The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-01-26

last ten years and manufactured pro-
ducts are still soaring. We cannot
put our finger on any particular
cause. Land values have risen, but
that is partly the effect and partly
the cause of general high prices. La
Dor has gone up, but here again the
same thing is true. Raw materials
cost more; again the same doubt
arises whether it is case of cause
or effect
OF the recent discussions t seems
that a New York banker, writing in
a financial journal, has come near to
hitting the mark. He says that we
are enjoying perfect riot of ex-
avagance-natfonal, municipal and
individual--and that 1t is the removal
of human labor from the production
of necessaries to the production of
Injuries that is forcing up all prices.
We have not reaG his argument, but
the idea itself seems a very direct
and rational explanation. 1t stands
to reason that more money is spent
for luxury the less is left for necessi-
ties, and it is equally true that the
more labor is expended on produc-
Ing luNuI1eS, lIlt less is ltll IOl pIO-
ducing necessities.
Take the single item of automo-
biles, for example, which is the clear
est possible illustration of a luxury.
Automobiles are being produced in
Michigan alone at the rate of 10000
or more a year, which means not less
than a hundred million dollars a year
in value The greater part of this
value Is labor, for the cost of labor
enters into the price even of what we
term raw materials" But assuming
that only fifteen million dollars of 1t
is labor what a prodigious sum this
is to withdraw from the production
of necessities! Think of the amount Of
wheat that could be raised, the
amount of cloth that could be wo-
ven, the shoes made. the houses
built, with this sunni
And few years ago, rememb Der,
this money and this labor was actu-
ally going into wheat, and cloth, and
shoes and houses Every automobile
worker has been drafted from farm
or a factory. The people want auto
mobiles, no matter what they cost,
and the manufacturer must have the
labor, no matter what it costs The
country is using several hundred mill
lion dollars worth of labor every
year in making pleasure vehicles.
which comes right out of the general
labor market, making every Other
kind Of labor that much more scarce
and costly.
But automobiles are only one form
| of luxury. There are a thousand 9TH
ers. Look at the huge concerns, with
! payrolls running into the millions
that make monographs, cameras,
and all other minor luxuries that
! have become so common in recent
years. And note the increasing sales
of the higher grade goods of every
kind. the increasing elegance and lux
ury of travel and hotel accommoda-
tons. the increasing number of peo-
pie who go to summer or winter re-
sorts and make trips to Europe. All
these signs point to the same CON
clusions-that as people we are
blowing in our money at a rate
never equaled since the world began
If man has a days work to do he
cannot play half the day without
working extra hard the other half
If he has a days woodchopping fol
hired man he cannot let the hired
man spend half his time in sprink-
ling the lawn without hiring addi-
tional help to get the woOdchoppine
! finished. And so if the nation wants
to spend half the time in enjoyment
it must work extra hard the other
half And likewise If the nation
uses half it's workers in producing
luxuries, it must pay the other hall
more to do the real work of the ma
ton.
For the real days work remains
the same as in the past-the feeding
clothing and housing of ninety mil
lion human beings.