dy of facts of each
industry. This machinery discussed.--Section 9. The question of the
relation to be established between living wage for men and women
difficult. Alternatives considered.--Section 10. A plan for the
adjustment of the living wage to price changes. The basis of
adjustment.--Section 11. The policy of adjustment--already
discussed.--Section 12. The hope of the living wage policy.

1.--In the brief survey earlier in this book of the present industrial
situation in the United States, it was concluded that the improvement of
the economic position of the lowest paid groups of wage earners was one
of the chief objects to be borne in mind when striving to work out a
policy of wage settlement for industrial peace. In the following
chapters a study was made of the causes of the formation and existence
of relatively separate groups of wage earners, and of the forces which
determine the level of earnings for the various groups. It was observed
that the lowest paid groups of wage earners tended to be separated from
the more fortunate groups; they have relatively independent economic
fortunes. Two reasons exist, therefore, for giving separate treatment to
the question of the principles by which the wages of these least
favorably placed groups of wage earners should be settled--as part of
the policy of wage settlement for industrial peace. Firstly, because
their economic position is a matter of special concern; secondly,
because the wage incomes of these groups are determined, in part, by
forces which do not affect equally, or in the same way, the wages of the
other groups.

The living wage principle as put forth in this chapter is the principle
suggested for use in the settlement of wages for these least favorably
placed groups of workers. It is the second of the measures, intended to
form a policy of wage settlement for industrial peace.

2.--It is not necessary to give here the wage statistics for the groups
of wage earners who are lowest in the industrial scale. They form the
record of the fact that a considerable percentage of all female
industrial wage earners, and some groups of male wage earners who
perform unskilled work, are in receipt of wages insufficient to enable
them to live according to those conceptions of the minimum level of
satisfactory economic existence which have been formulated by public
agencies from time to time.[113]

3.--The general idea of the living