The Labor Problem from the Social Viewpoint

Abstract

THE labor problem is primarily and essentially a social problem. It will never be solved until it is so regarded, and perhaps even then it can only be put in the way of solution. Social problems as a rule are not solved, they are outgrown. But the growing process may be directed and accelerated if the problems are understood. There are four different viewpoints from which the labor problem is commonly regarded. They are the viewpoints of Labor, of Capital, of the Consumer, and of Society at large. Conclusions arrived at with respect to the problem are dependent upon the viewpoint that is taken. From the viewpoint of Labor the labor problem is primarily a question of wages. Baldly stated it is, How may wages be increased relatively to the amount of work performed? Laborers, like other people, act in accordance with the law of parsimony, that is, on the principle of the largest return for the least effort. Their immediate return is wages. With respect to every industrial proposal, therefore, they ask, What is going to be its effect on the wagescale? If it promises to raise wages, they are for it. If it threatens to reduce wages, they oppose it tooth and nail. This is not to say that they are incapable or indisposed, more than others, to consider any interests but their own. It means only that with the laborer his own interests come first, and these, by a conspicuous and universal trait in human nature, are likely to be identified with the interests of society as a whole. These facts should be taken into consideration in adjudging the policies and demands of Labor. The methods of organized labor, for instance, cannot with fairness be appraised unless the viewpoint of the laborer is taken and the psychological factor is allowed for. The closed shop, opposition to piecework, limiting