172 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES
made to concentrate into the hands of the few the advan-
tages of modern production methods. Moreover, any such
attempt is entirely unnecessary; there will be plenty indeed
for the able and for the lucky, if production and widespread
distribution are aided and fostered and encouraged in every
possible way. . . .
The remarkable part about all this is that high wages seem
everywhere to be an advance requisite to the adoption of
machinery. The increased productivity resulting from the
use of machinery makes high wages possible, but paradoxi-
cally enough it seems necessary to have high wages first, be-
fore the men in charge of industry will consider the installa-
tion of machinery.
In spite of the fact that wages in our factory have more
than doubled in the past fifteen years, our manufacturing
costs are actually lower now than they were at the beginning
of that period. High wages, forcibly thrust upon us by the
war, and always opposed by those in charge of our business,
have lowered our manufacturing costs, by making us apply
machinery and power to tasks formerly done by hand.
Some time ago, in thinking over this unexpected and un-
foreseen result of wage increases, the idea occurred to me
“What if our wages should again be doubled?” I have been
extremely interested in this idea and have reviewed, in care-
ful detail, all the manufacturing operations in our plant, and
I am quite certain that if our wage rates should double in a
few years’ time our costs would be lower than they are now.
N. I. STONE, LABOR MANAGER, HICKEY-FREEMAN COMPANY,
ROCHESTER, N, Y.1:
The worker should share in the benefits resulting from the
introduction of improved machinery and increased efficiency.
Whether this share should take the form of higher wages,
shorter hours, or a share in the general profits, or in the
specific savings resulting from the improvements, is a sub-
ject so large as to require separate treatment.
1 From Annols of American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sept.
1919, p. 26.
