PRE-WAR PRINCIPLES AND METHODS 27 
Economics of the University of Washington and the Uni- 
versity of California. Technically it became later known, 
in a general way in connection with wage controversies, 
as the “living wage” as contrasted with the “subsistence 
wage standard.” The original occasions which led to its 
development were wage arbitrations in 1917 between street 
railway companies and their employees in Seattle, Wash- 
ington, and in Qakland, California. 
THE SEATTLE AND SAN Francisco Awarps, 1917 
[n December, 1917, an arbitration board, which had 
been earlier appointed in Seattle to determine a wage dis- 
pute between the local traction company and its employees, 
made an award which was destined to have a far-reaching 
effect in later years. The Chairman of the Board was 
Doctor Henry Suzzalo, at that time President of the Uni- 
versity of Washington. He called upon the faculty of 
the Economics and Sociology Department of the Univer- 
sity to assist him. The late Dr. Carlton Parker was at 
that time head of the department, and with him were 
associated Professor William F. Ogburn and others. They 
made a careful study of living conditions among street 
railway employees in the city, and prepared a budget for 
the consideration of the Board in making its award. This 
budget, as defined by the Arbitration Board in its decision, 
“may be called a minimum comfort budget and is slightly 
higher than a minimum health budget. The standard set 
may, therefore, be said to have been two steps higher than 
he minimum subsistence level.” 
It was further explained by the Board that the budget 
was not an ideal but a generalized one. A family of five 
was chosen as the basis for the following reasons: 
The budget is for a family of five. Three children are 
chosen for various reasons. (a) Three children at least are