9.--There is one other possible result of the enforcement of wage standardization which requires brief notice, because it was displayed prominently during the war. The demand during the war for certain essentials of warfare was abnormally great, and the result was a steady bidding up of wages for the supply of labor which could assist in the production of these essentials. This led to a constant shifting about of the wage earners from plant to plant. This movement not only hindered the effective organization of production, but also caused a considerable loss of working time, and fostered a continuous pre-occupation with the question of wages and related questions. In view of these facts, the various governmental agencies of wage settlement undertook to introduce into all wage contracts the principle of standardization throughout large areas. Witness, for example, the conclusion of the Shipbuilding Adjustment Board on the matter. "One of the most serious influences retarding the progress of the shipbuilding industry according to the unanimous testimony of the yard owners, and of the district officers of the Fleet Corporation who have come before us, is the shifting of men from yard to yard.... The only effective way to stop it is to remove its inciting cause, the variable wage rates paid by different yards in the same competitive region. With this purpose in view, we have sought in all our hearings to determine with accuracy the limits of each competitive region, so that we might extend over it a uniform wage scale for shipyard employees...."[84] The enforcement of wage standardization may serve to prevent wasteful shifting of the labor supply even in normal times. Theoretically, it should serve to limit the shifting of the labor supply to movement between different industries and occupations, and to cases which represent movement of unemployed wage earners to points where work exists. There would be, of course, innumerable cases of change based upon personal motives. FOOTNOTES: [68] An attempt to classify systematically and analyze the various theories of wages that have been used in attempts to settle wage controversies in accordance with defined principle has been made by Mr. Wilson Comption in an article entitled "Wage Theories in Industrial Arbitration." In its enumeration and discussion of the difficulties to be met in the application of principles, and of the attitude of most agencies of wage settlement it is particularly interesting. _American Economic Review_, June, 1916. [69] J. N. Stockett, "Arbitral Determination of Railway Wages," page 75. [70] See Webb's "Industrial Democracy," Chapter 5, Part II. [71] Resolution No. 18 offered to 1920 Convention, _Cigar Makers Official Journal_, May 15, 1920.