44 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK
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REAL WAGES IN FoRreIGN COUNTRIES AND THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY TO
OcToBER, 1925. (From International Labor Review, April, 1926. P. 589.)
October, 1925 July, 1925 January, 1925
100 100 100
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City
Philadelphia ...
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Sydney, N. 8, We rr
Copenhagen ...
London...
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Parisi... ne
Berlin .. are. mL Ts ol
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Prague ... or ra
Warsaw ..
Rome ...
Vienna ...
Milan
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We may summarize the discussion thus far by saying that high
wages will prevail in any country with reasonably good natural
resources in which the following factors are all found working
in combination.
1. A democratic tradition under which (a) every person, how-
ever humble his origin, is encouraged to make the most of him-
self and to climb as high on the economic ladder as his ability
and training will permit, and (b) all useful occupations are
regarded as equally honorable and in which, specifically, tech-
nical, managerial and entrepreneurial positions are held in as
high esteem as the so-called learned professions or even literary
and artistic careers, so that a fair share of the best talent of the
country is encouraged to seek those so-called practical careers.
2. Habits of hard and prolonged work on the part of prosperous
men, which will keep them at work even after they have enough
wealth to enable them to retire to a life of ease and luxury.
3. An efficient system of free and universal education, by means
of which men are enabled to climb as high on the economic ladder
as their natural ability and their ambition will permit, thus thin-
ning out the numbers in the lower and less paid occupations, and
training more high grade men for the technical and managerial
positions, who can so organize and equip industries as to make
high wages possible.
4. An effective restriction of immigration which will prevent
other and less prosperous countries from shifting their burdens
of unemployment and low wages upon this country.
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