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Under either of the two methods touched upon that of change by equal percentages, and that of change by the same absolute amount for all groups the differentials cannot be held in close accord with any such original principles of wage relationship as have been suggested. It cannot be helped. We have come to another point at which the aims of policy can only be imperfectly realized.
The various courts in the Australian dominions tended on the whole to confirm existing differentials, occasionally changing the relative position of particular groups, when it has seemed clear to the court that the wages of these groups as compared to other groups is "unreasonable" considering all those factors which are considered to form the ground of "reasonableness" in the matter of differentials.
"But you'll never do it in them clothes. You want to get light tan shoes and a black suit and a straw hat with a colored band, and talk a good deal about Pittsburg and freight differentials, and drink sherry for breakfast in order to work off phony stuff like that."
And, secondly, what may be called for a lack of a better name, the doctrine of special reward by which is meant, that the wage differentials between the standard wage levels of different types of labor should be regarded as special rewards, given in order to make it reasonably certain that industry will be provided with at least the existing proportion of the more skilled grades of labor, and to make it reasonably certain also that the more arduous, irregular, dangerous and disagreeable work will command the service of as much labor as at present.
The conscientious and consistent application of these two doctrines in settlement of wage controversies which involve the reconsideration of established differentials should result in the gradual building up of an ordered scheme of wage relationship, such as is sought. This scheme would rest upon fairly widely held ideas as to the most suitable basis for wage differences.
The European beet-sugar industry, that has since attained enormous proportions, had its actual beginning in the early years of the 19th Century. It was a result of the Napoleonic wars of that period. When the wars were ended, and the blockades raised, the industry was continued in France by the aid of premiums, differentials, and practically prohibitory tariffs.
At length the first examination on differentials and integrals drew near, but I continued in a vague state which precluded me from forming any clear idea of what was awaiting me.
It can be claimed, in addition, for this compromise method that its results would be in accord with the general trend of changes in the differentials that have occurred in the past in periods of rapid price movement.
The differentials which would be established from a consideration of such material could not claim to be more than a practical approximation to the differentials which would carry out the intention of the policy. Still, scientific method could be pushed further than it has been in the comparison of occupations.
Even allowing for price differentials, the one-month cost of treatment of Tuberculosis in Tanzania was the equivalent of 500 working hours compared to 1.4 working hours in Switzerland. The price of medicines in poor countries from Zimbabwe to India was clearly higher than one would have expected from income measures such as GDP per capita or average wages.
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