CHAP. 10.—PROTECTION OF HOME WORKERS 77
forms advocated.! Through this and various other channels this
example, which in 1909 led to parallel legislation in England (trade
boards act), became widely known throughout the countries of the
Continent.? As a result, France, Germany, and Austria began to
consider similar provisions for abolishing the sweating of home
workers. Resistance, though serious, was overcome—in France, after
the outbreak of the war, when State interference in industrial affairs
became general; in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, after
their revolutions. Norway and Argentina also established in 1918
Wage boards for home workers; Spain passed a legislative decree
to that effect in 1926.
A small-scale Swiss experiment, however, was discontinued after
5 years, and so far the laws of Austria and Czechoslovakia have not
been consistently applied.
In this chapter the actual application of minimum wage laws for
home workers in France, Norway, Argentina, and Germany (and
the new Spanish leg’slation) will be studied. In the next chapter
the unsuccessful or yet inconclusive experiments undertaken in the
same field by Switzerland, Austria; and Czechoslovakia, and the
causes of the temporary failure, will be examined.
FRANCE
THE French law of July 10, 1915, evolved from deliberations in
various commissions and in Parliament lasting for several years,
was finally accepted by unanimous vote of both chambers. Combin.
Ing different projects and counter-projects of divergent tendencies
1t established wages boards for female home workers in the clothing
and allied industries. The range of protected persons is therefore
much more restricted than in the Anglo-Saxon countries.
. The French family allowances (compulsory for contractors working
for the National Government and granted also by many firms)
affect a larger range of persons, but, unlike the parallel Australian
Proposition, they are not connected with any basic wage granted
to the wage earner; they are related rather to the French system
of social insurance (embracing also old-age pensions, ete.) than with
minimum wage legislation, and are therefore only mentioned here.
Principle of Wage Fixation
T HE boards do not possess one essential attribute which those in
most Anglo-Saxon countries do, as they are not authorized to
consider principles of social justice as a basis Tor their decisions—they
have no right to establish a living wage on the basis of general principles,
and they may not even investigate whether or not the trade
can bear any rate the fixation of which is desirable for humanitarian
reasons. They are formally bound to apply a particular combination
of the “fair-wage” principle with some consideration for a « living
1 Burns, E. M.: Wages and the State. London, 1926, p. 15.
?8ee for details Broda, R.: Inwieweif ist eine gesetzliche Regelung der Lohn und
Arbeitsbedingungen méglich 7 Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1911. .
¢ See for critical examination of the first draft of law submitted to Parliament and for
Proposed amendments, Les Documents du Progres, Revue Internationale, Paris, January,
1902, p. 1: “Le salaire minimum jour des Quvridres en chambre, by R. Broda.
