8 MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

in a concern making baby clothes, from 7, 12, and 19 cents an hour
fo a minimum of 22 cents. The Industrial Commission of Wisconsin
 admits that its decree has contributed to keep an industry out
of the State. Prospective manufacturers petitioned the commission
for permission to employ home workers below the minimum wage in
the manufacture of hand-knitted wear for babies, to compete with
New York shops manufacturing the same article. The commission,
however, felt that it was in the public interest to exclude such
“ parasitic ” industries.” The experience of Victoria (Australia)
also tends to show that home work has been restricted by elimination
of facilities to keep down production costs by wages bélow the general
 average of industry. No tendency of so marked a degree is
reported from England. But the possibility of consequences similar
 to those in Victoria has to be faced when considering the advisasility
 of extending American wage legislation to home-work trades.

Machinery of the Laws

The laws fixing a state-wide general minimum wage have proved to
be lacking in flexibility and Rave not given the same facility for
adaptation to change of conditions as other laws.?
The Industrial Welfare Commission of Oregon presents an original
 feature, being composed of one representative of the public, one
representative of the employers, and one representative of the employees.””
 Where the central commissions are simply part of the
bureaucratic system of the States, cooperation of employers and employees
 is guaranteed by public hearings and by conferences or boards
n the particular industries. A report of the Women’s Bureau of the
United States Department of Labor 28 shows that States where women
1ave served on the commissions have been the most active.

Exemptions

Regulations as to licenses to handicapped workers are practically
dentical everywhere. More characteristic is the exemption provision
of the present Wisconsin law in favor of employers who show that
they can not maintain their industry if they pay the minimum wage.**
A similar rule exists in Massachusetts, but so far no employer has
applied for such exemption at the statehouse in Boston. In Wisconsin
 it is stipulated expressly that exemptions may be granted only
if the inability to pay the wage is not caused by the inefliciency of the
employer. Even so, the rule is contrary to the policy of Australia—
that industries unable to pay the minimum wage should be discouraged.

Principle of Wage Fixation

The “living wage” predominates as the principle used in wage
fixation. There are only two significant exceptions. In Massachu-*

 Frankfurter, Felix; Dewson, Mary W.; and Commons, John R.: State Minimum Wage
Laws in Practice. New York, National Consumers’ League, 1924, p. 121.
i“ an from Carolyn I. Smith, secretary to the Utah Industrial Linon, dated Mar.
on OreEon. Industrial Welfare Commission. Seventh biennial report, 1925-26. Salem,
p. 3.
=i 8. Department of Labor. Women’s Bureau Rul. Nu. 61: The development of
minimum wage laws In the United States, 1912 to 1927.
% American Labor Legislation Review, New York, December, 1925, p. 825.