46 SEVENTEENTH REPORT. 



ployed regularly. To this end the carpenters' attempt to limit those 

 who are inclined to be too energetic and take the work away from 

 their fellows. Thus the carpenters reduce the number of unem- 

 ployed. One of the most obvious rules for work sharing is the 

 one preventing the carpenter from installing non-union stairs. The 

 stair cases could be made by semi-skilled workmen at lower wages 

 than is paid the carpenters. But by installing only union made 

 stair cases over six thousand union cari^enters are kept employed at 

 union wages. 



It still remains to discuss the last of the four sub-divisions of the 

 definition of principles, namely union theories. 



The carpenters suggest some theories in the joint agreement which 

 are misleading. Article Three says, "All workmen are at libertj' to 

 work for whomsoever they see fit." The same article gives the 

 employers an equal liberty in employing. According to another 

 section of the same article, "There shall be no limitation as to the 

 amount of work a man shall perform during his working day," and 

 "There shall be no restrictions of the use of any manufactured ma- 

 terial, except prison made." These statements would indicate that 

 they are in harmony with the elastic demand theory, and do not 

 attempt to share work, nor believe with other labor unions in the 

 fixed group demand theory. The preceding section shows the con- 

 trary. Their own interpretation of these theories, found in Chap- 

 ter III, shows that the foregoing statements are misleading, and 

 must have been included in the agreement from preceding agree- 

 ments, or consciously included to deceive the employer and public. 



There are on the contrary a number of quite well recognized 

 theories which underlie the carpenters' rules. They do not appear 

 in any declarations or rule but are a fundamental part of their 

 working rules. Some of these fundamental theories are called the 

 theories of standardization; undercutting; fixed group demand; 

 and the standard of living. It is through the infiuence of their 

 theory of standardiziation that units of measurements, as the eight 

 hour day, are so vigorously fought for and maintained. The theory 

 of undercutting makes clear the necessity of using standards thus 

 established to prevent men from underbidding each other. The 

 fixed group demand theory assumes that the demand for any com- 

 modity remains fixed, "inelastic," regardless of changes in the ]u-ice. 

 And the standard of living theory assumes that there is a certain 

 fixed living cost below which the members of the union must not 

 fall. According to their estimation of costs, the sixty-five cents per 

 hour is sufti<i('u( to maintain their standard of living. 



The foregoing theories will be discussed in Chapter TIL Before 



