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tive bargaining. The demand for the adoption of both this principle and its practice is now so urgent, and the conviction of its justice is so profound and so widespread, that those who resist it no longer represent a doubtful cause but merely a foolish prejudice. But if all labor leaders and most capitalists are agreed that the controversies in which they find themselves engaged from time to time are individual only as to time, place and occasion, and that they are social as to the issues involved, the method of possible settlement, and the equity upon which they are to be decided, neither labor nor capital has yet fully committed itself to the view that the community, in which they represent but two interests, has a preponderating concern in their decisions. There is, indeed, a tacit acknowledgment of this concern in the appeals which both capital and labor hasten to make, when matters between them have brought to the direct issue of a strike or a lockout, to that force which up to this point has been a stranger to the proceedings, public opinion.

It is of less importance to develop arguments of which an overwhelming abundance is on record than it is to state conclusions reached by men of practical experience after a close association for many years with both capital and labor. The testimony of these men based on firsthand acquaintance with the problems of labor and capital leads to the conviction that the' heart of the matter is the maintenance of the American standard of living and the securing of a fuller and clearer understanding by both parties of each other and.of the principles involved. That labor is vitally interested in this endeavor needs neither assertion nor demonstration. That the welfare of the community requires it should be equally obvious. There appears also to be no room for doubt that the best interests of capital also lie in the same direction.

VII

THE STANDARD OF LIVING

THE Community as a whole is vitally interested in the maintenance and improvement of the standard of living. It might well puzzle a man to define the "standard of living;" yet it is not an abstraction. It is the sum of a large number of concrete things; it expresses the total of available comforts and luxuries which a man enjoys; it brings to mind the place in which he dwells, the clothes he wears, and the food he eats; it goes further and includes some aspects of the social life open to him, the schooling of his children, his church, his lodge and his amusements. It is possible neither to compress the term into one sentence nor to tell all that it might possibly include in several pages.

We are accustomed to rank the American standard high as compared with that of other countries. We know that the great mass of the population here have better homes, better clothes, and better food than the people abroad; that all share equally in such advantages has never been the case, and probably never will be. But the hope of progress lies in the forward and upward movement of the individual and through him the mass. The desire for a higher standard is normal, and if it is, as we all believe, commendable in the individual, it is equally so for the community which is the sum of the individuals composing it. But a higher standard cannot be reached by the individual unless he works for it. Greater enjoyments and

more refined pleasures can only be attained by increased productivity. The striving for a richer and more varied life plus a strong determination to earn it is the mainspring of economic progress. Vain longings for better things accomplish nothing, and when men have such longings, without the opportunity of realizing them, the situation becomes dangerous. The dull man lapses into a passive state which impairs his economic efficiency; the man of more active temperament joins the forces of revolt, and hopes for personal gain through upsetting the established order of society. In other words, with men of strong character and moral integrity the desire for betterment is an impulse leading to their own and the world's improvement; with weak men whose moral foundations are shaky it may be a torch leading to violence.

Thus far the history of American industrialism has been constructive. Increased productivity, outstripping in its forward movement the growth of the population, has permitted a remarkable improvement in the general standard of living. There is practically no phase of our daily life in which the standard is not very much higher than it was twenty years ago. Houses are better built, more amply furnished, better supplied with heat, light, water, and sanitary conveniences. Access is had to them by better streets, better roads; and in the suburbs as well as in the city surface cars, subways, and elevated railroads have multiplied. Through the enormous increase in the number of automobiles owned by persons of moderate means the area of friendly intercourse has been greatly extended, and this has led to a much wider enjoyment of social pleasures.

If we turn to items of food and clothing we find that the improvement has fully kept pace with that in housing and transportation. Food is not only of better quality

and of greater variety than formerly, but in order that it may be wholesome, a larger proportion of it is subject to government inspection and to various laws requiring purity. Clothing with which the average man would formerly have been content is now cast aside as soon as it begins to show signs of wear. As far as women are concerned, the sway of fashion which formerly ceased to operate as the scale of income fell, now appears to be equally powerful throughout every social class until actual, even abject, poverty is reached. The sensitiveness about dress has developed to its present extreme largely because of the increased social intercourse. All these things have been fostered by the general spread of education, and this factor has added a new item of expenditure to every household in the form of daily papers and illustrated magazines, whose advertisements embody the most artful means of inducing people to spend more

money.

When we contrast the American method of living with that of foreign countries we notice that the American has more rarely numbered among his pleasures the joy of accumulation. Usually he is a generous spender and a negligent saver. His prosperity rests chiefly upon activity, and not upon frugality. The result of this trait is that his expenditure is less elastic. Unaccustomed to restrict expenditures for the purpose of saving capital, he finds that when restriction becomes a necessity it is extremely irksome. When the thrifty and saving person is confronted with diminished income, he has the choice of decreasing his outgo or restricting his savings; and if he goes without meat in order that he may make his payment into the savings bank, he has at least the satisfaction of knowing that his privation is self-imposed.

The economic conditions resulting from the war leave

no question as to the necessity for conservation and thrift, not only in this country but in the entire world. The diversion of great groups of industry to the manufacture of munitions of war, the loss of production in the devastated regions of Europe, and the total destruction not only of enormous quantities of goods, but also of the means of producing goods during the war, have combined to bring about an acute shortage in the world's supply of commodities. Less is available for the use of each individual than formerly and, willingly or not, some will be deprived of accustomed luxuries and even necessities. Yet good results may come, for it is possible that many of the things now regarded as essential to the wellbeing of the average American may prove needless luxuries. Of course, after a man has accustomed himself to a certain scale of expenditure, retrenchment is irksome. It is idle to tell him that he is better off than his father was, or than he was himself ten or more years ago; the luxuries of one generation, or even of one period of a man's life, become the necessities of another.

Nevertheless, the habit of thrift has been cultivated all too little in America. If the people throughout the world would resolutely begin to economize, not in necessities, but in expenditures for luxuries, just so much sooner would the balance between production and consumption be restored. The exercise of prudence in spending would thus tend to become a habit and prosperity would be more far-reaching than before. In almost every activity of daily life there is opportunity to save. In the purchase of personal comforts and even of necessities, in the care and maintenance of clothing, in the choice and preparation of food, in the selection of amusements for education and culture, and in innumerable other ways practical economy may be exercised without lowering the accus

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