Another expedient for raising incomes to a satisfactory
standard is the "Minimum Wage Board." Such a body
should consist of equal numbers of employers and em-
ployees from a given industry with a non-interested chair-
man. They would meet frequently and set a minimum
wage below which no employer could go, although he
might pay more if he thought best. Victoria, Australia,
has nearly forty such bodies the first of which were estab-
lished in 1896, and they are apparently successful in rais-
ing wages and increasing employment in dull times. They
are popular among the workers. The experiment of wage
boards among the "home workers" in England is being
begun this year, and the National Consumers' League is
advocating a similar policy in American industries employ-
ing women and children. While the efficacy of this institu-
tion is not yet proved it is well worth study and perhaps a
trial, as the experiment would be fraught with no great
danger.^

Of the more specific evils growing out of low incomes,
bad housing was one of the first to claim attention. In
the Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor for September, 1904,
Mr. G. W. W. Hanger, told of sixteen firms which have
undertaken to supply good and cheap houses for their
employees. All of these undertakings were meeting with
fair success, but in some cases, the accommodations pro-
vided at low rates were obviously insufficient for decent
* See Article by John A. Ryan, Survey, vol. xxiv, p. 810.
