Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-27
Injury to Nation
Seen in Price Bid
{ Ontinued from Page One

. ''''''"'" WV" 'h' WV
dis not greater than tina, which price
bidding brings to the poor lands or the
nation It induces people to rainc crops
FOR which tho land is not fitted. The
town public docs not realize the marked
difference in the productivity Of land
/ in localities not far apart rlarcs in
I and out Of tho corn belt often not tvcu.
ty-fi,o miles apart have drop in pro-
durtiou from sixty to twenty buaurl.
an acre.
Farmers ar" asked to augment their
production this year 10y - pur. cent. but
W" shall hc lucky if there Is not an ac-
tual decrease. Wrong methods Of aCri-
culture quickly bring their results iu
dscuuragcment and failure. The bitter
lessons are not forgotten for a genera To-
/ ton during which time the nation will
suffer from shortage of food.
No Inventions in sight
THE American people escaped from
the burden Of the CiVil War hv opruing
up new areas, but his way Of cscape is
no longer possible. An the good lands
are I'm use. Nor are any great Industrial
inventions in sight such as gave progress;
IN tn" epoch preceding 1910. Recent
changes have been in the domain Of cou-
sumption. We have built Office building.
department stores and apartment houses
instead of giving the railroads the need
ed additions to their rolling stock. We
thus live better have more leisure, but
/ produce as We did ten years ago,
I'VE have reached the limits Of our
agricultural production unless some
/ great change Is made in the method of
| production or i'm the efficiency OF
agricultural labor For q century We
/ have extended our agricultural areas
without such change in the methods ot
production Farming as a trade has re-.
mained as it was and land exploitation
has been carried to a point where gross
J produce must soon suffer a reduction
| We may hope for stationary product
| but not for an increasing one. Price
bidding does not alter these tendencies
but aggravates them by its emphasis OF
net produce.
I'm the past we have relied ON tho
/ Importation of labor to augment pro.
duCtiOn and not the increase Of its
/ productivity. Wages thus became q
diStrhutivc problem, each group getting
what its position compels. The basis
of this situation is changed by the
/ check to immigration which the war
| has wrought. We have fixed. not an
/ increasing, labor force,
Labor shift Evil
"If the demand of the war for sol
/ diers continues, our labor force will
actually decrease. In either case we
must measure the efficiency of labor
/ by other rules than those in use he
/ fore the war. Each industry is striving
to increase its force or to hold its own
by price bidding. The net result is
| a movement of labor from one OCCupa-
| tiOn to others--a striving to do some
| thing new rather than the doing of
/ familiar work in q better manner. Here
as in farming, we get confusion but
/ not increased efficiency.
/ The high wages make many careless
and still more extravagant. Workers
wander more than they work, and at
/ their new tasks are less efficient than
/ in those they left Yet the problem is
| treated AS il the new workers in each
1 occupation were fresh immigrants in
| stead of Withdrawals from other occu-
pations We count what the new oc-
cupations gain, but do not estimate the
losses which other occupations suffer
A few employers may thus enlarge their
output, but national production will fall
off The net result of the shifting is a
reduction in efficiency, High wages
. lnuS MAKE lOl waste lll0A'eiN VI Bib7
noting the desired ends for which they
/ are given
At this point Doctor Patten said a
| rise of wages increases the net product
| SO long as the physical standard Of labGr
| is improved For city conditions, he
/ said the standard was about $500 per
/ family before the war. lie declared
/ there was evidence to show that reduc-
/ tion in the hours of labor was advan-
tageous t. both employer and employe
"On limited labor market he added
! ,'each group Of employers are bidding
/ for workers, pulling them away from
their customary work. The workers
| have as good right to exploit Their "p-
portImity as have the other classes who
profit by the war
cites shipbuilding
Shipbuilding enterprises should con
vince the public of the fallacy of price
I bidding in the domain Of wages, ac'
cording TO Doctor Patton
"Price-biddng. whether in wages 1000
or raw material, is an evil which thwarts
the ends which nations In period ol
stress should promote he said. III
creates personal gains at the expense
of public welfare. II Is thus an audl-
tion to the evils Of war, causing q
drain on national resources more per
nicIous than the losses In battle. we
recognize that rev recruit needs q
wear in which to become trained sol
/ dier. hut we think a worker can be
ierked from one occupation to another
i'm a week. This delusion is delaying
our war preparation. We face sltua'
ton which demands more Of all essen
tial commodities and not more Ct some