e policy as already conceived, such a measure would be a
most worth-while addition to the policy. It is possible to discern
clearly what the scope and form of such a measure must be.

Firstly: Such a measure should not single out the profits of particular
enterprises for division or transfer to the wage earners, if the profits
of these particular enterprises are in excess of what is conceived to be
a just profit level for industry as a whole. For, in the first place, if
the principle of standardization is enforced throughout industry, the
excess profits of particular enterprises may frequently be the result of
superior business ability, and to take them away would be to discourage
the development and use of that ability. And, in the second place, even
if it is acknowledged that this is not the true explanation of the great
profits of very many enterprises, but that these are accounted for
rather by the possession of special privileges or the weakness of
competition, nevertheless, to adopt a policy under which these profits
are transferred to the wage earners would lead to wastefulness and
extravagance in business operation. And lastly, there is the fact that
to make wages in any enterprise contingent upon the profit returns of
that enterprise is contrary to the ordinary trade union policy.

Nothing in this conclusion is meant to imply that the wage earners
should not be free to enter into wage agreements calling for more than
the standard wage. Or that profit sharing arrangements should not be
permitted--on the contrary, such arrangements should be encouraged,
provided the standard wage and the right of the wage earners'
organization to be fully represented in such arrangements are not
brought into question.

The conclusion just reached is meant to apply also in the opposite
case--that is, in the case of the profits of particular enterprises
falling below the level defined as just and sound industry as a whole.
The wages of the workers engaged in these enterprises should not, for
that reason, be reduced. This conclusion, it is believed, is amply
explained by what has been written in various other connections.

Secondly: Even if almost all or all of the enterprises engaged in a
particular industry should be in receipt of profits considerably in
excess of what is conceived to be a fair profit return for industry as
a whole, no attempt should be made to transfer the extra profits to the
wage earners engaged in it by inc