[244] See chapters xii and xiii.
[245] While the statement in the text applies to all labourers of less than average ability, it obviously is applicable only to individual cases among those who are up to the average. These are the workers at the "margin" of the labour force in an establishment, those who could be discharged without causing the industry to shut down. If an employer would rather go out of business than pay a living wage to all his necessary labourers of average ability, he is morally free to do so; but he may not employ them at less than living wages in order to obtain interest on his capital.
[246] One of the best statements of the evil social results of low wages will be found in Webb's "Industrial Democracy," vol. II, pp. 749-766.
[247] See reports of these commissions in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and California.
[248] "A Living Wage," p. 150.
[249] See Bulletins of the Federal Bureau of Labour Statistics on "Retail Prices"; and Nearing, "Reducing the Cost of Living."
[250] "Summary of the Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States," pp. 383, 384. The best intensive study of family cost of living is that published in the volume edited by Robert C. Chapin, "The Standard of Living Among Workingmen's Families in New York City"; 1909. It led to the conclusion that anything less than eight hundred dollars was insufficient for the yearly maintenance of a husband and wife and three small children in Manhattan.
[251] See articles by Hammond in the American Economic Review, June, 1913, and in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1913; and page 62 of the Appendix to the third volume of the Report of the New York State Factory Investigating Commission.
[252] See the replies of the London Board of Trade to the N. Y. Factory Investigating Commission, on pages 77, 78 of the volume cited above; and especially the two monographs by R. H. Tawney, "The Establishment of Minimum Rates in the Chain-Making Industry," and "The Establishment of Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Industry." London; 1914 and 1915.
[253] "First Biennial Report of the Industrial Welfare Commission of Washington," pp. 13, 15.