[72] P. S. Collier, "Minimum Wage Legislation in
Australasia," Appendix VIII, Fourth Report of the Factory
Investigating Commission, New York State (1915). See also R.
H. Tawney's investigations of Retail Tailoring and
Chainmaking Trades (Great Britain).
[73] D. A. McCabe in his book, "The Standard Rate in
American Trade Unions," calls attention to two aspects of
the subject that are frequently overlooked. Firstly, that
"in any attempt to estimate the extent to which men receive
wages above the minimum on account of superior efficiency,
it is important to bear in mind that the minimum in
different scales may stand in very different relation to the
modal or predominant wage. The proportion of men receiving
more than the union minimum is frequently large because the
competitive wage has increased since the minimum was
established" (page 116); and secondly, that "the extent to
which differential wages are paid above the union minimum,
when that rate is the rate actually paid to the men whose
efficiency is about the average, varies widely in different
trades.... Standardization of workmen and of work and the
practice of dealing with large bodies of men as classes tend
to standardize the wages paid in the railway service more
than in trades calling for similar grades of skill in other
industries" (page 117); so, too, "the tendency towards
uniform rates for men engaged in the same kind of work is
stronger in large establishments than in small
establishments for the same reason" (page 117 ff.).
Prominent among the factors which tend to make standard time
rates actual rates he mentions: firstly, that the variations
in efficiency within the membership of a time working union
are not as likely to be as wide as among the men outside the
union in the same trade, because the mere insistence on a
standard rate tends to exclude some men much below the
standard of competency. Secondly, practically all of the
skilled trades unions require candidates for membership to
prove their competency or be vouched for as competent by
members who have worked with them. And thirdly, because the
standard rate is the center of attention in negotiations and
thus is made the presumptive rate (page 114-119).
[74] D. A. McCabe, "The Standard Rate in American Trade
Unions," page 105.
[75] Report signed by Commissioners Manly, Walsh, Lennon,
O'Connell, and Garrettson. Vol. I, "Final Report of the
Commission on Industrial Relations" (1912-16), page 132.
[76] Report on Collective Agreements in the United Kingdom
(1910) (CD 5366), page xiv.
[77] A. C. Pigou, "Economics of Welfare," page 441.
[78] A. Marshall, "Principles of Economics" (7th Ed.), page
548.
[79] R. H. Tawney, "Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Industry"
(Great Britain), pages 110-111. See for similar view, 4th
Report of N. Y. State Factory Investigating Commission, Vol.
V (1915), testimony of Miss Van Kleeck.
[80] D. A. McCabe, "The Standard Rate in American Trade
Unions," page 14.
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