Work Wages And Profits

t oftenest exists we cannot expect the workman to be much different from what he is. If we were in his place, we should probably do as he does. We should want to make the best living we could for our families, and if by working honestly and conscientiously we could not make any more money, and if we had tried it over and over again, and still could not get any more, even though we did twice or three times as much as the poorer worker beside us, we should do the same thing the average worker now does; namely, come to the conclusion that the system under which we were working had no provision for compensating the individual according to his deserts, and that the only way we could get more money for our services was to get the wage rate of our class raised, and take steps to this end. This is exactly what the men do. The employer has forced them into a class by keeping their wages uniform, and it is but a short step from such a class to a union. With the union comes first collective bargaining, then demands, then strikes. This is a logical series, for a successful bargainer always wants a better bargain next time, and the demand that is successful is very apt to be followed later by one that will yield more still, even if it takes force to sustain it. As was said in a previous chapter, most workmen are good citizens, and if we can show them peaceful means by which they can get equitable compensation, they will have but little desire to resort to force. As has bee...