as come to prevail. A policy of wage adjustment, like any
other measure, would have to be always subject to reconsideration and
amendment. Indeed, it might carry provision in itself for such
reconsideration; it might be adopted as an experiment for a definite
period of years.

2.--In the preceding chapters the main problems that must arise in the
course of any attempt to settle wages by official authority have been
discussed. These problems were considered with reference to the possible
formulation of a satisfactory policy of wage settlement for industrial
peace. That policy may now be presented as a whole. Only in that way,
indeed, can the significance of any particular principle of settlement
be understood.

It is presumed that whatever policy is put into force will be
administered by a government agency, with and by the consent and support
of both the wage earners and the employers. It is also presumed that the
method of collective bargaining is accepted throughout industry. Indeed,
the existence of organized joint boards or councils of wage earners and
employers would be almost essential to the success of any policy.

The central constituted agency for the administration of the policy
should be a commission or court. The policy should then provide that
whenever a dispute arises incidental to the settlement of wages in any
industry included within the scope of the policy, which dispute is not
settled by the ordinary course of collective bargaining, it should be
referred to this commission or court. All sides should be permitted to
submit evidence bearing upon the case. The court or commission should
have its own expert staff, and its own record and statistical office;
and it should be its duty to know the wage situation throughout
industry.[152] Every possible effort should be made by the commission or
court to render judgment without litigation. The commission or court
should give in full the principles and the data upon which it bases its
decisions.

The wage policy of the commission or court should rest upon the
following principles:

_First_--The principle of standardization should be applied throughout
industry. Wages should be standardized by occupations, despite minor
differences in the character of the work performed by the same
occupational group, or in the conditions under which the work is
performed. Standard rates should be understood to be merely minimum
rates; and the principle of standardizatio