Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-11-06
THERE Is DANGER AHEAD

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exorbitant wage demands of organ
lied labor may or may not be justi-
fed by the increased cost Of living.
That is a question on which there
are wide differences of opinion.
But, whichever view of the matter
Is correct the wage demands go
on. the increases are granted. the
extra burden Is passed along to the
consumer, and the cost OF living
rises to correspondingly higher
levels.
Labor, both organized and unor-
ganized, has gained, not lost, by
the war. Higher wage standards
once established do not come down.
Once up, always up, is the rule.
And while labor has thus been the
gamer and not the loser by the war
upheavals, the same is true OF the
farmer. The prices Of farm pro-
ducts, particularly cotton, grain
and live stock, have gone up by
leaps and bounds. The farmers
have more money to spend, more
.luxuries within their reach than
they had known for. decades before
the war broke out.
Neither are the very rich nor the
bankers war sufferers. Such bank
ers as handled foreign government
business and invested in munitions
manufacture are eavy gamers.
Many Of them - well>As thousands
who engaged in miscellaneous man
ufacturing, have piled up enormous
war fortunes. The very rich, even
though taxed as high as from SO
to rs percent on their incomes,
still have SO much left that they
need not and do not deny themselves
anything. In all these quarters
money-spending is going on at a
prodigious pace. Hotels demand
ing enormous rates are crowded to
capacity. The theatres of New
York and all over the country are
doing q record breaking business,
So are the high-priced restaurants.
the dealers In jewelry and In the
most expensive kinds OF mems and
women's wearing apparel, the pur-
veyors Of all the infinite varieties
of things unnecessary and OF high
cost. It has been and Is a riot OF
money-sQuandering such as the
country has not known for years.
Are there. then. any real sufferers
from the war and the wars after
math reactions? Ask the teachers,
the clergymen, the clerks. the writ
ers, the editors, the tens Of thOus-
ands Of professional and semi-pro-
fessional men, the men and women
Of small incomes sufficient for their
modest needs before this orgie OF
high prices, but now cut to half and
less than half In purchasing power.
and at this day spelling deprivation
to the verge of want where before
they spelled modest independence.
These are the real after-the-war
sufferers. Their name Is legion.
Compared with current living ex-
penses the salaries paid to clerks.
to teachers, to writer's, to editors, to
clergymen are derisory. Likewise
they are an iAfamy.
While other salaries and other
wages have gone up, here they have
either stood still or Increased by
figures that are nigGardly. Men
and women Of learning. OF the
highest attainments. those on whom
depends the education Of American
children, the moral guidance Of the
American people, arr, paid salaries
that Z hodcarrier or bricklayer or q
stevedore would scorn. It II this
submerged. unorganised. inarticu-
late group. the very Tower OF the
country'5 intelligence, the group on
which We all depend to maintain
| the republic through clear thinking
and staunch fidelity to basic Amer
lean principles and trad1tions-it ID
upon these that the present-day bur-
| den of living cost falls with crushing
weight. It IL they Who shoulder
their disproportionate share Of the
ever increasing load showed upon
| the consumers and the rent-payer'a
shoulders by the granting OF extor-
| tionate labor union demands: by
! conscienceless proflteers: by reck-
| less waste Of government funds
wrung from the country's 0verbur-
dened taxpayers.
They have been Q patient lot thus
| far, these real sufferers from the
wars Inevitable consequences
Their voices are seldom heard IN
complaint. They are inarticulatt
and unorganized. But the thinl
cannot 70 ON forever. Either sal.
| walton must be worked out In some
way and soon for this vast group
or we shall pay the penalty by see.
ing them join the turbulent forces
lAf unrest and disintegration. And
when that happens. sheer ruin vii
not be TAR away. When such Am
orleans 10 these cannot earn on
0ugh money to live their fruga
lives aud educate their children
then indeed d there danger ahead
I-Harvey's Weekly.