WAGES 



6121 



WAGNER 



wages of half the men in the world is not half 

 the world's product. To make this clear, it 

 may be presumed that a farmer by doing all 

 the work on his farm can get a crop of 500 

 bushels. If he hires a helper and gets a crop 

 of 900 bushels, he wJl not give the helper half, 

 but at the most 400 bushels. If he hires a sec- 

 ond helper he may increase his crop another 

 300 bushels. The most he can pay the second 

 helper is 300 bushels; if the latter is willing 

 to accept this the first helper will have to ac- 

 cept it, too, or the farmer would make more 

 money by hiring the second one alone. The 

 amount which the last man hired adds to the 

 product is called his marginal product. 



If laborers will work for less than their mar- 

 ginal product, employers will compete for their 

 services, and wages will rise. If, on the other 

 hand, laborers demand more than they add to 

 the product, they will not be hired. Therefore, 

 under ordinary conditions, the wages of a man 

 tend to equal that which he adds to society by 

 his work. 



The reason that a railroad president may re- 

 ceive $25,000 a year while the men who lay his 

 track get only $500 is that though there are 

 thousands of men who can lay track, there are 

 very few who can administer a railroad. There- 

 fore, the marginal product of the more capable 

 man is greater, because he adds more to the 

 world by his presence. 



Unions. Because individual laborers are at a 

 disadvantage in bargaining, they have organ- 

 ized labor unions ; these endeavor to obtain for 

 their members higher money wages and better 

 conditions of work. In the case above men- 

 tioned, if the two farm employees were mem- 

 bers of a union they would try to force the 

 fanner to pay them all that they added to his 

 crop, that is 700 bushels, or 350 each, instead 

 of 300. But he would refuse to hire them at 

 this price because he would gain nothing, and 

 if they forced him every season to pay more 

 than the equivalent of his increase he might 

 sell his farm and invest his money el.sewl 

 Thus, in spite of the union, wages would still 

 tend to equal theprodurt winch the last laborer 

 adds. See LABOR ORC .\ > ; COLLECTIVE 



BARGAIN i NO. 



subject of economics goes very much 

 deeper into the study of wages. Among other 

 things it analyses the causes which keep men 

 in poorly-paid occupations and endeavors to 

 find a remedy for the poverty of millions of 

 wage earners. The study of wages is one of t In- 

 most vit il i 1 uses of economics. 



Consult Moore's Lotos of Wages: Gantt s 

 Work, Wages and Profits: Emerson's Efficiency 

 as a Basis for Operation and Wages. 



Related Subject*. In connection with this 

 article on wages the reader may consult the fol- 

 lowing articles in these volumes : 

 Capital Minimum Wage 



Economics Rent 



Interest Wealth 



Labor Organizations 



WAGNER, vahg'ner, WILHELM RICHARD 

 (1813-1883), a German composer, poet and es- 

 sayist, born at Leipzig. As a small boy he was 

 very studious; when only twelve years old he 

 translated the first twelve books of Homers 

 Odyssey merely 

 for the enjoy- 

 ment of the task. 

 When he was fif- 

 teen years of age 

 he was sent to 

 school at Leip- 

 zig, but there the 

 teachers did not 

 seem to under- 

 stand his nature 

 and considered 

 him self - willed. 

 The real cause of 'CHARD WAGNER 

 this was that Wagner was exceedingly original 

 and his thoughts were not those of an average 

 boy. His first music teacher had the same 

 trouble with him, for the lad refused to bcl; 

 that certain things should not or could not be 

 done in music and insisted upon breaking th< 

 old-fashioned rules in composing. This trait 

 in Wagner's nature caused him to lead an un- 

 settled life for some years, for he did not rcl- 

 i.-h having his definite opinions and convictions 

 disturbed. 



At Twenty a Conductor. In 1833 he became 

 conductor of the opera at Magdeburg, Ger- 

 many, and was able to hold the place until 

 1836, though his own operas up to that time 

 had been failures. The audiences were accus- 

 tomed to hearing music modeled on It alum 

 melodies, which were very fantastic and spec- 

 tacular, with ridiculous plots, but Wagner re- 

 fused to compose flashy melodies and mean-, 

 ingless librettos. He chose the old, tragic 

 legends of Germany, constructed deep, serious 

 stories from them, and then set these plots, or 

 librettos, to music ; this was sometimes beauti- 

 ful, sometimes crashing, but always suitable to 

 meaning of the words. 



First Great Producing Period. In 1842 ho 

 produced at Dresden the opera Ricnzi, based 



