Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1912-02-09
TO INVESTIGATE LIVING CONDITIONS


President Taft, II Ms message 10 congress r.
GENTLY advocated investigations Of the cost Of Nv
ing and Of industrial relations. The causes for
high prices OF the necessities q life ali over the
world are obscure. jas recommendation = a.
follows:
For some YEAR, past the high and stead
ily Increasing cost II living has been a
matter If such grave public concern that
deem II of great public interest that
international conference b. proposed al
this time for the purpose of preparing
plans 20 be submitted to the various gov
ernments for an international inquiry into
the high cost Of living. is exenf, causes,
effects and possible remedies therefore
recommend that, 10 enable the president
To invite foreign governments 10 such a
conference 10 be held al Washington
elsewhere, the congress provide ap
preparation not 10 exceed $4,000, 10 de-
fray the expenses Of preparation and Of
participation by the United States
The president points out that the numerous
Investigations the subject official or other,
already made in various countries lsueh Aus
tria Belgium Canada, Denmark. France, Ger
many Great Britain. Italy, the Netherlands. and
the United States have themselves strongly dem
onstrated the need II further study Of world
wide scope. Those who have conducted these in
yestigatons have found that the phenomenon Of
rising prices ) almost. If not quite general
throughout the world; but they are bafled in
the attempt TO trace the causes by the impoSsi-
bility OF making any accurate international com
pariS0ns. This j. because. IN spite Of the num-
Der Of Investigations already made, we are still
without adequate data and because as yet no
two countries estimate their price levels on the
same basis or by the same methods
Regarding industrial relations says the New
/ York Commercial and especially the wages that
labor receives conditions have changed 50 great
Il ~ and rapidly in the last twenty years on
L Mt he of ~
enterprises that they more than ever before
/ subjects Of public concern President Taft saws
that industrial relations concern the public for
double reason. We are directly interested in
the maintenance of peaceful and stable industrial
Il conditions for the sake Of our own comfort and
webeing. but society is equally interested il
It's sovereign civic capacity. in seeing that oul
institutions effectively maintaining iustie,
! and fair dealing between any classes of citizens
whose economic interests may seem to clash Rail
way strikes on such scale as has recently beer
witnessed in France and in England strike o
coal-mine workers such as we have more thar
once witnessed in this country. and such
wholesale reinquishing Of public service tina
of the street-cleaners recently in New York, il
lustrate the serious danger to public well-benl
; and the inadequacy Of the existing social machin
cry either TO prevent such occurrences or to ad
0 Just them any equitable and permanent basi
, after they have arisen
5 Strikes and loekouts are wasteful and objet
Il tionabe. The average production of wealth i
the mills and factories of this country is est
n mated TO be ten dollars day for each en-
Z ploye including of course in tins the cost
: raw material converted into merchantable good
Is ON the basis the waste the Lawrence strike is il
/ aictine the trade Of the country IS about
s quarter Of million dollars day. The presider
IS says that we all Sc. the grave objections
II strikes and lockoutS however necessary the
y may be u extreme cases, and we are ready
$ critieise the more extreme phases of the indu
q trial conflict such boycotts and baeklist'
/ hut we leave the situation such that industri;
e disputes lead inevitably to a state of industrii
L war ia which these the only weapons left
{ the two combatants No more clumsy or expel
IS siye method of determining the rate of wag'
and the hours and conditions of labor could we
u be devised
L The weakness in the presidents proposal
y investigate industrial relations in this countr
1t lies in the difficulty of selecting a commissio
G that will command nublic confidence