29. "Because of the delicate pecuniary organization of society the consequences of a failure of the industrial machine at one point are dissipated through the whole of the economic order. Thus the burdens of economic insecurity are much smaller than they would be under a nonpecuniary organization." Can you support this statement? 30. Would it be correct to speak of the civil-service movement as one in the direction of guaranteeing greater stability of employment? 31. Draw up a statement of the function of social insurance. 32. "Society pays pensions to persons wounded in war. It should be equally willing to pay pensions to those wounded in providing society's daily subsistence." Is this a sound argument? 33. "Industrial insurance is no solution of the problems of economic insecurity. It substitutes for an analysis of those problems an accurate accounting of industrial risks; for an attempt at solution an endeavor to distribute the risks with the minimum of burden." Explain fully. Do you agree? 34. In what ways is it charged that immigration increases the insecurity of the position of labor. Does the argument apply primarily to skilled or to unskilled labor? It has been argued that heavy immigration tends to lower the standard of living of the worker in this country. On what grounds is this stated? Suppose it is true, what difference does it make to the worker? What difference does it make to society at large? 35. "The worker can never be secure until he is safeguarded against (a) unemployment; (b) industrial accident; (c) sickness; (d) poverty-stricken old age; (e) inadequate livelihood. This cannot occur under a pecuniary organization of society. Such an organization has been amply tried. It has abundantly established its inadequacy in the face of such difficulties." Examine this position. 36. "Nothing short of control of population will suffice as a solution of the labor problem." Why does the writer say this? What does control of population mean? 37. Draw up in outline form a statement of the relation of vocational guidance to the security of the worker. Do the same for employment bureaus. 38. "I have solved the labor problem so far as my own factory is concerned. I pay my men a rate of wages somewhat higher than they can get elsewhere. For them I have provided recreation facilities, sanitary conditions of employment, and a bureau of vocational guidance. Anyone else can solve the labor problem, if he does as I have done." If all employers should follow this employer's example, would the problem be solved ? 39. If "employer's liability" is deemed advisable, should the law be made to apply to miners, factory operatives, machinists, locomotive engineers, drug clerks, errand boys, household servants? 40. "Vocational education means an increase of labor efficiency and thus an increase of wages." "Vocational education means an increase of efficiency which means fewer laborers can do the same work and thus wages will go down." What is your opinion of this matter? 41. "Industrial success is personal, not social. The existing social system is not keeping men at the bottom. It is their own personal deficiencies that keep them there." Give reasons for or against. 42. What is your present conclusion: Are low wages caused by low standards of living, or are low standards of living caused by low wages? 43. What is your present conclusion: Are low wages caused by inefficiency on the part of the worker, or is inefficiency on the part of the worker caused by low wages? 44. "The enactment of a minimum wage for unskilled labor would probably lead to the following results: various evasions of the law; substitution of more efficient for less efficient labor; increase in the use of machinery; increase in unemployment." Give arguments for and against the probability of these things happening. 45. It is sometimes said that labor itself would gain nothing by the introduction of the minimum wage. It is argued that the increased wage would result in an increased price of the product made by this labor, and since labor is itself the main consumer of its products, the apparent rise in money wage would be offset by the rise in prices. What is your own opinion on this matter? 46. "The increased wages will in all probability come from the parts of the incomes of capitalists which otherwise they would save. Thus the proposal is likely to lead to a decrease in the amount of capital and a tendency, in consequence, toward a lower rate of wages in the next generation. This tendency is likely to prove cumulative." Do you agree? 47. Some people think one of the great difficulties in connection with labor problems is that the incentives which labor had in former days have been taken away by the consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Make out a list of the incentives labor had in the days of mediaeval industry in England. What ones of these have been taken away by the Industrial Revolution? Have any new incentives sprung up to take the place of the old ones? Is the wage the only incentive today? 48. Why do employers engage in welfare work? Is it to furnish incentive to labor? Is it on humanitarian grounds? Is it because it pays? Are there other possible reasons? 49. "Wages will take care of themselves if in some way we can diminish the numbers of those desiring employment in poorly paid occupations." Do you agree? Is the proposal one which should be carried out? 50. Why do unions attempt to establish the principle of uniformity with respect to wage rates, hours of work, and conditions of employment generally in a trade? 51. Strikes, boycotts, blacklists, and picketing sound like militant matters which would be unsettling to industry. What can anyone mean by saying that they are devices being used to bring about stability? 52. Some people believe that the labor problem so called will be solved by keeping hands off-by letting competition work itself out. Trade unionism, they believe, will interfere with the workings of competition by setting up a labor monopoly. What do you think of this position? 53. Look up the meaning of "profit-sharing." It is urged as one of the devices which might be used to give greater security to the worker. Is it really a device to give him security or to increase his productivity? Is it likely to work well in either event? 54. "Profit-sharing solves the labor problem by giving the employee a pecuniary interest in the business." "Profit-sharing is an attempt to bribe labor with small amounts of stock to accept the capitalist's viewpoint and philosophy." Where lies the truth? 55. What are the defects of co-operation as a solution of the labor problem? 56. "The labor problem can be adequately and finally solved without the use of cumbersome legislative methods. Use the universal principles of justice. Give both employer and employee what is right and the problem is solved." What are these universal principles of justice? Who would apply them? Is this means adequate? 57. Draw up a list of the elements of security in the position of the worker. Compare the situation with that of 1300. 58. What is meant by the expression "democracy in industry." Does it seem to you a practical proposal or is it merely Utopian? 59. Just what is the mechanism of the plan of the socialists to give greater security to the worker? of the syndicalists ? 60. Draw up a list of the structures or devices which are designed to meet the difficulties connected with the position of the worker in our wage system. What ones of these structures or devices involve little or no change in the present organization of society? What ones involve much change? What ones are emerging as a result of action by the laboring class? What ones as a result of action by employers? What ones as a result of action of society as a whole? 61. For the sake of the argument, assume that, in the net, the position of the worker is uncertain and insecure and that it must remain so under our present organization of society. Does the acceptance of this position commit you to a belief that the present organization should be done away with? 62. It is generally said that class consciousness has developed quite slowly in the United States. Can you give any reasons why this would be true? 63. May it be true that interests are fundamentally harmonious and that class conflict is due to lack of understanding of common interests? 64. "For a class struggle to exist in society there must be first a class inequality, and second the outlets must be closed whereby the strength and ferment of the inferior class have been permitted to escape." How far do these conditions exist in the United States? 65. "A state has been reached where the proletariat cannot attain its emancipation from the sway of the exploiting and ruling class—the bourgeoisie without at the same time, once and for all, emancipating society at large from all exploitation, oppression, class distinction, and class struggles." What group of people is likely to believe this? 66. "Social life is an extremely complex thing. One belongs, not to a single, but to many, different groups. In America, therefore, there can be no such thing as a group or a class viewpoint." Illustrate for individuals in the middle class. Does the conclusion apply to the proletariat ? 67. Why do employers generally talk in terms of national and social welfare and laborers in terms of group and class welfare? 68. Sketch as clearly as you can the general attitude of the employer upon the constitution, the courts, government control of industry, the Christian religion, vocational education, trade unionism. Sketch the attitude of the worker. 69. "Talk of class conflict is nonsense. The interests of labor and capital are fundamentally harmonious." "Class conflict is inevitable. The interests of labor and capital are fundamentally antagonistic." Which is true? Is either true? Can both be true? 70. If a real basis of conflict exists between two groups, who is to decide what is "right"? Is there a "public" that can do so? 71. Are there two distinct classes, a laboring and an employing class? If there are not two distinct classes, is society divided into some other definite number of distinct classes? 72. "The tests of relative income fails utterly to furnish a standard for distinguishing classes." Why or why not? 73. Assume that you are a business manager. Are there any cases where your policy will depend upon your theory of classes? Can you imagine a business having in some of its parts, a certain organization because the manager has a given theory of classes? 74. Assume that you are a statesman. Are there any cases where your policy will depend upon your theory of classes? 75. Social insurance is urged. How will the project be regarded by the extreme socialist? By the extreme classical economist? Could they reach the same practical conclusion? If they did, would they do so by following out the same hypotheses with respect to social classes? 76. Assume that classes do exist. Does our discussion lead to the conclusion that the existence of classes is an evil thing? 77. Suppose that classes do exist and that their existence is an evil thing. What can we do about it? Let us recapitulate. We have excluded, first, the employing class; second, all who, having possession of the agencies and instrumentalities of production, whether agricultural or mechanical, are not dependent on others for the opportunity to produce; third, those who, though not owning land, lease it, whether under the protection of law or subject to all the hardships of competition. These successive exclusions leave us the employed class, whether in agriculture or manufactures. From this we further exclude all who produce on shares, and all who are paid or subsist out of the revenues of their employers. We have left the wages class proper, including all persons who are employed in production with a view to the profit of their employers, and are paid at stipulated rates. But though the wage class includes but a fraction of humanity, it is large. Of the eighty millions of English-speaking people, threefourths probably, two-thirds certainly, subsist on wages. 202. LABOR CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS [NOTE. This is an outline of Professor Hoxie's course on Labor Conditions and Problems. It is presented as a means of showing something of the scope of the topic we are considering. The outline will repay careful study.] A. THE FUNDAMENTAL AND GENERAL CONDITIONS OF LABOR AND SOCIAL WELFARE 1. The rights or the legal status of labor and the employers a) Rival theories of law and rights (1) The laissez-faire theory (2) The sociological theory (4) The evolutionary viewpoint b) The general right to the freedom of contract c) The wage contract d) The rights of bargaining (1) Competitive rights (a) The right to work where, when, and for whom he pleases (b) The right to quit work (c) Rights as to wages and conditions of employment: wages; hours; dangerous work; unsanitary work; the right to maintain a nuisance Adapted by permission from F. A. Walker, The Wages Question, pp. 216–17. (Henry Holt & Co., 1891.) |