PRE-WAR PRINCIPLES AND METHODS 11 
ways and their engine and train crews under the provisions 
of the Newlands Law.? 
This factor, however, as a basis for the determination 
of wages, as can be seen at once, had no fundamental or 
constructive significance. It was a defensive factor and 
not a constructive or underlying principle of action. It 
assumed that pre-existing wage-standards were satisfac- 
tory, and its acceptance and application merely implied 
that the real wages which had previously been received 
should be continued. It carried with it no analysis as to 
the adequateness or acceptability of previous standards of 
compensation. Under its workings there could be no 
actual advance in economic well-being. Its acceptance and 
application as a method of wage-adjustment could only 
mean that there would be—as compared with past periods 
—no loss to wage-earners in purchasing power or in real 
income. 
STANDARDIZATION OF OCCUPATIONS AND RATES OF PAy 
Another prominent factor which also gradually devel- 
oped in pre-war wage-determinations was that of stand- 
ardization. The effort was constantly made by wage- 
earners to secure standardized rates in certain occupa- 
tional groups irrespective of local conditions. This ten- 
dency was especially noticeable in organized trades, as in 
the metal and building crafts, and in certain highly organ- 
ized industries, as bituminous coal mining and steam 
‘ransportation. 
In the case of the coal-mining industry, basic rates of 
nay were established by negotiation and agreement in what 
1 J. Noble Stockett, “Arbitral Determination of Railway Wages” (Hough- 
on Mifflin Company, Boston, 1918), Chapter III—The Increased Cost of 
Living. Proceedings of Railway Wage Arbitrations Held under the Auspices 
»f the United States Board of Mediation and Conciliation, 1910-1915. Herbert 
Feis, “Principles of Wage Settlement,” Chapter IV (H. W. Wilson Company, 
New York, 1924).