Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-12-03

| ..Icng win the soaring Fr'Ses W ~
Kinds of Commodities, the Price OF
| Labor Was Raised to Keep the
! Wage Garner Satisfied, and the Bur-
! den Fell Hardest On People Who
Worked for Salaries and Had Moth
ing to Sell.
Louis Seibold in New York World.
Almost from he very start of the
: Europcan war in August, 1914. the
! prices Of every commodity began to
soar throughout the world.
Great Britain. France, Russia, Bel
| GUM, caught unprepared, were COM
pelled to reach out into every quarter
Of the globe for materials with which
to oppose the progress Of the German
armies.
Tbs neutra! countries Immediately
contiguous to France and Great Brit
ain first felt the tremendous pressure
upon their economic industrial re-
sources. When these cOuntries-Hol-
land, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
Spain. switzerland and Italy-had
been drained. the enemies OF Germany
reached out over the seas into the
PROSPEROUS and resourceful United
States. The effect was that the INDUS
lial institutions Of the country. partic-
ularly those equipped to make war
materials. were expanded several times
their normal capacity and entered up
on an era OF prosperity never before
enjoyed by them.
| II IS still matter of controversy as
to lust how much British, French and
Russian money found its way into the
Golfers of American concerns OF this
character, as we'll as those engaged IN
the production of food and other es-
entlal supplies. One authority places
the amount received by the producing
element in the United States during
the thirty three months before the
United States entered the war at $4,-
500, 100000.
Another estimate is that the gross
amount would more nearly approx
mate 5000, 100000. In any e"ent the
war demands of the countries opposing
Germany brought TO the United States
from foreign sources Il greater volume
of business than they had ever before
known.
| Wages mounted apacc with the "un-
usual prices" demanded and received
by American concerns for their pro-
ductions. AS wages mounted the cost
of living began to soar, and profiteer-
ing set into full swing. After the Unit
cd States became belligcreEt ana
found il necessary to subordinate the
demands Of the civil population to her
own and the military necessities OF her
| Allics, the living wage became the most
important problem confronting the
American people. Business concerns
engaged in the pl oduction Of commod-
! iti,s and supplies Of every character
seized Upon the opportunity afforded
to embark upon profitcering course
with unbridlcd license.
| Classes Which Suffer.
The principal victims of these prac-
ticcs were not the w..Ge ,arners whose
incomes were directly affected by war
conditions. but those employed at fix
Cd and arbitrary wages which did not
command the premiums paid to those
| mployed in the production OF muni-
tions and other war supplics-book-
krepcrs. shop clerks. ilispC ctors. collec-
tors and of the greater number OF pro-
fcssional pursuits.
The stipend of four or five million
men and women coming within this
classification has not appreci&bly IN
creased during the progress OF tht
war. Certainly the increases, If any,
have not been commensurate with
those paid TO war workers. But they
kavc, nevertheless. felt the pinch more
acutcly than toilers whose services
nave been at n premium.
As foreign pressure began 10 close IN
on the production resources OF the
United States the prices for living ne
cessitics became much more pronounc-
led. The neutrals nearest the belllSer-
ent countries were squeezed dry OF
their last ton Of coal and pound of
meat These began to add their clam
or for the products Of the United
states. During the period that the
| United States persisted in maintaining
| its neutrality between the bel!igerent
nations. coal for instance, sold ct sloo
a ton in Sweden, Denmark and swift
zerland. In this country prices began
to follow the trench Of import quota
tions and coal that had been marketed
at IS a ton commanded $40 even be-
fore the United States entered the con-
fict.
That which was true Of coal was also
true Of shoes. clothing. metals, and, in
fact, provisions Of all sorts. Prices
charged for these products In the bel
lliEcrcnt and neutral countries caught
between the punches of war were al
most prohihtive. \ pound Of beefstake
in Sweden cost as high as sl2. 1t has
sold for 30 cents in this country dur
ing prc-war periods. hut 1t practically
doubled in value as the insatiate de-
rnands of war became more imperative
Shoes cost three times as much In the
belligerent and neutral countries as
they cost during peace times. and twice
as much in the United States. The
same was true Of almost every other
commodity.
| Confronted with its humanitarian
obligations. the United States contrib
uted largely to alleviating the wofully
tragic condition of the inhabitants OF
devastated northern France. Belgium
Poland. Serbia. Armenia and other
countries upon which the German ar
mics had seized Every dollar Of food
and materials employed to relieve the
constantly widespreading distress nat
urally affected and restricted the pro-
durtion Of the supplies bought with II