Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-26
PROFITS AND WAGES

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reiterated his slogan that there must
,'be no reduction in wages. He asserted
that labor recognized the fact that the
financial situation was not brought
about through any fault of its own.
and that the workingmen of the coun-
try "are not going to be the chief suf-
ferers from the consequences of the
blunders of those who have had financial
affairs under their direction" In dis
cussing Mr.. Gompers' pronunciamento
the New York Journal of Commerce,
sane on most questions excepting those
directly affecting labor, declares:
well. without disputing as to whose
fault it is though organized labor has
done its part both by forcing wages up
abnormalIy and by being decidedly less
Industrious that is, less effective in
production. it will have to be accepted
as a fact that the financial situation is
as it is and it will work out it's effect
capitalist or workingman. The great
system of capital and credit does not
rest entirely on the fertility of the SOIL
and It has been thrown into disorder so
that there is going to be much less do
ing for some months to come. If rail-
roads have to abandon or. postpone
plans Of construction and Improvement.
IL mills and factories have to curtail
production. If trade has to restrict it's
operations, whatever the cause and
whoever is to blame, what is the work.
ingman going to do about it?
"The capitalist cannot prevent his
profits from being reduced. With goods
on his hands that cannot be sold at
former prices, the manufacturer and
dealer cannot help reducing prices. If
the employer, whether in production or
trading, has to reduce the cost Of doing
business or go into bankruptcy and out
of business, either wages will have to
come down or the resisting workingman
will he out of work. Many are already
out of employment, and the more re-
duction of wages is resisted the larger
that number will be and the longer will
be the period of idleness. If union labor
holds it's ground for the maintenance of
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ranks of union labor will grow thin and
the ranks of the unemployed will grow
thick, until an adjustment to inexorable
conditions is forced by suffering and
want. Labor as well as capital. If ami
mated by an enlightened self-interest,
will assist in this adjustment and hasten
it's consummation, instead of resisting
the operation of economic law. 1t
might as well resist the law of gravita-
ton, below against the wind or defy
the lightning. 1t cannot rehabilitate the
financial situation by merely refusing
to take lower wages when work at high
wages is not to be had"
At the present time the American
people are not in frame Of mind which
impels them to accept. without analysis,
the economic doctrines propagated by
the so-called leaders in the great politi-
cal parties, which are usually reflected
through the columns of their chief
newspaper organs. The Journal of
Commerce, in common with practically
all of the great papers owned or con-
trolled by those who regard wages as
money paid for labor done, regulated
entirely by the law of supply and de-
mand as in the case of every other
commodity, and having no relation
whatever to profits on industry, is
preaching the doctrine of the trusts.
The proper measure of the value of
anything is the amount of effort re-
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as capital and rental for land as profit
on capital invested, the whole produce
tion resulting from the united efforts
of labor and capital is divided between
the two factors engaged in production.
Consequently if the average amount
produced by a days labor decreases and
wages remain the same, profits must
decrease; and II the average amount
produced by a days labor increases
and wages remain the same, profits
must increase. These two factors share
between them the aggregate production.
Where else can it go?
Wages must everywhere, be based
upon the productiveness of labor. With
out regard to how much wages labor
may be receiving in the aggregate in
money, the actual wages paid labor In
the aggregate is that portion of the
whole production of wealth labor re-
ceives as compensation for its services.
Money wages might be extremely high
and real wages at the same time be
very low.
| It would be rank folly to talk Of rais-
ing wages by enacting laws which
would increase the selling price Of any
thing both produced and consumed in
the same country; for even if it We're
possible to increase the money wages
paid, wage earners as whole would
have no more Of the necessities and
comforts of life to divide among them
selves. For example, If the prices OF
practically. all OF the necessities and
comforts of life advanced 100 per cent
while money wages advanced but 90
per cent, 1t is difficult to understand by
what channel of reasoning one could
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