Evening journal., 1918-02-21

the fbrlfty-the weak, who by reason
Of their weakness are last in line fol-
wage increases, and the thrifty, whose
impulse is rather to save than to spend
and who are, therefore, the last to buy
on a rising market.
There is one other way in which a
rise in money wages Increases the wage
oa0ner's immediate command over
goods. That is when the rise in prices
caused by the rise In wages is so
reat that the few who live upon ac-
umulated wealth begin to consume
less and waste less That is the small
nd Of the matter; for if you took all
that the rich consume and waste and
divided it among the poor 10 would
spread very thin But even If 10 were
a very great concern TO make the rich
do with less, the most unintelligent
and wasteful way TO accomplish II that
YOU can imagine would be to raise
wages until prices were so high that
The rich would have to economize. In
doing that you enormously penallze
weakness and thrift and dangerously
add TO the strength Of the strong
There are other and better means Of
regulating the distribution Of goods
and controlling the appetiles Of the
rich.
We come now to the nnality. The
wage earner's command over goods
that is, his power to buy the things
he wants to eat and wear md waste
cannot in any case be permanently in
creased by a rise in money wages. The
beneat will be local, immediate and
temporary only.
Money wages are not real WAGES.
Real vases are the things you buy
with the money That is TO say, real
WAGES are goods.
Therefore wages really can rise
only by reason Of an increase in the
production of goods People have to
produce what they consume. They can
not consume more than they produce.
no matter how much money is printed
TO pay high wares with.
The production Of goods can be in
creased only By the application OF la
bor to materials in more efficient
manner. When labor becomes di con-
tented and quarrelsome and begins to
strike for more pay the processes OF
production are retarded: and although
the strikers may get more money and
be immediately better of, the time
and labor that have been meanwhile lost
represent a deficit Of goods, and there
fore, inevitably a loss Of real WAGES 10
the weak who stand somewhere further
down the line and cannot understand
what ss happening 20 them.
To settle a labor dispute by raising
wages and letting it rest there is to
allay the symptom without touching
ihe disease II is the easiest way It is
q very dangerous way. Real wages are
not increased, except temporarily in one
place at a time. and then only at the
expense Of thrift, weakness. helpless
ness and ignorance in other places.
10 is remarkable that so little attcn-
ton has ever been paid TO the fact ihat
such a great and general rise in money
vages as has taken place in the last
three years, the increase going always
FIRST to the strongest groups at the top.
entails terrific hardship upon the poor
below Nothing could be imagined more
rapidly to create a violent Dol heyih
than q long continued rise in wages
engineered on the caste plan Of organ
lied labor-strOngest come first.
The government is meeting the present
labor crisis In the easiest and most dan
yerOus way. 10 advocates or directs rails
ing money wages on any irresi tible de-
mand. lt 5 In position TO go on doing
this for an ndoterminate time. and TO
any length, for it can print the money
IN which wages are paid Indirectly and
lnawares it is creating its own Bolshe-
Wiki