In order to create a
system which shall be as independent of the good-will of benevolent
employers as of the ill-will of selfish ones, we shall have to find a
basis in the actual facts of life itself.
It costs just as much physical strength to turn out a day's work when
wheat is $1 a bushel, as when wheat is $2.50 a bushel. Eggs may be 12
cents a dozen or 90 cents a dozen. What difference does it make in the
units of energy a man uses in a productive day's work? If only the man
himself were concerned, the cost of his maintenance and the profit he
ought to have would be a simple matter. But he is not just an
individual. He is a citizen, contributing to the welfare of the nation.
He is a householder. He is perhaps a father with children who must be
reared to usefulness on what he is able to earn. We must reckon with all
these facts. How are you going to figure the contribution of the home to
the day's work? You pay the man for his work, but how much does that
work owe to his home? How much to his position as a citizen? How much to
his position as a father? The man does the work in the shop, but his
wife does the work in the home.
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