ABANDONMENT OF OLD-TIME THEORIES oI 
Citations could be multiplied as to the revolutionary 
change in attitude toward the commodity theory of wage- 
fixing, or toward cost of living as a wage-adjustment fac- 
tor. As a matter of fact, both of these old ideas were 
either subordinated to or lost sight of in the new concep- 
Hon as to wage and industrial policies which came to the 
forefront after the year 1923.1 
Actual EXPERIENCE SHOWS ABANDONMENT OF 
OLp THEORIES 
Industrial experience itself since the year 1923 is an 
expression of this changed attitude. The practical pro- 
cedure which industry has followed shows conclusively 
that no stress has been placed upon the index-of-living 
costs, or upon supply and demand as the bases for recur- 
ring wage adjustments. Quite the reverse has been true. 
This fact is demonstrated by the diagram opposite page 
92, reproduced from the Monthly Review of the Federal 
Reserve Bank of New York. 
The composite wage index of the diagram includes per 
capita earnings of factory operatives, railway employees, 
agricultural, building, and generally unskilled labor, sal- 
aries paid to teachers, and earnings of clerical help. It is, 
therefore, representative of all classes. If labor in the 
farming industry, which has been abnormally depressed 
since the war, were omitted, the rise in wages would be 
greater. The cost-of-living index is that of the United 
States Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
[t will be noted from the diagram that the trend of wages 
has been upward and the cost of living, on the other hand, 
downward, during the past five years. Mr. Carl Snyder, 
statistician of the New York Reserve Bank and author 
1 For further citations see Feis, “Principles of Wage Settlement,” Chapters 
IV and V, and Chapter VII, Supplementary Note A.