What's What in America

by Eugene V. Brewster

FIXING PRICES.

If government is to "promote the general welfare" by assuming the obligation of keeping the necessaries of life within the reach of its people, it must of necessity prohibit the fixing of prices of those necessaries beyond the purchasing power of the people. Thus, if the coal operators having a monopoly of coal choose to make the price of that necessary $50 a ton, the national board of arbitrators (be it Congress or some other body), must fix a reasonable price and if the employees of any industry have a grievance, they cannot be allowed to strike and stop work—their grievances must be arbitrated by the National Board. Probably such a course would never become necessary, when the industrial organization is perfected and the readjustment accomplished, but the power of national direction must be ever present, if for no other purpose than to act as a warning.

FIXING HOURS OF WORK.

What is true of prices is equally true of the hours of work. Government will not owe every man a living, but it will owe every man an opportunity to earn a living. As the principle of co-operation develops and is utilized, so great would be the economy that many would naturally be thrown out of employment. Thus, rather than create a public poorhouse, or "idle house," the hours of daily work must be reduced to include all who are able and willing to labor.

If the tobacco manufacturers by combining and organizing the Shoe Trust have thrust say 50,000 travelling salesmen and jobbers out of employment, it should not complain if they are nationally directed to contribute toward their support in the same or in some other more useful and productive industry by being directed to reduce the hours of work of all men who are employed by it, thus making room for all who desire to labor. Co-operation and combination carry their responsibilities, and the co-operators must be presumed to intend the natural consequences of their acts. Hence, the nation is justified in directing a reduction in the hours of work whenever occasion requires.

And this is not so radical as at first appears. Many of our State Legislatures have heretofore passed laws fixing the price of gas, telephone service and railroad rates, and they have even fixed the hours of daily work in certain industries. Again, witness the volumes of law in regard to buildings, sweat shops, hotels, mines and railroads, designed and passed for "public safety" and protection, and for "the general welfare."

Again, witness what was done by all governments during the Great War!

LABOR'S SHARE.

Those who claim that "labor creates all wealth" must concede that the foreman, the superintendent, the president and the manager is just as much a laborer as the man who wields a hammer or drives a truck. That the latter do not often get a fair share of the product or of "what he produces" is, of course, true, for "rent, interest and profit" eat up much of the proceeds of his toil. Without delving needlessly into the profound question of the relations between capital and labor, be it said that labor can, by a system of national direction such as is here suggested, obtain a fair and just reward for its toil through a system of compulsory profit-sharing. There are already many cases in America of voluntary profit-sharing with employes, and employers have found that their men work better, quicker and more faithfully when given an interest in the business. This is not urged as a necessary part of the national direction idea, but as a most desirable part, and I am of opinion that in compulsory profit-sharing with employes lies the real solution and adjustment of the differences between capital and labor.

COMPULSION.