Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1919-09-04

BY COUNTRY
President 7rlson Issues Ap-
peal To the Nation For
Truce 7Pendlng Eco
noulc Adjustment
PEACE Of NATION MENACEO
"Let Us Mobilize Fer Reconstruction;
~ We Fail II VIII Mean National
plsaster,I Public 10 warned-stlII
Higher Prices Inevitable Result Of
Wage Concessions.

Washinpton.-Presldent Wilson is
sued the following appeal to the ma.
ton:
My Fellow Citizens A situation
has arise in connection with the adj
mlnistrat n of the railways which is
of such general significance that /
think 1t my duty to make a public
statement concerning 1t, in order that
the whole country may know what IS
involved.
The railroad shopmen have demand
ed a large increase in wages. They
are now receiving 50, GO and 6S cents
per hour. This demand has been
given careful and serious considera-
ton by the board which was consti-
tuted by the Railroad Administration
to adjust questions of wages, board
consisting Of an equal number of rep
reseniatives of employees and of the
operating managers of the railroad
cOmpanies. This board has been I'M
able o come 10 an agreement, and I
therefore has devOlved upon the Di-
rector General OF Railroads and my
self to act upon the merits Of the case.
The shopmen urge that they are en-
titled 10 higher wages because of the
higher wages for the present received
by men doing a similar work in ship
yards, navy yards and arsenals, rs well
as in number of private industries,
but J concur with the Director Gen
ergl in thinking that there is no real
basis FOR comparison between the set
tied employment afforded mechanics
by the railroads under living condi-
tlOns as various as the location and
Surroundings of the railway shops
lmselves and the fluctuatiOn employ
mt afforded in industries exception
Nv and temporarily stimulated by the
Rar and located almost without excep-
ton in Industrial centers where the
cost Of living is highest.
Cost of LixIss at 1t, Peak.
The suRstsStlal argument which the
shOpmen urge is the very serious in
crease in the cost of living. This is a
very potent argument, indeed. But
the fact is that the cost of living has
certainly reached its peak and will
ich are now everywhere beng cGn-l
:rted and carried out. 1t certainly
iii be lowered soon as there are set.
,tled conditions of production and OF
commerce, that is so soon as the treaty
ef peace Is ratified and in operation,
md merchants, manufacturers, farm
ers andfmifiers all have certain basis
" ejaculation as to what their bust
ness will be and what the conditions
VII be under which 1t must he con-
Quoted.
The demands Of the shOpmen, there
fore, and all similar demands, are in
effect this: That we make increase In
wages, which are likely to be perma-
men, in order TO meet temporary sit
uation which will last nobody can GER
tainN tell how long, but in all proba-
bility only for limited time. In-
creases in wages viii, moreover, GER
tainlS result in still further increasing
the cost of production, and, therefore,
The cost Of living, and we should only
have to go through the same process
again.
Any substantial increase of wages in
leading lines of industry at this time
would utterly crush the general cam
paisn which the government is waging,
with energy, vigor and substantial
hope of success, to reduce the high
cost of living. And the increases In
the cost Of transportation which would |
necessarily result from Increases in |
the wages of railway employees would !
more certainly and more Immediately |
have that effect than any other en-
HANGED wage costs. Only by keeping |
the cost of production on it's present |
level, by increasing production and BY |
rigid economy and saving on the part |
II the people can we hope for large
decreases In the burdensOme cost OF |
living which now weighs us down.
I No Time For Higher Rates.
The Director General OF Railroads
and l have felt that a peculiar re-
sponsiblllty rests upon us, because in
determining the question we are not
studying the balance sheets of coIpor-
atiOns merely. We are, In effect, de-