Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-10-24
RELATION OF ADVANCED
PAY TO COST OF LIVING
Labor Statisticians Disagree. MS to
Actual Result Of hicreased
Wages.
FOOD PRICES AT NEW. F1GuKEs
Women, Far More Than Men, Are
!, Gamers in UnskllIcd Trades, and
to Them Is Due Large and CneA-
pcctcd Growth in Savings Deposits.

BERLIN. October 23.--Labor Stats
ticians. who have been watching the
situation closely and critically az the
months of war nave passed. agree with
n fair degree of unanimity the
general effect Of the conflict Oh wages
but disagree to some extent on the
relation between the wages paid to-
day and the cost OF iiring-as to
whether or not the workingmans pay
has increased as fast as prices OF food
stuffs have
They agree that the men in the war
materials" trades. and the women for
that matter to-day are receiving 80.
70 and even 100 per cent more than
they ever did before. In most cases
the advance is nearer to 100 per cent
than 50 or 20. because there is no limit
to the amount OF work ia -, there is
unlimited opportunity for overtime
work. wages are higher than usual, and
help is scarce.
In other skilled trades that supply
ordinary nccds--thc printing and car
penter trades for instance---the advance.
1t is agreed, Is neither so great nor 80
even. The printer ia making from
three to fve~marks "a day more than
no used to: the carpenters gain de
Ponds on how much work he has the
strength or tile inclination 10 do; the
brewer is getting an even ten marks
more week: the leather worker. like
the carpenter, can be gauEcd only by
his capacity.
The benefits accrulng TO The unskillcd
workers simply cannot be estimated
because they are so variable ana so
dependent upon employers generosity.
chance circumstances and the like. The
authorities are agreed that these
workers have been less benefited than
any others but find 1t impossible to
determine the degree OF benefit
LIVING COSTS ADVANCE
FASTER THAN WAGES
Alvin kocrstcn, secretary OF the
Central Employment Bureau OF the
Berlin trades, who might he termed a
walking statistical office, and who is
constantly ia close touch with work
crs OF all kinds, Is positive that living
costs have advanced faster than wages
and that the war materials" workers
are the only ones who have kept up.
He Is convinced that food prices have
risen from 50 10 100 per cent or faster
than the wages either OF unsk led
labor or Of thosc branches OF skilled
F, labor not engaged in making war ma
teriHls. Though far from being u pes
simist his inclination is To- look at the
matter from the standpoint OF the many
who have had a. NJ n!tnuIn Of gain gu;
OF higher wages.
Max S,efen, head OF the huge en-
Dloymcnt agency Tor unSkilled work
men. even less than Mr. Kocrstcn.' be-
lcvcs that prices hav" outstripped
wages, chiefly because ne is in closest
touch with tn. great mass OF men and
women on whom the effect of the war
has been more TO give them work than
TO raise the wages they had been get
: ting
lie has seen mott OF The thousa nds
who drift, into his enormous establish
meni placed where they can, earn Il
Z livelihood NOR" readily than ever be.
fore, bat h" also has heard from count
less lips the story Of the difficulty OF
pcrienccs with the cost OF living has
made him loath 10 believe that the
p war has been an uumiX"d benefit for
the WORKER who stays at home.
Quite OF different opinion is Or. o
Becker, head Of the Association of Ger
man Employment Bureaus who forms
his opinion from facts and figures
r gathered from all parts Of the German
(. empire. ard who. in consequence he.
+ lieves that the general situation Of the
workincman has vastly improved and
= that his wages, by and large, have gone
M faster than the cost OF living.
In arriving ut this decision he takes
into account the situation Of the un.
skilled workers, and in agreeing with
Mr.. Stcffcn that their wage increases
have not been apprcciably great be.
liev"s that the more and more favorable
status OF the country worker. in, con.
junction with ehc ra0id decrease II
nonemp loymcnt. overbalances higher
3 prices. -
The women. far more than the men
have been the gamers in.the unskiilc(