The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-27
PROF. BAILEY'S ECONOMICS
His Cleveland Utterances Are De-
 nounced By pr. E. F. Bowers.

Prof. William H. Bailey, of Yale University. in a recent speech del;ve: ed in Cleve and, is reported to have said in comment upon the luxurious eco homie condition of the workers there '.the fact that the Census Bureau has ascertained that the average weekly wage in Cleveland is $12-61 does not | impress me as being bad at all when viewed from an. economic standpo nt- I think such an average wage is really excellent. It is more than the strik- CTS at Lawrence get. do not see why any economic readjustment Is needed so long as wages keep as high as that"
 As a tribute to this Demosthenean flight, what could be more eloquent than a long spell of silence? until we recovered our breath.
 Great minds-like Prof. Bailey's- move slowly, if at all. His inference that the weekly rate of wages of the textile slaves in Lawrence is just about right, and that payment in ex- cess of this $500 or S7.00 per week. is real!y-in effect-a largesse - stamps him as a gentleman who has fully de veloped all the noble and altruistic sympathieS of a ravinned shark Or the Hyrcan tiger.
 Or is he a pain, unaduIterated, fur ry-eared brother to Baalam's compan- ion-of historic fame?
 Whatever else he may or may not know, enc thing is certain-his knowl- edge of practical economies is infinites- imal, and his deductions from the premises pitifully impudent. Pitiful-because man who is in position to enjoy the educational ad- vantages of Prof. Baileys environ ment, and confesses to such Brobdig- nadian ignorance of the problem of living decently-is to be pitied; inn pudent, when he assumes arbitrarily y that mo economic readjustment IS necessary so long as wages keep as high as s12.61 per week.
 Before this of inflated nTiH6S and trustifed piracy, $12.e1 was quite a sIm Of money. Even a Lawrence opera tive-with $7.00 per week and a family of hve-could exist upon 1t in con d.tion of comparative affluence, and have five or six hundred dollars left at the years end to put away against that last scene of all-broken, decrepit helpless age-sans everything.
 This, of course, if he was frugal and industrious, and didn't squander his honorarium in riotous living.
 But with almost 100 per cent. ad- vance in food prices, and every other living necessity increased proportion ately-coincidental with a reduced in come, due to keener competitio1- $12.61 per week is inadequate, and ST. % per week impossible.
 That's why the peons in Lawrence are striking.
 Now in all genItleness and brotherIJ kindness, I would suggest that Prof. Bailey take a piece of paper and a pencil and figure the DECENT reQui e: ments for an average family of fou.E Then substract his total from $12-6 61, end see how much chance there is for a son growing up in this family to se- cure even common school educa ion much less enter Yale Untve ~sity, and drink at the Pierian Spring presided over by Dr. Bailey.
 Some genius has declared that one should think twice before speak ng, and then say it to yourself.
 If some eminent educators would follow th's advice, instead of beng so anxious to place them nnselves-Lazarus- wise--in the ken of the suave raj way pirates. and polished Captain K'dd's or finance-who build annexes, and endow chairs-they would maintain the dign'ties becoming their posit' on, and retain the respect and esteem of their fellowmen for a considerably 1on- ger period of time.
 Sometimes it's better not to know quite su much, than to know so many thingA that are not so.
 DR. EDWIN F. BOWERS.