y; by its use the competition for employment between the various
members of the group is prevented from taking the form of
underbidding.[70]

The enforcement of standard rates throughout a large area hinders
industries from locating in places because of the opportunities for the
hire of labor at cheaper rates, notwithstanding the fact that other
places may possess greater natural advantages. It puts all competing
enterprises and localities comprised within the area of standardization
upon the same plane. This is well brought out by a resolution brought
forward in the 1920 Convention of the Cigar Makers which reads "Whereas,
the cigar makers in local unions are working on prices in some instances
ten to twenty dollars cheaper per thousand lower than the cigar makers
and unions of different localities, and, Whereas cigar manufacturers are
taking advantage of the situation, moving their factories or
establishing branches of them in cheaper districts ... and, Whereas this
is detrimental to the welfare of the cigar makers and detrimental to the
principles of the Cigar Makers International Union be it resolved by
this convention that the Cigar Makers International Union adopt as one
of its aims the securing of a uniform bill of prices, taking into
consideration all the local conditions and necessities of the trade and
local interests of the cigar makers, etc...."[71] And finally the
enforcement of standard rates tends to add to the competitive importance
of able management. Shrewdness in bargaining with the labor force
becomes a less important factor in economical production; ability to use
the labor force, at the standard rate, to the best advantage becomes a
more important factor. The tone of competition undergoes a change.

The principle of wage standardization is already accepted in many
branches of American industry. Even in those branches, however, there
remain many open questions as to the limits of its applicability. It has
in the main the approval of public opinion, as shown by its acceptance
in all projects of wage regulation undertaken by the government in time
of war, and by the report of the President's Second Industrial
Conference.

4.--It is necessary to study the characteristics of standard wage rates
in some detail, in order to be able to measure the effect of the
introduction of the principle into industry, and in order, also, to mark
out the limits of its applicability.

The first characteristic of th