Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-08-27

olutton' seems to destroy that hope and reduce the att
uation to chaos.
WAGES AND LIVING COSTS
The statement made by President Wilson in submit
tins the suggested basis for read,ustment OF the claims
Of railway shop men brings sharply into focus the whole
question Of tho relation Of wages to cost of living. The
subject - not new and the relationship is one which Is
universally recognised when people take the trouble to
think. But the presidents statement, addressed - it 10
to many thousands Of workmen whose wages are inme-
diately affected, as we'll ~ to the general public. which
Is directly affected by any general change in living costs.
will tend to centralize attention on this question in a
manner which would otherwise have been next to impos-
sible.
Mr.. Wilson in pointing out the futitty Of attempting
to benefit wage workers by the mere Advancement Of
their pay takes exactly the same ground that was taken
a few weeks ago by one Of the spokesman of the railroad
brotherhoods who made it plain that he and those whom
he represented recognized thoroughly that the ~readjust-
ment Of conditions which most earners Of small incomes
seek could not be brought about merely by raising wages.
He recognized that raising wages in any general way
would mean merely increasing the cost OF production ana
this increase would have to be met ty higher prices
which in turn would be followed by the demand for still
further wage increases. and so on Unfortunately.
. The situation as it applies to railroad work and rail-
road incomes is one which brings this feature to the front
with remarkable, cleaEnees. The railroads Of the United
States have not for years been earning enough money to
be on a satisfactory basis. The fact that 4 few of them
have prospered is q mere detail. Several have gone into
bankruptcy and very many of them have been skirtins
the edge of bankruptcy too closely for comfort. At pres
emit and for some time back. the railroads have not only
not been prospecting. but they have actually been running
behind. The taxpayers of the country will be called upon
Immediately to pay several hundred million dollars to
mako IN tina difference bAtvAan railroad esrnin~e .,a
railroad expenses. To increase the wage scale will mean
merely to make this shortage greater If the present sys-
tenn Of dipping into the general treasury to make up such
shortages Is continued. M~anifestly that is not sound pol
icy. If the country needs railroads it needle self-sustAin-
ing railroads, and means must be found to put the rail-
roads on a self sustaining basis. No other system is log
ical or reasonable. Some Of the ablsst men in the country
have brought all their ingenuity to bear to devise means
Of lowering railroad expenses. 1t is reasonable to assume
that those expenses have been-hrousht' to approximately
as low . point as is consistent with good service. If the
present scale Of expenses continues additional incomes
must be provided. Outside Of eeneralataxation9 there is
only one way in which this can be done. namely, by ad-
vancine rates. The addition Of man, millions of dollars
10 the wage expense will mean simply that still further
rate increases must be made in order to care for this ad-
d1tional expense. Those rate increases will be shifted to
the selling price of goods and the people who buy the
goods must pay the price. The railroad workers them
selves. therefore. il they persist IN demanding more wages
are demanding what will advance their own cost of living
as well as the cost of living for all other persons.
What u true Of railroad wages is true of all other
wages. Naturally there are individual cases which need
ad3ustments. Certain employees may be receiving less pay
than their work entities them to in proportion to the pay
mont given for some other services in other fields, but
aside from these special casea 4 general increase Of wages,
supposins the incomes of workers be doubled or trebled,
would not benefit them in the least because such increas.
es would merely be transferred to the purchaser of goods
and the wage earners themselves, taken as a whole, ARE
BY far the largest purchasers of goods whom we have. 1t
Is evident that the solution of the present problem lies
not in wage increases but in a reduction of living costs,
whether those costs are due, as in some cases, to wasteful
methods Of distribution or. as in others, to the collection
of %exorbitant profits, or a. in still others, to wasteful ana
improvident habits such as are inevitably promoted by
the initiation Of credit ana the constant advance in price
in all lines which we have been experiencing.