New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-13
Manless Jobs
and Two Story
Dinner Pals
IVilkes-Barre. November II.

when they were asked TO protect pas
sengers who persisted in patronizing
the trolley companies. The Mayor
thought that the stoning OF passengers
had reached point where the authori-
ties ought to take hand. The police
men soon repented and promised
to board the cars willingly if given
their old places again. The street
car strike would have been settled
had it not been for the adverse vote of
former employees, who were better sat
isfcd with the union benefits that they
were receiving. plus the wages OBJ
tanned in various industries.
This gives point to the warning ut
tered by one of the brsiniest lawyers
In Pennsylvania, who has sat for years
on the board Of largo industrial
property in the Wilkes-Barre district.
He was discussing the great problem
Of labor:
"The country was spared nation
wide railroad strike, but there Is some
thing ahead just as important. That is
the contest which shall determine the
responsibility of labor union whose
members make an agreement one month
and break it the next. That has hap
pened in the case of the Wilkes-Barre
trolley system and it is happening all
the time in this busy section. l be-
leve in collective bargaining and in
proper organizations of labor, but the
responsibility Of the unions must be
fixed by the courts or we shall soon be
in chaos"
This is the story everywhere you go
In this section of large factories. Just
now the wage Garner is carrying a dou-
ble-deck dinner pail, for the old one
was built for the days when the la
borer was asking for work. Now the
hat IA in the other hand, for the en-
ployer is begging the laborer to
work for him at the highest wages ever
paid in this valley. The situation is
not likely to change so long as the
factories are working in night and day
shifts.
Famine Of Office Boys
In Wilkes-Barre there is a famine of
Office boys. The eighteen-year-o va
He is drawing about $40 a day in the
munition plants, where his elder broth
or is daily earning Sc or 81. These
highly paid employees sometimes shud-
der at the sight Of the white-capped
nurses and the doctor, who are in con-
slant attendance. In one such plant,
in another city, an applicant for work
is made to fill out a blank, stating
where he would like to have his body
shipped in case of accident. Men have
been known to tear up the blanks in
disgust and make for the door on COM
ing to that query.
These abnormal conditions are Great
ing the sort Of unrest which befalls a
community where men with $40 brains
attempt to live up to the dignity of $50
jobs. Every one is talking Of the vics-
STUDIES which will be encountered dur
ing the readjustment when the $40 man
is put back at his old wages. The prob
lem is very serious, and is one of the
things which the welfare organizations
are trying TO work out. In commun-
ity where labor unionism is family
tradition, supported by long list of
miner ancestors, the question of dis
obeying the union is never considered.
Most people realize, however, that while
1917 may witness continued war profits,
it may also bring up acute wage ques-
tions. Large employers admit that the
situation is delicate one which can
only be worked out on a day-to-day
basis OF mutual understanding. The
situation calls for intelligent leadership
OF kind which is difficult to develop in
crisis. The situation has been made
more than ever troublesome by the
forced issue of an eight-hour day. at
time when the country was doing bust
ness in three eight-hour shifts. =
One big Wilkes-Barre plant is getting
$500 day for Sunday work on con-
tract that has to be rushed through.
This concern is paying high wages, but
the inducements are not sufficient to
attract an adequate working force Big
foreign orders are being rejected be-
cause there arc not the men to produce
the material in contract time. One buy
or has paid $4,000 to a mill to speed
up" his work. This was in addition to
the contract price, which in ordinary
times would have been considered high
ly profitable business. One of the larg-
est coal companies could increase its
sales % per cent il it had the labor to
produce the coal and cars with which
to make deliveries.
You cannot drive a fat, well-fed man
beyond a certain point. He simply will
not be driven. He argues that high
wages are Of little value If his day is
not long enough to permit of rccrea-
ton. For that reason when his employ
or urges him to earn extra money for
special work he mumbles disapproval.
If the employer irritates him, the man
fails to show up. The next day OF so