The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-08-15
HIGH PRICES THE RESULT OF
HIGH WAGES.

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At the recent annual meeting of the
building and loan associations it was
decided to petition Congress to repeal
the tariff on building material. 1t was
declared that such material is now so
per cent. higher in price than it was
eight yeags ago, when the Dingley bill
was passed. Therefore the increase in
price is due to the Increased tariff rate.
But the association was generous in
charging only half Of the increase to
the tariff. 1t does not, however, mere
ly ask that the status quo ante be re-
stored 1t does not ask for moditica-
tion, but repeal. Presumably this is
done in belief that it would result in
reducing present cost by 40 or SO per
cent.
We are disposed to think these peo-
pie on the wrong trail in their pursuit
Of the cause of increased cost of build
ing material. While tin, lead copper,
lime, paint and various other sub
stances enter into building operations
and affect the cost of finished struct-
ures, the greater part Of house con-
struction, in both help and cost, APP
pears in the items of wood, iron cor
steeD and brick Cor stone). No one of
these items in its original state has
value. Their value as building mate
rial comes from their treatment by hui
man labor The argument of these
|suppliants for tariff reduction presup-
poses a fixed value, which is subject to
tariff influences, on sawed and dressed
lumber, brick and hewn stone, struct-
ural iron, piping, nails and all the va
rious articles used in building. 1t pre-
supposes certain value in the yard or
in the mill, which is the same as it
was in 1896, and assumes that the in
crease in selling price is represented
by the advantage accruing to dealers
through the operation of the tariff.
This is not quite in accordance with
the facts
The trouble appears in faulty dag
nosis. A wider and deeper inyestiga-
tion would show that all except a small
increase in the cost of building has
gone, in the form of increased wages,
into the pockets of scores of thousands
of wage-earning home builders. The
carpenter and the bricklayer have had
their share. So have the logger in the
woods, the river driver. the men in the
lumber mill, the brickyard and the
stone quarry. The cost Of building
material is not represented either by
the intrinsic value Of the raw material
or by the profits of tariff protected
dealers. The tariff which these people
hold responsible for the increased cost
of building is doubtless the prime
cause Of the establishment OF wage
rates in this country which make it
possible for them to build at all.
Coincident high wages and low prices
are impossible. Wage rates and not
dealers profits regulate prices. If the
house is to be cheaply built, the table
cheaply supplied and the back cheaply
clothed there must be a shrinkage in
wage rates all along the line. The
butcher, the baker and the candlestick
maker all want to build as cheaply as
possible. But the reduction in the
cost of their homes will come out of
the pockets of logger and carpenter,
brickmolder and bricklayer, quarry
man and stonecutter. If the wages of
these are cut to enable the other group
to build more cheaply, the others in
their turn will suffer from curtailed
trade following the wage reduction.
Compared withmay previous periods
building to-day is very expensive. But
the fact that the people of this coun-
try spend about 50, 00O, ZOO, 900 a year for
new buildings is a fair argument that
they have the money with which to
build. The cash receipts of the build
ing and loan associations of the coun-
try are reported for last year as exceed
ing s40O,OOO,0OO. A considerable part
of this is represented by the earnings
of men whose income, directly or indi-
rectly, depends to large extent upon
Industries which would be affected by
a reduction in the cost Of iron, wood
and stone. If these can find some
way by which they can eat their cake
and have it at the same time a waiting
world will rejoice to learn the details
of the process. New York Sun.
venture to suggest to our worthy
Mayor that it is rather Illogical to
not read the police reports in order