard is aware, there has been no general dismissal of workers as a
result of fixing minimum rates; and even w here these workers have liccn
dismissed on this account it has frequently been found that this has been
due to misunderstanding of the act and not to its actual provisions."
"Although the legal minimum wage does unquestionably force out of
employment sooner or later than would otherwise be the case a certain
number of old, infirm and naturally slow workers, it is easy to exaggerate
the working of the minimum wage in this rcs|icct."
Does not the minimum tend to become the maximum and also the
average wage? The same three high authorities have answered this
question, loo. "It is frequently asserted in this State (Victoria! that
the minimum becomes the maximum, but our official figures show this
is not the case. * * * I regret that I have not figures which will pre-
cisely answer your question, hut a careful comparison will show that the
average wage in a trade is invariably higher than the minimum wage."
"The Hoard (of Trade, Knglish) is not aware of any general tendency
among employers to reduce rales to the minimum allowed by law in
cases where higher rates have been paid in the past. ()n the contrary,
there is reason to suppose that the Ix-ttcr organization of the workers
which has lieen observed to have taken place in the trades to which the
act has lieen applied tends to prevent the legal minimum rate from be-
coming in fact the maximum." "That the minimum wage fixed by the
Hoard tends to liecome the maximum in that trade is often asserted, but
it would not lie easy to prove. Employers have frequently said to me
that they believed there was a tendency in that direction, but they have
seldom been able to furnish evidence to that effect from their own estab-
lishments. At times 1 have found on inquiry that not a single man in
their own plants was receiving the minimum wage. The employers'
opinions seem to be more the result of a priori reasoning than the result
of actual ex|ierience. Nor, on reflection, is it easy to see why the mini-
mum should become the maximum. The determinations do not compel
an employer to hire or to retain in employment any worker, lis is free
to dismiss any man whom he believes incapable of earning the minimum
wage, or he can send the employe to the chief factory insiicctor for a
jicrmit to work at less than the minimum fixed by the Hoard. There
seems to be no reason why under this system there should not be the
same competition among employes as under the old system to secure the
most efficient and highly skilled workmen, and there is no reason why
such men should not get wages liased on their sujierior efficiency.
* * * In New Zealand * * * statistics as to wages, tabulated in
lyoy by the I«ibor Department, showed that in the four leading indus-
trial centers of the Dominion the percentage of workers in trades where
a legal minimum wage was fixed who received more than the minimum
varied from 51 to 61 jier cent."
Have industries lieen driven out of various localities by such legisla-
tion? The Hoard of Trade declares itself unaware of any such tendency.
The two gentlemen from whom we have quoted before arc emphatic in
their denial. "Industries have not been paralyzed nor driven from the
State, as was freely predicted by extreme opponents of the wages boards'
1 plans. There is onlv one instance of the kind to be found in the records
(uf Victoria). On the otlitT hand, then lias liecn a steady growth of
manufactures." And lie proceeds to stale that in 181/1 there were in Vic-
toria 3370 factories and 40..S14 workers, while in pjio there were 5,V>2 of
the former and VjiOJ] of the latter.
Standards for Determining Legal Minimum Rates.
A hrief review of the standards determining what legal minimum rates
should lie fixed is interesting. The < Iregon law hegins: "Whereas, the
welfare of the State of I Iregon requires that women and minors should
he protected from conditions of lalior which have a |>ernicioiis effect on
their health anil morals, and inadequate wages and unduly long hours and
insanitary conditions of lahor have such a pernicious effect; therefore
* * * it shall he unlawful to employ women in any occupation within
the State of (Iregon for wages which are inadequate to supply the neces-
sary cost of living and to maintain them in health." The commission has
made no definite announcement of what is necessary for maintenance in
health other than what may he inferred from their decrees. Kight dollars
and twenty-five cents is the minimum pay per week permitted for any
adult woman worker in (Iregon. The -Massachusetts bulletin (page JO|
contains this statement: "The lowest total for human conditions for an
individual in lloston * • * is $K.jH * * * the wage lioard is con-
vinced that the sum required to keep alive and in health a completely sclf-
sup]>orting woman in Hoston is in no case less than $K, and in many cases
may rise to $0 or more."
The Situation in Maryland.
The situation in Maryland can he stated briclly. because while we are
not in a blissful state of ignorance as to the wages of women workers, we
have hy no means comprehensive data on the subject. Three figures are
available. The I'ederal < iovcrnnient in 1910 made a report on two sepa-
rate groups of women, t )ne. ,t.t5 in number, was in the canning industry.
The average for these was $3.85 per week. The oher, a group of |go
women in "selected industries." averaged $5.J".
The writer was one of a number of people who last year made a
wage study preliminary to the introduction in the 1014 (ieneral Assembly
by the Consumers' I .eague of Maryland, of a bill which would have estab-
lished such a commission as those active now in a majority of States with
similar statutes. Five hundred and thirty-six girls were personally visited
and studied, all of them interested in the purpose and eager to co-operate.
They constituted a representative group in Baltimore city. Their average
wage has seemed at first thought surprisingly high, but when analyzed
becomes a serious matter:
7 per cent, received less than $4.
26 per cent, received less than $5.
46 per cent, received less than $6.
66 per cent, received less than $7.
85 per cent, received less than $8.
The average is $6.16.
Estimates of the local living cost for an independent working woman
were made hy a study of lodging-houses, and the separate items per week
were as follows:
Room anil board............................... $4.50
Lunches.......................................60
Carfares........................................60
Laundry ......................................50
Clothing.................................... . .')<>
Vacation and savings ...........................20
Recreation.....................................10
Medicine, dentist, doctor.........................50
Incidentals.....................................10
Total................................... $8.00
There are. of course, variable items on this list depending 011 the
physique or temperament of the girl. Four dollars and a half may be
high for lodging. It is true that, at a cost of privacy, that is. by sharing
a room, a woman may secure quarters for S%i ami 9$,tft hut those investi-
gated at that price I with the exception of those in charitable working
girls' homes, which are. of course, one form of subsidizing modem in-
dustry,) were most undesirable. Some single rooms were seen at $4, but
they were few, and in several cases the landlords anticipated immediate
raise in charge. The clothing estimate is probably too small, as it is the
lowest of several that were made by those who understand a working
girls' needs. Ninety cents a week means only $4(1.80 a year. The highest
estimate given was $125 a year, or $2.40 a week. Another, more moderate,
but inclusive, was $1.75 a week, or 5*)0 a year. For medicine, etc., a ma-
jority of those reporting invested $25 or more in the year that had just
passed. To earn $10, which is the least sum necessary for a week's vaca-
tion, a girl must save 11) cents a week. A like sum is a ridiculously small
HELP THE CAUiE.—M.ntlon tht Maryland •uffraga Nawa Whan Patrenlalng Our Advartlcra.
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