27/1 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 145 



The principle of the sHding scale is not very clear. Mr. 

 Miles S. Humphreys, one of the originators of the scale, 

 said: 



Iron had never sold below two cents and a half, and the puddlers 

 at the time had no idea the selling price would go below three cents. 

 The cost of living and the cost of production did not enter into the 

 consideration at all; only a fair proportion of the profits or of the 

 selling price. 21 



However, we do find one writer for the official organ of the 

 puddlers trying to determine, in 1874, what the base of the 

 scale should be in terms of the prices of commodities — 

 potatoes, flour, meat,^^ etc. The testimony of Mr. Hum- 

 phreys is essentially corroborated by Mr. John Jarrett, the 

 second president of the Amalgamated Association. He 

 said, in substance : The puddlers realized that the profits of 

 iron manufacturers were enormous and that wages were 

 out of proportion to profits ; but they had no actual figures 

 to determine what these profits were. The scale was an 

 experiment ; and, though not based on absolute knowledge, 

 the rate was constantly increased. The union was trying 

 to hit upon a reasonable and equitable proportion. The 

 puddlers in Great Britain got a shilling to the pound of the 

 selling price, that is, one-twentieth, and a bonus increased 

 it to one-sixteenth. American puddlers decided they ought 

 to get one-twelfth, because of superior resources and better 

 management. Such were the considerations,^^ 



21 Interview, November 30, 1914. 



22 " The great question to be settled when an advance or decline of 

 wages is proposed is: Does the present rate of wages leave the 

 proper margin between the cost of living and what should be the 

 reserve fund? If the usual margin is reduced, then wages should 

 advance. If the margin is too large, then wages could come down 

 without damage. . . . That all parties maybe informed in the premises 

 occupied by the boilers and puddlers. we give in pounds and meas- 

 ures the quantity of the nine principal commodities (flour, ham, 

 sugar, tea, molasses, potatoes, rice, coffee and beef) used for living 

 that the price per ton of boiling would procure at our wholesale 

 houses in each quarter [of the years 1871-1874 inclusive], having 

 been careful to make a weekly average, then monthly, and cjuarterly, 

 D. P. II." (National Labor Tribune, December 19, 1874, p. 1). 



23 Interview, November 28, 1914. 

 10 



