El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-04-25
Wages Are To
Rem1ainAW,ayUb
Wilson Asserts
Secretary OF Labor Says
Real Shortage OfLabor
Exists In Country.

Washington, D. c.. April 25.-Wheu
once industry in this country strikes
It's regular peace time gait, there will
be a marked shortage Of labor. Those
manufacturers who are now reducing
their organizations because they BE-
leve that wages and cost Of materials
are both coming down viii then be
unable TO get the labor they need
Unemployment is still on the in
crease in the United States. though IL
Is not increasing as rapidly as IL was
a few months ago. This unemploy-
ment is the cause Of all the industrial
unrest, the BOlsheVism, anarchy. and
other radical movements now Observ-
able in the United States.
This unrest viii not lead TO revolu-
ton in the United States because the
American workman, while well aware
Of the shortcomings Of our Industrial
system, eralizes that he is better off
than any other workman in the world
ana has too much common sense To-
risk reducing himself 20 the present
condition OF the Russian workman.
He also realizes that i is possible to
do by the ballot in this country what
only revolution can accomplish In an
autocracy.
For these reasons. revolution is q
remote contingency IN the United
States. But as long as this unem-
ployment lasts, there viii be much un-
rest in the country and conditions VIII I
remain unsettled
The secretary's idea.
The above is the gist Of a speech |
before the National Press clGb by sec !
rotary OF labor Wilson
The labor situation is just now the
most important matter in the domestic {
affairs OF The United states, and this I
Is the opinion OF IL expressed by the I
man who has studied il longer and
more carefully and with greater Ia /
cilities - his disposal than any other. ]
Ar- wilson's study Of labor has not d
been wholly academic, either; for he /
spent good many years Of his life 3
diEeing coal in the Pennsylvania /
mines.
mis- argument that there VIII be
labor =hOrtaEe in the near fu-
ture Is supported by figures. he
points out that, in the first place,
we have had practically no immi-
grafton for four years. Before the
war we were getting 1,25O,OOO i'm
migrants annually. About 100000
returned TO Europe every year.
This left Us a net gain Of 100000,
Of which about 100000 were OF
working age We have, therefore,
in the past four years. contracted
n labor shortage Of 100000 from
this cause alone.
In the second place. We have est2b-
ushed. during the past two years, a
ship building industry which employs I
about 100000 men and which bids
Ialr 70 be permanent These ship
builders were drawn from an other
occupations They may, therefore. be !
added 10 the shortage
Some stfu IN Amy.
IN the third place. we have stiu
100000 men under arms, and yea
from now we viii have at least 100000
men in the army
From all Of these causes, Ameri-
can labor. n year from now viii
be between 100000 and 4.0cO,Oo0
workers short Of the number IL
would have had II there had been
no war.
That there IS now unemployment.
despite this shortage, is due 70 the
fact that manufacturers believe botn
labor and material VIII come down In
cost in a short tine
Secretary Wilson agrees that ma
terial must come down in cost He
says that in many cases material has
gone up more than labor. But secre-
tary Wilson does not believe, that
labor will come down, or that any at
tempt should be made TO pull IL down
Sooner or later, industry in this coun-
Try is bound 20 resume its normal ac-
tivity and when it does, It viii face
a labor shortage Of nearly 100000
men Labor VIII then be In position
70 maintain the gains It has made dur
Ing the war, he says
Cause Of Unrest.
The chief trouble. and the real
cause Of the present industrial unrest
IN this country. he says. is the en-
ployers-
Many Of them have assumed that
the wage workers are simply part
OF the machinery OF their plants he
says They deal with them in eX-
actly the same terms. although they
are entirely different There
Is a definite means BY which the
working strength and the breakinGI
strain Of a machine may be deter
mined but no man has ever
yet been able TO determine any method
by which you may calculate the
breaking strain OF a human being"
So the employer tends 10 treat the
lzborer as a commodity. Just now. for
example, The employer is saying that
he viii not buy any Of the commodity
called labor. because conditions are
not favorable. just as he IS saying
that he viii not buy any OF the COM
modify called steel because the price
Is too high This is all right for the