The Settlement of Wage Disputes
Public-domain ebook
The Settlement of Wage Disputes
by Herbert Feis
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #27519.
About this book
Herbert Feis’s The Settlement of Wage Disputes is a scholarly treatise on American labor economics written in the wake of the 1914 Dress and Waist Industry initiative in New York City. The opening pages frame the work as an analytical response to the “present wage situation in the United States,” emphasizing that economic theory can only succeed when it is grounded in concrete facts and historical experience. Feis outlines a systematic program of chapters that move from a general survey of industrial conditions, through detailed examinations of wage‑determining forces, to proposals for standard and living wages, and finally to a broader conception of industrial peace. The book’s structure is laid out in a meticulous table of contents, promising a step‑by‑step development of principles that could guide collective bargaining and policy making.
The author writes in a formal, academic voice typical of early‑20th‑century economic literature, drawing on the teachings of professors such as F. W. Taussig and the insights of British and Australian scholars. The prose is dense and systematic, with frequent references to theoretical doctrines, statistical considerations, and institutional examples. Readers with a background in economics, labor history, or public policy, particularly those interested in the evolution of wage‑setting mechanisms and the interplay between unions, capital, and government, will find the work a valuable, if demanding, exploration of the foundations of industrial relations.
The opening · free to read
Certain chapters in the first part (III and IV) may prove difficult for the ordinary reader. They are intended to be merely an analysis of a particular set of facts and tendencies--those which affect the present wage situation in the United States, or may affect it in the near future. Such an analysis of a particular set of facts is all that economic theory can successfully accomplish.
This book was first projected in the summer of 1914. The Dress and Waist Industry of New York City had set up a Board of Protocol Standards to settle wage disputes. The late Robert C. Valentine was then engaged in finding a basis of wage settlement for the industry that would be of more than passing value--and as his assistant, I first became convinced that there could be no permanent peace under the wages system, once different interests became organized, unless a clear body of fundamentals principles applicable to all industries are supported and enforced.
In the course of the work I have incurred many obligations both in the United States and Great Britain. I can only acknowledge a very few here. To my teachers, Prof. F. W. Taussig and W. Z. Ripley, I owe much, both for their instruction, direct help and example. In Great Britain, Mr. John A. Hobson, Mr. Henry Clay and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb aided me greatly to understand British experience. My debt to the work of Judge Jethro W. Brown of the South Australia Industrial Court is heavy as the book shows. Above all I have to thank my friend Dr. Walter B. Kahn for his share in the work.
H. F.
University of Kansas.
--Introductory 1
Sec. 1. In any attempt to formulate principles for use in the settlement of wage disputes, past experience furnishes much guidance. What this experience consists of.
Sec. 2. Such principles as have been used in the settlement of wage disputes have usually resulted from compromise; reason and economic analysis have usually been secondary factors. However, industrial peace cannot be secured by a recurrent use of expedients.
Sec. 3. The attitude most favorable to industrial peace.
Chapter II--Some Pertinent Aspects of the Present Industrial Situation 8
Sec. 1. The chief aims of any policy of wage settlement for industrial peace defined--the chief tests to be passed. A knowledge of present industrial facts essential to the formulation of sound policy.
Sec. 2. The present economic position of the wage earners.
Sec. 3. Their relations to the other groups in industry. The acceptance of the practice of collective bargaining essential to any policy of wage settlement in the United States to-day. Trade unionism must prove itself fit for this responsibility, however.
Sec. 4. The economic position of capital in the present industrial order. Its service to production. The problems to which the accumulation of capital has given rise.
Sec. 5. The economic position of the directors of industry. Industrial control an attribute of ownership. Two important suppositions used in this book, concerning: a. The forms of industrial income; b. The possible spread of public ownership, and its consequences for a policy of wage settlement.
--The Principles of Wages 35
Sec. 1. A knowledge of the forces governing existing wage levels essential in any attempt to work out a policy of wage settlement for industrial peace.
Sec. 2. Wage incomes determined by great number of forces. The three most important and constant among these stated.
Sec. 3. These three to be taken up in order. The volume of the flow of wealth in the county of the worker the first to be considered. Its relation to wages indirect, as all product is joint result.
Sec. 4. The scientific management theories of wages based on a misconception of the relation between the productive contribution of labor and wages. These theories merely an elaboration of one method of wage payment. They have perceived one important truth, however.
Sec. 5. The "group-demand" theory of wages as held by some trade unions, based on a similar misconception. Valid, sometimes, from group point of view; unsound from point of view of labor in general.
Sec. 6. The second important force determining wages is the relative plenty or scarcity of the different groups or agents of production. How this governs the share of the product going to wage earners.
Sec. 7. Many important modifying forces to the influence upon wages of relative plenty or scarcity. The most important considered.
Sec. 8. The forces determining the sharing out of the product of industry summarized. The idea of normal equilibrium in distribution a mistaken one.
Sec. 9. A brief analysis of the factors which determine actual plenty or scarcity of the different agents of production at any one time.
Sec. 10. The third important force introduced--the relative plenty or scarcity of different kinds of labor. The existence of relatively separate groups of wage earners discussed. The nature of an investigation of the principles of wages.
Chapter IV--Principles of Wages (Continued) 69
Sec. 1. We have next to examine the causes of formation of relatively separate groups of wage earners.
Sec. 2. What is meant by a "relatively separate group"?
Sec. 3. The causes of the existence of these groups in the United States to-day. Inequality of natural ability; inequality of opportunity; artificial barriers. All these contradictory to assumptions behind theory of general rate of wages.
Sec. 4. Trade unions another factor in the formation of relatively separate groups. Indirect effects in opposite direction.
Sec. 5. Each of these groups has a relatively independent economic career. There are a series of wage levels, all of which are governed to a considerable extent by the same forces.
Sec. 6. The way in which the relative plenty or scarcity of each kind or group of labor affects its wages. Other forces play a part also.
Sec. 7. The nature of wage "differentials."
--Wages and Price Movements 87
Sec. 1. The transactions of distribution arranged in terms of money. How does this affect the outcome of distribution as regards wages?
Sec. 2. The characteristics of price movements.
Sec. 3. The direct and indirect effects of upward price movements upon the distribution of the product.
Sec. 4. The direct and indirect effects of falling price movements upon the distribution of the product.
Sec. 5. The doctrine of the "vicious circle of wages and prices" examined. Its meaning and importance.
Chapter VI--Wages and Price Movements (Continued) 106
Sec. 1. The problems of wage settlement arising out of upward price movements two in number: (a) Should wages be increased during such periods? (b) If so, on what basis should increases be arranged? The doctrine of the maintenance of the standard of life analyzed.
Sec. 2. An alternative method of adjustment proposed, based on a new index number.
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