Збо
The Green Bag,
and compel the production of all books and papers necessary for the trial of the contro versy. The Court should not be bound by the hard-and-fast rules of evidence as pre vail in our civil courts. Great latitude of procedure should be allowed, so as to enable the Court to arrive at a conclusion not only just but politic, as in many cases of dispute strict justice might become oppressive to one or the other of the parties, or might fail to protect the public interests involved in the controversy. The Court should be empowered to decide, upon investigation, what shall be the mini mum wage and the maximum work-day for the parties before the Court. After the Court obtains exact knowledge of the amount of wealth produced by the employer and the employé within a given time, it would not be a very difficult matter to decide how much of the wealth should go to labor in the form of wages and how much should go to capi tal in the form of profits. The Court should approximate the true value of labor as measured by its productive power, being governed by the prevailing rates in the labor market. Questions of the same nature are decided by railroads and gas commissions, when they fix rates and charges, and the decision should be based on similar principles. The Court should leave the employer free to employ labor, if he so desires. It should leave the laborer free to work or not, as he may desire. But it would say to the em ployer, you must pay the wage determined, or you must cease to employ labor. If you disobey, you will be in contempt of court and be liable to a fine or imprisonment. And it should say to the employé, you must work for the wage determined or you must seek employment elsewhere and not interfere with the men who are willing to work on the terms set forth in the award. When the Industrial Court fixes a mini mum wage in a dispute between the em
ployer and the employés, it necessarily bases its decision upon a certain quantity and qual ity of work, which should be fully set forth in its decree. The decision of the Industrial Court should merely establish that the em ployer in question shall not pay less wages than the sum named for work of the pre scribed quantity and quality. Its decision should not preclude an inquiry by the or dinary courts into the question of the work man's compliance or non-compliance with the quantity or quality of the work stated. If the employé sues the employer in a court of law for the minimum wage, he must prove that his work in quantity and quality is equal to that prescribed by the decree of the In dustrial Court; if his work be inferior in these respects, he should only recover a smaller sum of wages. If the employer is prosecuted •in the ordinary courts upon the charge of paying less than the minimum wage to his employés, the government must prove, not only the payment of less than the minimum wage, but also that the work performed by the employés was equal to the standard pre scribed by the Industrial Court: and if the Government fails to prove these facts, the accused employer should be found not guilty. These provisions protect the employer from the injustice of being compelled by law to pay standard wages for work below the standard, and renders the law of the Indus trial Court just and equitable. In the course of any trial or investigation, the Industrial Court should make all such suggestions and do all such things as appear to the judges to be right and proper to be made or done for securing a fair and amica ble settlement of the industrial dispute; and upon an agreement being reached by the par ties in difference, the Court should enter its decree according to the terms of settlement. The decision of the Court should be bind ing for from one to two years. The progress of industry, necessarily causes inequalities. Prices change. The wages of any given
