THE INCOME OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 209
anxious not to enter on a field which lies outside our proper functions ;
but we have been struck by the contrasts presented in industrial and
commercial organisation. We also found many employers unaware
of the successful experiments of others in the labour field. Indeed,
many of our recommendations are no more than the advocacy on a
gencral scale of those ideas of individual employers which have proved
successful in application.

Conception of Fixed Standard.

We turn now to the most direct method of raising the standard of
living, namely, the raising of the earnings of the worker. It is necessary
here to deal with a preliminary objection which was put before 11s on
more than one occasion and has even found its way into official reports,
It is urged, and apparently believed by not a few employers, that the
worker has a fixed standard at which he aims, and that, when he has
sarned enough to maintain that standard, he ceases to make
any further effort. This view is frequently coupled with the belief
that the worker has already attained the standard he desires. If
this were true, an increase in wage rates would do more harm
than good, for it would diminish production without benefiting
she worker financially. On this view, it is only by getting
she worker to spend his money more wisely that any advance is
possible. In dealing with a great and varied mass of workers, it is rash
bo say that such a doctrine is true in respect of none of them.
very nation can produce men who are satisfied with the barest needs
and will make no further effort after these are supplied. It must also
be admitted that ambition is not particularly vigorous with many
[ndian workers; we return to the causes of this later. But it is not
difficult to show that the doctrine is not true of the great bulk of Indian
industrial labour, for it ig contradicted by the facts. If it were true,
it would be impossible to raise the workers’ standard of living
except by coercion ; yet there is no doubt that it has in fact risen
appreciably in recent years. Reference has been made to the lack of
cost of living index numbers, but there is ample evidence to show
bhat the level of real wages, particularly in the more organised industries,
is now appreciably higher than it was ten years ago. Few, even of
those who hold the belief mentioned, would deny this. The evidence
of unprejudiced observers regarding improvement in the general
standard of living and the increase in the level of real wages show
that the workers’ earnings have risen, 4.e., that the idea of any general
fixed standard is fallacious. What, is both true and largely responsible
for this mistaken judgment is that a sudden accretion of income is
seldom wisely spent ; the worker cannot raise his standard of living
overnight. Further, as the standard of comfort is improved, there
1s an intelligible and reasonable tendency to secure some increase in
leisure at the expense of part of the possible increase in income. We
ban appreciate the preference of the worker for some remission of toil,

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