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wage earners, or because of substitution into their occupations of other
classes of labor or of machinery. And secondly: the possibility that the
enforcement of the living wage policy will bring about a concentration
of employment upon the more efficient members of the groups affected,
and thus throw out of employment the very individuals who are most in
need of help. And thirdly: the possibility that there will be an
increase in the numbers of those groups which the living wage principle
is designed to aid, with consequences similar to those suggested under
the second heading.

In my opinion, the chances that any of these things will result from the
enforcement of a living wage policy in the United States to-day are
small. Yet to put the matter summarily,--these are the dangers which
those entrusted with the administration of a living wage policy would
have to be alive to; and if they become real, seek to overcome, by
shaping their policy according to the facts that confront them. The
factors which will determine whether any or all of these undesirable
results will ensue are many. They cannot be balanced in the abstract.
Yet general reasoning enables us to discern those which will make that
likelihood greater or smaller in any occupation or industry.

We may start by enumerating those factors which enter into the
likelihood that a reduction of employment will result from the
enforcement of a living wage policy. They are: Firstly, the amount of
wage increase undertaken; secondly, the importance of the wages received
by the groups in question in the total expenses of production; thirdly,
the shape of the demand curve for the products of the groups; fourthly,
the chances for improvements in the methods of production; fifthly, the
chances of encouraging better business management by enforcing living
wage standards; sixthly, the effect of the wage increases upon the
efficiency of the groups affected, and their fitness for advancement to
more skilled work; seventhly, upon the opportunities for substitution
of machinery; and lastly upon the ultimate effects of the introduction
of machinery on the employment of these groups.

Turning now to the second possibility, that the enforcement of living
wage standards will cause a concentration of employment upon the more
efficient workmen, thus throwing out of employment those most in need of
help, here, too, a great number of factors have to be reckoned with.
They, however, ha