CHAP. 7,—INTERFERENCE WITH WAGES IN CANADA 63

Results

E XPERIENCES of the Canadian Provinces as a whole elucidate
various questions connected with the results of minimum wage
laws, but the experience of the different Provinces is not equally instructive.
 The application of the law in Quebec is of too recent a
hature, and application in the prairie Provinces (as we have seen
above) is too empirical and sporadic, to shed light on complicated
Problems. The most instructive experience is that of British Columbia
 where the law has been consistently applied for 10 years and that
of Ontario which refers to highly diversified industry and conditions
of advanced civilization.

Effect on General Level of Wages

The report of the Minimum Wage Board of Ontario for 1925 states
that in 1920 a fifth of the women employed in several industries
earned less than $6 a week. Such conditions have been entirely
eliminated. Not only have the lowest wages been raised, but also the
Wages of the skilled employees. “The underpinning of the basic
Wages has strengthened the entire column of the wage sheet” (p. 5).
The report of the minimum wage board for 1926 (p. 5) states that a
big charitable institution in Toronto where girls unable to pay com-Mercial
 rates of board were living had to be closed as they no longer
needed such help.
Not only did the wage increases up to the amount of the minimum
Wage orders but the increase was important also in the higher earnngs
 of the more skilled employees. Employers obviously had an interest
 in paying somewhat more for a skilled employee than just the
minimum for a slower employee. The minimum had in no way
tended to become the maximum. These results are shown in the
following figures as to wages in retail and department stores and
textile factories under minimum wage orders:

Order No. 6.—Retail stores in cities of 30,000 or over (except Toronto)®

1926
1
36
26
71
39
357
7?
118
138
£9
45
49
6
Total 1,123 1,107
BW 1 prmetameeeseerme——tees  —emarm——e eee eee et bv ee i
go 2nada (Ontario), Minimum Wage Board. Sixth annual report, 1926. Toronto,

Number of women reported as earning per week:
Under $7 _________. ____ ———— ee em
$7 and under *3__________ em
$8 and under .________________ Heyes mmm
$9 and under ¥ _______________________
$10 and under emt Sm te ee mmr
$11 and under iit ons re mess ee ttt EB
$12 and under re mt tft i SS lS
$13 and under ee ee me St 0 ere ma
$14 and under ei SS Sp se en
$15 and under i. St tr me mt mmm mei Ra
$16 and under
$18 and under
$20 and under
$22 and over. _