CHAP. 15,~—INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 115

and workers is defective and where wages are exceptionally low,
with special reference to the home-working trades.”*
A questionnaire was prepared by the International Labor Office
and adopted in a restricted form by the conference of 1927. The
idea was to ascertain thereby the views of all Governments and to
facilitate the drafting of such a convention as was likely to be
ratified by them all
There was a rather lively debate at the conference of 1927 as to
the text of the questionnaire. Various employers’ representatives
expressed the desire that it refer to home workers only. They desired
 to exclude other workers from the scope of the discussion in
view of the convention to be drafted in 1928.2 Mr. Giirtner, delegate
 of the German employers, claimed that Germany, having already
 enacted a law in favor of home workers, was not prepared to
go beyond that point, and moved an amendment to restrict the
Questionnaire to home workers, Mr. Gassner, the delegate of the
German Government, seconding the motion. The contrary opinion
was defended by Mr. Nicholson, representative of the British Government,
 which protects both its home workers and its unorganized
factory workers by minimum wage, and has the natural desire to
avoid handicapping its industries in competition with countries
with low wages, made possible by the lack of such legislation. The
German proposition was lost by a vote of 61 to 34. By a vote of
89 to 22 it was decided to put the proposition on the agenda of the
1928 conference, only part of the employers’ delegates voting in the
negative. The representative of the British employers voted “yes,”
while employers’ representatives from some other countries abstained
 from voting. The representatives of the German Government
 voted for the proposition although their amendment had been
rejected.
The questionnaire submitted by Miss Hesselgren (Sweden) for
the committee tended toward restriction of the proposed convention
to a few general principles, while all details as to wage-fixing machinery
 and as to the particular application of the plan to home
work would be embodied in a recommendation.
The International Labor Office prepared very valuable data, which
not only were useful for the Governments which have to answer the
questionnaire and for the 1928 conference but also are useful for
the general scientific understanding of the problem.
To test the point of “defective organization” it has been suggested
 that a comparison be made of the number of workers in a
trade who are covered by collective agreements with the total number
of workers in the trade. As one of the best methods to ascertain
where wages are exceptionally low, it has been proposed to compare
Wages in a given occupation with those in allied trades.
The alternative standard of comparison would be the average
wages paid, for example, to unskilled workers in a large number of

‘Richardson, J. H., A Study on the Minimum Wage, London, 1927, p. 82. Mr. Richardson
 shows that real wages differ too much from country to country to make a uniform
minimum wage possible. But he considers as a possible future step in that direction an
Agreement to prescribe in each country a minimum wage equal to a certain percentage of
ne average wages of unskilled workers in well-organized industries in the country in
estion,
? American Labor Legislation Review, New York, December, 1927: “The Move of
Geneva Toy Minimum Wage Legislation,” by R. Broda (study based on the minutes of the
erence