LABOR'S NEW STATUS 287% 
is more suitable for an undertaking where an expansion of 
demand may develop, without reductions in rates or prices, 
or to the revenue gains to which wage-earners may con- 
tribute through cooperation in securing customer good- 
will and patronage. It is admirably suited for an equitable 
sharing of the revenue gains of public utilities, such as 
street and steam railways, but not so just or practical for 
manufacturing and mining industries. 
To summarize briefly, therefore : a practical basis of pro- 
cedure would provide: 
{. 
For the establishment of adequate basic or minimum 
rates of pay for the lowest grades of workers accord- 
ing to accepted budgetary standards showing what 
the earning requirements of the unskilled worker 
should be. 
Provision for the maintenance of pre-existing differ- 
entials above these minimum rates according to skill, 
hazard, responsibility and productive efficiency. 
The arrangement of indices by which the foregoing 
wage-scales would be periodically adjusted accord- 
ing to fluctuations in living costs, and, 
The adoption of an equitable method by which 
labor’s share in the productive gains of industry over 
and above its regular wage rates could be deter- 
mined. If the productivity of industry as a whole 
increases materially, this would, of course, be prima 
facie evidence for increasing the basic rates of pay so 
as to allow for permanently higher standards of ljv- 
ne. 
2. 
\ J a 
Such a basis of procedure as the foregoing is of funda- 
mental importance to labor, not primarily because of the 
gains in economic well-being which it may make quickly 
possible for individuals and labor as a class. but for the