ACCEPTANCE OF NEW THEORY ISI 
ployees, one of the oldest and most conservative unions 
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, in defin- 
ing the principles and standards to govern their future 
relations, formally agreed that street railway employees 
should have an opportunity to participate in productive 
gains, “in addition to wages sufficient for the necessities 
of life, comfort and savings.” 
STANDARDS EVOLVED 
Different wage standards, gradually extending upward 
in their scope and conception, were evolved and accepted 
as the result of the movement for a living wage, both in 
its pre-war and post-war developments. What should 
constitute a reasonable minimum standard of living varied 
in conception from time to time. Economists and social 
workers have defined and classified these levels of living. 
Prior to the World War, as has already been described, 
the minimum standards which had been developed were 
defined as “The Pauper or Poverty Level,” and “The 
Minimum Subsistence Level” of living! The evolution 
of higher standards since the war may be briefly summar- 
ized in chronological order as follows: 
1. The Minimum Health and Comfort Level. This 
budgetary standard had its beginning, as already pointed 
out, in the Seattle Street Railway arbitration award of 
1917. During the war it was sanctioned by the National 
War Labor Board, and after the War it was elaborately 
developed on a scientific basis by the United States Bureau 
of Labor Statistics. Under the designation of the “living 
wage” it was sanctioned by Federal and State labor agen- 
cies, by the churches without regard to denomination, and 
by leading statesmen, publicists and economists. It be- 
"1See p25.