nd interests the individual in the group
advancement more than he otherwise would be. On the other hand, it
indirectly guards for the individual an independence and vigor of spirit
often lost in modern industry. When the underlying philosophy of the
"common rule" is deeply ingrained the problems of industrial direction
are completely changed; they become more difficult. Production becomes a
task involving the power to win men to their work. Where the ethics of
the common rule are accepted, effective work on the part of wage earners
depends upon interesting them as a group in their work. The usefulness
of wage systems which aim to increase individual production through
individual reward is not necessarily at an end. But all such systems
are compelled to accommodate themselves to the widespread desire for a
standard group minimum.

6.--Another question to which the introduction of the standard wage
gives rise is that of its effect upon the distribution of the available
employment among the members of the group to which the wage applies.
This question should be distinguished from that of its possible effect
on the total amount of employment. It has often been contended that the
multiplicity of wage rates for approximately the same work in industries
in which wages are not settled by collective bargaining, is to be
accounted for, above all, by the varying efficiency of individual wage
earners. And, therefore, it is argued, that any attempt to standardize
wages must lead to a concentration of employment upon those members of
the group who are the more efficient, and must deprive the relatively
less efficient of their employment.

It is almost impossible to say, except for concrete situations, to what
extent irregularity of wage rates is due to differences in individual
efficiency and to what extent to other causes. Such factors as
differences in bargaining power, differences in the policy or efficiency
of the employers, slight differences in the character of the work
performed, local differences in the supply and demand situation for the
type of labor in question, and the like, certainly account for a great
many of the irregularities. Prof. Marshall has expressed one view of
the matter well. He writes, "Cliffe Leslie and some other writers have
naively laid stress on local variations of wages as tending to prove
that there is little mobility among the working classes, and that
competition among them for employment is inef