The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13

who could learn to do so was sure of all
 the work he could do at higher wages than he ever earned. This prosperity, of course, reacted on other trades and those who are supplying the munition workers
 and the soldiers are simply coinng money.
 The result has been an orgy of spend ing. Americans are rather fond of look ing on themselves as a thriftless people but they are misers compared with the ordinary Englishman, and especially the Englishman of the working class I know
 this statement will be a surprise to many Americans who have paid flying visits to England and have been impressed by the way in which the pennies are counted here. The pennies are counted because In ordinary times one must count them to make them go round. The skilled workman who earns from $7 to S10 a week cannot spend on the same scale as his brother in America who earns from s3 to $6 day What I mean when I say that the ordinary Englishman if thriftless Is
 that he does not save and that he does not understand saving. To use the ex- pressive phrase common in Lancashire he spends oop"-spends up-and often on Saturday night, too. Perhaps this is because in ordinary times saving on the wages earned is such hopeless business, but the fact remains that in these times Ol uHSAdIuplcu prosperity the BrlC1SH working man Is still spending oop," and the government Is worried about it. What the present prosperity means may be judged from few figures Skilled lathe hands who before the war earned perhaps S1O week, at top figures and full time, are now able to make be- tween war bonuses and overtime as much as $40 and $45 a week In the cotton mills of Lancashire where whole families work and pool their earnings, there are families today earning $6O and $75, and in some cases up to $100 a week. Labor of all kinds Is at a premium. Boys fresh from school who, a year ago, would have become office or van boys at about S2 a week now go straight into munitions fac tories and receive $6 a week to start with, or more than an adult laborer's wages in times of peace Girls who would have gone into service at from $60 to $100 a year are now earning $10 a week in the factories and taking it home to mother. In many cases mother, attracted by the high wages offered has returned to the mill and is adding to the family income. But in spite of all this war prosperity the English workman and his wife are
 still spending up and the petty luxury
 trades are having the time of their lives. At first the money was wisely spent on
 more food, better clothes, new furniture and all the things that go to make a better and healthier, and fuller lift. When these wants were supplied the British workman began to spend his money on pure luxuries The cheap piano trade, for instance, is flourishing. In the old days it had a hard time because of Ger man competition and a limited market.
 Now there are no German pianos coming
 into England, and every working mans
 family is clamoring for a piano. The result is that the British firms that make l lr,ia tn ca1 or md tr able to meet the demand. I know of one factory and not a small one either, that has doubled it's staff of workmen in the last six months and would double it
 again if it could find the men. The man.
 ager is now trying to train girls to do
 the lighter parts of the work, but can't
 get enough girls. The cheap jewelry trade
 in Birmingham is working night and day
 turning out ornaments for the British
 workmans wife and daughter, and the
 silk trade of Coventry is reviving, be-
 cause France has no time now to make
 silks, and the British workman's wife
 must celebrate her new found prosper
 ity by appearing in a silk dress and a
 silk trimmed bonnet instead of the skirt
 and shawl to which she has been accus-
 toned.
 All sorts of ridiculous stories are told
 about the new prosperity, and the most
 ridiculous part of the mis that they are
 true. One relates to a woman in clogs
 and shawl who walked into the best
 jewellers shop in Manchester and asked
 the price of a diamond ring in the win
 dow.
 Pm afraid it's too dear for you." said
 the clerk.
 Never mind that, how much?" was the reply.
 Rather amused, the clerk said, Twenty pounds''-about $1oo the woman without a word produced a greasy bag and counted out 20 one-pound notes from wad as thick as mans arm, put the ring on her finger and walked out. Labor CTS are buying gold watches and tie pins, and the young men are going in for motorcycles and even small automo- piles.
 curious development is reported by the publicans. In the old days the Brit ish workman's only drink was beer. and there is probably no healthier and less harmful drink than good English beer, but now in his new-found prosperity he has deserted beer and demands wine. Wine" to the British workman means port of peculiarly heady sort, and the change is not beneficial one. This change, in fact, had good deal to do with producing the necessity for the stringent rules limiting the sale of liquor which have recently been put in force in London and all the other munitions areas.
 Naturally this development of the workingman's prosperity worries the gov ernment. It sees money that Is badly needed for the conduct of the war being squandered and it also forsees that this money will be badly missed by those who are squandering it now, in the inevitable days of the readjustment of industry after the war. The problem is to get the workngman to save his surplus earn ings and lend them to the state
 One effort to do this has failed. Part of the last war loan was issued in e25, for which the subscriber could pay by s1 25 installments through the postoffice, but the response was pitifully small The trouble was, and is. that the British workman does not understand saving and still less investment If he does put by