The political Left is at it again. There are new rumblings — mostly from Democrats, with their Socialist allies — about raising the minimum wage. They claim that American workers are “economically oppressed”, and need relief from those greedy capitalists. (You know, the ones that pay the taxes that the Left likes to spend on midnight basketball, and other “strategies”.) Worse yet, so-called conservatives in the Republican Party are beginning to buy into the idea. So, it’s time to broaden our perspective by looking at some facts from our American history. (As a reminder, this writer is neither a Republican nor a Democrat.)

When I was in the military, I heard a story that helped to broaden my perspective. A friend that had been stationed in England explained why people in some other countries downplay the American viewpoint. He said that, in America, if a building lasts for fifty years, people hold a big ceremony and erect a historical marker. By contrast, in England, people drink beer every night in pubs that are five hundred years old, and they think it’s quite normal. I used a similar viewpoint in a previous column, when I explained that most Americans don’t remember how many days our hostages were held during the Tehran embassy crisis. Unfortunately, it seems that many Americans have rather short memories. And, it is this failure to grasp our own history that enables the Left to twist the facts to suit their own tyrannical purposes.

How can something as “benign” as the minimum wage be considered tyrannical? Simple: it creates excessive government control over the fluid character of a free market. Worse yet, the minimum wage destroys the very thing that it purports to protect: jobs. (Even editorialists with a liberal viewpoint can agree with my premise.) That ultimate fact is not lost on the leaders of the political Left, whose end-goal is to destroy America. Remember that the late Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said, “We will bury you.” He did not say, “We will destroy you.” The ultimate goal of the Communists is world domination, and America is a part of the world that they want to dominate. They cannot achieve it as long as America exists as a strong nation. Industrial might makes America strong. Thus, the Communists — including those Communist members of Congress (who comprise more than ten percent of that body) — must do things to make America weak. To achieve that, they attack American industrial productivity. To attack it, they make common labor more costly with minimum-wage laws. And, the arguments remain constant; only the numbers change. (Peruse this 1988 article on the same topic.)

Because the arguments remain constant, while the wage figures change, I must now invoke some fact-based historical perspective. America has been down this road before; and, what happened then is still hurting people today. Buckle your seatbelts, folks, because much of what you’ve been taught is about to be turned into dust.

Most Americans have been taught that President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) “saved” America by getting us out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. And, we’ve been taught that he did this via the big-spending, big-government programs of his Leftist political agenda: the “New Deal”. But, the reality is that the New Deal was designed to help destroy America by turning its economy into one resembling a Communist country. And, FDR’s goal has largely been reached. (This is a difficult thing for a patriotic American to write; but, it’s true.) A communist economy is one in which the government controls the means of production and distribution. The primary means of controlling production is taxes, plus minimum-wage laws. The primary means of controlling distribution is regulation, such as the FDA, EPA, SEC, etc.

Most Americans have not been taught about the social-welfare program that gave FDR his vision for the New Deal. That program was called the “Square Deal”. Why have they not been taught about the Square Deal? Simple: the Square Deal was created by a capitalist, and it was wildly successful. Having a successful social-welfare program for working-class people, funded by the profits of the company that employs those workers, flies in the face of the Leftist agenda that is shared by Democrat politicians and their “mainstream” media hacks.

The “Square Deal” was created in Broome County, NY, by industrialist George F. Johnson. (Some speculate that Johnson was inspired by the “Square Deal” remarks of Teddy Roosevelt. This writer found no quotes to support that point; but, it is plausible.) Johnson’s Square Deal was so successful that the town where it was created, Lestershire, was renamed Johnson City. To this day, the villages of Endicott and Johnson City are marked by the “Square Deal arches”, which commemorate the legacy of Johnson and his company: Endicott-Johnson Shoes (EJ). Thousands of immigrants — mostly from Slavic countries — came to America knowing only one English phrase: “Which way EJ?” (My grandmother was among those immigrants; and, three generations of my family worked in EJ factories at one time or another.)

What made the Square Deal so popular? Among other things, the eight-hour work day. That, along with the five-day work week, was among the foundational pillars of the Square Deal. “Mainstream” media outlets, which favor Democrats and labor unions, sometimes credit Henry Ford with the creation of the eight-hour workday. But, not even the official Ford corporate history Web page makes that claim. And, according to most writers, Ford introduced his eight-hour day in 1914. By contrast, Johnson had introduced the eight-hour day in his factories more than twenty years sooner. (The Square Deal Arches were dedicated in 1920. They were a monument to a group of social programs that had already existed for an entire generation of EJ workers. That generation wanted to ensure that the memory of the Square Deal would survive.) Johnson’s Square Deal was also good business: happy workers are more productive.

Shorter work periods were not the only features of the Square Deal. Johnson also addressed many “quality of life” issues. Endicott-Johnson, Inc., built hospitals, which were also available to the larger community. The company also built houses, and sold them to EJ workers at cost. Then, the company deducted the payments from workers’ paychecks — thus making it one of the first direct-payment mortgage programs in America — long before the computer industry (which was also born in Broome County, NY). Johnson also had a wide-ranging program of community philanthropy. It included building parks, swimming pools, the first corporate golf course, and his famous group of carousels. (When he was a boy, Johnson had been so poor that he could not afford to ride a carousel. So, when he became wealthy, he donated them to the county — with the standing rule that they would always be free-of-charge.) George F. Johnson used his wealth from the shoe industry to improve life for his workers; and, he “spread the wealth” to the communities where his workers lived. Johnson was a pioneer of what became known as “welfare capitalism”. (In the modern parlance, we call it “compassionate conservatism” — as though compassion was an anomaly. But, true conservatism is always compassionate, because its goal is to “conserve” peace and well-being for everyone.) Prior to the Square Deal, the normal work day in America had been ten hours (this was the standard for Federal workers in 1840); and, some jobs worked from sunrise to sunset. (Some jobs still do.) But, the political Left sees two big problems with welfare capitalism: 1) it’s capitalist; and, 2) it works.

The Square Deal infuriated President Roosevelt, because it flew in the face of the Socialism that he embraced so thoroughly. Local researcher and writer Tom Cawley, in his “Postcard History of Broome County”, had a picture of FDR (who was Governor of New York at that time) riding in a car with George F. Johnson. The relationship between the two men was strained, because Johnson had successfully created a system that actually did in fact what Socialism could only purport to do on paper. Further, records at the time indicated that the crowd at the parade was cheering Johnson, not Roosevelt. In his “revenge”, FDR came up with a government-funded New Deal that mocked privately-funded Johnson’s Square Deal. (Interestingly, in so doing, FDR also mocked his conservative cousin: President Theodore Roosevelt. There goes the concept that “dementia liberalis” is genetic!)

Most jobs in America are created by small businesses. (The definition of a small business, according to the US Department of Labor, is one with less than 100 employees.) In order to shed light on my examples, I will create two hypothetical small businesses: “USA Widgets”, and the “Kovach Ranch”. USA Widgets is a small manufacturing corporation, and the Kovach Ranch is a small, family-owned agricultural operation.

If USA Widgets begins production, and then sales catch on, then the company will need to speed up distribution. To do that, they will need to promote an assembly worker to a shipping clerk. Under the Square Deal, the clerk’s pay will be representative of his contribution to the company’s profits. Under the New Deal, the clerk’s pay will be whatever the government determines to be the “average value” of a large number of similar workers. But, USA Widgets wants to be the market leader. Thus, they do not want to have an “average” shipping clerk. A truly above-average worker would be willing to start at a low wage, and then have pay increases — including bonuses — that reflect his true performance. A merely “average” worker wants his pay to be guaranteed by government, which will reward mediocrity. If the government succeeds in forcing USA Widgets to pay a poor performer for an artificially-propped wage, then USA Widgets will fire a worker that it can no longer afford, because the minimum wage is higher than the worker’s value to the company. That is how minimum wages destroys existing jobs.

Now to the fictional Kovach Ranch. This family owned business doesn’t pay wages to anyone. Instead, members of the family have raised cattle and brought them to market all by themselves for two generations. But, by sound management, the ranch has become so profitable that the family members are getting worn out from all the work. So, they must consider hiring someone from outside the family. That creates a problem, because the person does not share in the family profits the same way family members do. The outsider must be paid a “wage”. The family decides upon a fair value for work performed, and starts to create a job for someone. But, the government says that no one should work for that amount. So, the family sells off part of the herd, scales back operations, and no new jobs are created for anyone. That is how minimum wages destroy job creation.

The above examples, although simplistic, are quite realistic.

In our modern society, as a result of FDR’s cradle-to-grave government programs, people have an “entitlement mentality”. Under an entitlement mentality, workers deserve a minimum wage, regardless of the work that they do. Under an entitlement mentality, workers deserve a pay raise, even if their strikes have crippled the industry. Under an entitlement mentality, it is acceptable (even “heroic”) for workers to engage in violence to get what they want; but, it is not acceptable for employers to fire problem workers. Under an entitlement mentality, pedestrians can walk out into the street, regardless of the amount of traffic coming. Under an entitlement mentality, politicians, rather than businessmen, are the ones that “create” jobs.

As you can see, there is little common ground between the New Deal and the Square Deal. Which society do you prefer?