The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1916-11-22
LONG PATH
Lies Out In Front Of Those Who Seek
To Bring Shorter Day-AdOptlOn
Of Elght-HOur Plan VIII Cause
Many Upsets - Gotham
Stock Market Runs
From Editors and
Reporters.


The public bought stocks while the
editors and reporters were giving adj
verse opinions as to home conditions
and arguing that there was an ire
pressible conflict between employers
and employees.
Steel rails advanced So per ton; cop
per metal was in most urgent demand;
shipbuildihg was reported as in state
of development that insured a tremen-
dous demand for structural steel and
that would place this country soon
abreast of the tonnage turned cut by
leading European nations; cotton and
grain were booming, and buyers Of
stocks simply ignored the newspaper
reports and editorials as to differences
between employers and employees, and
wired their orders to buy stocks, so
that they put the market into a wild
and dangerous rush to higher prices
Bears Start RumOr
The debate in the British Parliament
as to the measures to be taken to cut
down the rations of the British people
made a great impression upon holders
of grain and provisions, and prices of
these Immediately became firmer and
the bears in provisions at once started
the rumor that the President was con-
sidering an embargo upon wheat, but
even that baseless news did not pro-
duce the decline in price desired by
the authors.
The truth is that throughout the
East. and indeed in every section of
the country, prosperity is rampant,
and commodities and labor are very
scarce and very high.
In manufacturing, in construction
work, in every class of business where
materials have to be obtained or labor
employed, prosperity is now adding to
the costs and the difficulties In output
ting or completing,
Many contractors who took their
contracts even six months ago upon
fair margins of profits are finding
those changed into losses owing TO
higher costs of material, difficulty in
obtaining materials in time for their
PURPOSES and the much higher rates
of wages they are compelled to pay
their employees.
Rail Conditions Poor
Some classes of metals have ad-
vanced fully 40 per cent in prices since
January /, 1916, while shipments of
materials by rail cannot be depended
upon owing to the scarcity of cars, as
well as to the sold-out conditions pre-
valent at the sources of supply.
Some manufacturers were speaking
yesterday of the recent order of the
German Government that no persons
able to work and who were under the
age of 60 years should be permitted
to remain idle, and they said they
would hail such an order in this coun-
try with delight. for If 1t were put In
force here it would add to the num-
bers of producers and enable them to
output to an extent much closer to the
demand than they were able to do at
the present time.
| find great confidence everywhere
In the nations and the worlds con-
tinued demand for the products and
outputs of the United States, but
find in my interviews with manufac-
turers and contractors in New Eng
land, New York. New Jersey and Penn
sylvania rapid advances in prices Of
materials and labor have upset calcu-
lations and are making men timid as
TO entering into contracts or accepting
orders for future work or delivery.
The wild rush upward of stocks is
adding to the turmoil, and | ma that
conservative men are fearful of failure
to adjust the differences now so APP
parent as between employers and en-
ployees.
These words express the situation
far more correctly than speaking OF
these differences as between capItai
and labor.
Long Path Lies Ahead
The Presidents statement that So
ciety has accepted the eight-hour day
may be true in theory. and even to
some extent in substance, but there
seems a long and tedious path between
the announcement and the naIurai es-
adjustment OF the idea.
There are so many adjustments to
be made before the eight-hour day
prevails in all branches of employ
menG
Housekeepers now complain that an
eight-hour day for their cooks, their
housemaids, their servants generally
JOmpels a doubling OF the numbers of
the persons employed, and that this in
view of the scarcity Of labor is on inn
possibility, leaving out OF the question
OF the doubling OF the expense.
Cuttara ohauffaura elevator man