6.—A note upon the procedure by which it is expected that the proposed principles would be brought into operation may help to explain away remaining doubts. First of all, it may be emphasized that nothing in these proposals contemplates the discontinuance of collective bargaining throughout industry. Rather the creation of joint industrial or occupational boards or councils (those suggested in the course of the living wage discussion) is advised. Only when any wage question cannot be settled peacefully by collective bargaining is it proposed that the central authority should enter into the dispute.

It is to be expected that as the principles followed by the central authority in its decisions become known and understood—that is, as the probable result of disagreement, and of reference to the central authority become predictable—the agreements reached by collective bargaining would tend to approximate those which would result from reference to the central authority. For example, if a series of decisions expounded the doctrine that the existing relationships between the wages of the miners, railway conductors, and bricklayers are in accordance with the principles recognized by the central authority, the course of negotiation in these occupations will be governed, to some extent, by that knowledge. Such an outcome is to be expected, no matter what the principles upheld by the central authority—provided they are consistently upheld. Thus Judge Higgins records of the Australasian experience that "It is quite common now for the parties to ask the decision or guidance of the Court on a few main subjects in dispute and then to agree as to all the other items—even hundreds of items—in the light of the Court's findings; anticipating the application of the Court's principles."[142]

Since we are on the subject of the method and machinery of application of the policy of wage settlement, one other aspect of the matter may be briefly noted. That is, that if any policy of wage settlement is to succeed, the course of wage decision must be kept as free from all political interference as possible.[143] Spending departments should not be given powers of decision which clash with those of the central authority. Appeals to the higher executive officers of the state must be avoided to the utmost possible extent. Conjecture as to the measure in which these conditions can be realized in the United States at the present time may be withheld. But unless they are realized in a high degree, wage settlement will continue to be a matter of force and opportunism. Freedom from political interference can be obtained, and the elimination of the necessity for frequent appeal to the higher executive officers of the state will be possible, only if the policy of wage settlement which is adopted has the vigorous support of all groups immediately concerned in wage settlement.

FOOTNOTES:

[136] See for examination of this question, "Report of Wage Boards and Industrial and Conciliation Acts of Australia and New Zealand." E. Aves (1908), page 38. Mr. Henry Clay in a review of the wage position before the National Council of the Pottery Industry (Great Britain), made an interesting statement in this regard. He said "... the one great lesson which the war taught everybody (including Government Departments) was that it was dangerous to make a change in the wages or basis of earnings of one section of workers or of one industry unless they considered what would be the effect on all related classes and grades of workers." Printed in the Staffordshire Sentinel, Oct. 8, 1920. See also Chapter 39, Lord Askwith's "Industrial Problems and Disputes" for a narrative account of the trouble caused by sectional wage advances during the war.

[137] Letter printed in London Times, January 13, 1920.

[138] Report of the Coal Industry Commission (1919), Majority Report, pages 15-16. For another interesting case, see that of Various Toronto Firms vs. Pattern Makers under the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act, in which case the pattern makers claimed differential treatment over machinists and molders. Reported in Jan., 1919, Canadian Labor Gazette.

[139] The various courts in the Australian dominions tended on the whole to confirm existing differentials, occasionally changing the relative position of particular groups, when it has seemed clear to the court that the wages of these groups as compared to other groups is "unreasonable" considering all those factors which are considered to form the ground of "reasonableness" in the matter of differentials. Thus Justice Brown of the Industrial Court of South Australia has expressed himself on this very subject. "In the matter of such perplexity some guidance is afforded to the court by custom. It seems to me I cannot do better than proceed on this basis. I shall state the preëxisting wage, consider whether it is prima facie unreasonable applied to preëxisting conditions, and then if I find it not prima facie unreasonable, I shall consider whether any variations of the wage should be made in view of conditions now existing." (Hook Boys' Case—South Australia Industrial Reports, Vol. I, 1916-7, page 29.)

[140] It is in this light that the Commonwealth Court of Australia looks upon its secondary wage. "The secondary wage is remuneration for any exceptional gifts or qualifications not of the individual employee, but gifts or qualifications necessary for the performance of the functions." H. B. Higgins, "A New Province for Law and Order," Harvard Law Review, March, 1915.

[141] Mr. and Mrs. Webb have described aptly the usual trade union calculations in the formulation of their claims. "The Trade Unionist has a rough and ready barometer to guide him in this difficult navigation. It is impossible, even for the most learned economist or the most accomplished business men, to predict what will be the result of any particular advance of the Common Rule. So long, however, as a Trade Union without in any way restricting the numbers entering its occupation, finds that its members are fully employed, it can scarcely be wrong in maintaining its Common Rules at the existing level, and even, after a reasonable interval, in attempting gradually to raise them.... To put it concretely, whenever the percentage of the unemployed in any particular industry begins to rise from the 3 or 5 per cent characteristic of 'good trade' to the 10, 15 or even 25 per cent. experienced in 'bad trade' there must be a pause in the operatives' advance movement." "Industrial Democracy," pages 738-9.