, that if organized workers
get higher wages this sets a standard which it is easier for the
unorganized then to attain. Both of these suggestions may have
some little validity in special cases, affecting slightly a small
proportion of the unorganized workers, but neither touches fundamental
causes of general high wages. Whereas, it is clear that when the
unorganized laborers constitute the main body of consumers for the
products of organized labor (and this unquestionably is in large
measure the case) any increase in wages that can be secured through
organization by a portion of the workers must, in part, be subtracted
from the "real" incomes of the unorganized workers. The employer is
middleman, not to a great degree the ultimate consumer of labor.[9]
Some part, it is true, of the higher wage might be taken from profits
or from wealth-incomes, but this would still leave the unorganized
workers the losers.

Sec. 12. #Competitive aspect of organization and particular wages.#
A different question is presented as regards the influence of
organization upon particular wages, and primarily upon the wages of
organized labor. The trade-union authority before cited says, "Where
there are no unions wages should be lower. This is exactly the case."
And he quotes: "Wherever we find union principles ignored, a low rate
of wages prevails and the reverse where organization is perfect." But
he later explains in part this difference: "The union men are the best
workmen and often employers pay a man more than union wages. This is
not surprising as no man can be a union carpenter unless he be in good
health, have worked a certain number of years at his trade, be a good
workman, of steady habits and good moral character." If this be true,
as doubtless it is to some degree in many trades and places, it is
in accordance with competitive principles that, as the elite of the
trade, the organized laborers should get higher wages than those
outside the unions. Moreover, the unions exist mainly in the more
populous places where costs of living as well as wages range higher
than in the small towns and in the rural districts. A comparison
merely of wages in money in such cases is misleading as to the
conditions of real income. Further, a higher standard of output
prevails in the cities where organization is greatest, and older men
and the less efficient that are unable to "keep up the pace" drift
away into unorganized shops or to villages where n