[44] Mitchell writes with reference to the 1890-1910 period that "on examining the figures for separate industries, one finds there is less variety of fluctuation than in commodity markets. But still considerable differences appear between, say, cotton mills and foundries, or building trades and shoe factories. However, no industry escaped a reduction of wages after 1893, and none failed to register a large advance between 1894 and 1907," page 132, "Business Cycles." See also for 1914-1919 data, Research Report Number 20 of the National Industrial Conference Board on "War Time Increases of Wages."
[45] W. C. Mitchell, "Business Cycles," pages 468-9.
[46] W. C. Mitchell, "Business Cycles," page 483. The increased cost of labor arises from many causes besides the increase of wages. The less efficient workers receive fuller employment; extra rates are paid for "the tired labor of overtime"; there is likely to be an increase in the rate of labor turnover due to the rapidity of wage movements and the ease of getting a job; and lastly it is said that work is carried out with less energy when the workmen are secure in their employment. Mitchell goes so far as to write that "labor is a highly changeable commodity—its quality deteriorates as its price rises" (pages 476-7), "Business Cycles." See also J. C. Stamp, "The Effect of Trade Fluctuations on Profits," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, July, 1918.
[47] See Research Report No. 20, National Industrial Conference Board, "Wartime Changes in Prices." See also the controversy between the railways and railwaymen arising from the difference described by J. N. Stockett, Jr., "Arbitral Determination of Railway Wages," pages 107-8: "In determining the increase in railway wages for the purpose of ascertaining whether wages have kept pace with increasing prices the question arises as to whether wages mean earnings or rates. The railways maintain that the cost of living argument is fundamentally directed to the establishment of the proposition that earnings have not kept pace with the increase in the price of commodities, and therefore wages, in connection with the cost of living, means earnings. The employees, on the other hand, contend that the computation of the increase in wages should be based on the assumption that wages mean rates of pay, and that the high earnings which the railways show for the men are the result of excessive hours worked. They claim that it is not valid to assert that wages have kept pace with the increase in prices, if an employee must work continually over the time set for the minimum day in order to make his wages bear the increased price of commodities."
[48] W. C. Mitchell, "Gold, Wages and Prices under the Greenback Standard," page 102.
[49] For examples, see W. C. Mitchell, "Gold, Wages, and Prices under the Greenback Standard," pages 102-3.
[50] See pages 92-3, this chapter.
[51] See W. C. Mitchell, "Business Cycles," pages 438-44.
[52] Ibid., page 558.
[53] Ibid., pages 449-450.