The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-11
HENRY CLEWS'
 WEEKLY LETTER

ation of unfavoraIble problems, reQuir- ing time and discussion for settle ment. The Peace Conference has finally settled down to hard work, but points of difference are cropping out and there is more or less dassatisfac- tion at slow progress and the meagre- ness of details given out. This is much as expected and Is not stimulat- ing.
 Perhaps the most important source of uncertainty is the financial one of bonds and taxes. If the new revenue measure and the bond issue are pushed through simultaneously the government will issue s6,000, 0O0,0 900 in loans and impose another $6,OOO, 900, 900 in taxes; total of s12. 900, 600. 600 in few months, which Is probably con- 1 s1derably more than the country's Sav- ings. To meet such unprecedented "'vments. the largest in this country during the war, extensive resort to bank loans will be inevitable, with more or less consecTent inffation. It is nlain there will be little money for new enterprises for some time to come, and great care will be neces- sary to prevent undesirable imitation. | The railroad outlook is confused by the conflict of opinion between those who wish to return the roads to own ] CTS at an early date and those who i wish the government to maintain non- trol for another five years. My own i preference would be to let the present arrangement run to the appointed 21 months after peace has been signed; and If the situation is not then satis- ! factory to continue government con- i trol for the balance of the proposed five-year period. Owing to enormous increases in wages aggregating $7O0,- oO0,000, to increased cost of materials and to impaired physical condition, the credit of the railroads has been somewhat weakened, and they are at i present in no condition to be handed back to their owners. Public interest and common justice require that they be given chance to repair damages incurred by war before the 1. ment which seized them throws them back upon their own resources
 The labor question is beyond doubt one of the most difficult of solution. The increasing number of strikes in Great Britain and the United States Is syntomatic of deep seated unrest, | the outcome of which cannot be meas ured at this time. It began long be- fore the war, and expressed itself in various theories of industrial and so- c1a4 reconstruction, most of which are not only impractical, but absolutely unavoidable, human nature being what 1t is. This dissatisfaction has been Intensely aggravated by war, and the readtustment to a peace basis Is prov ing infinitely more difficult than plac- ing the country upon a war basis, The thing most essential to a satisfactory adjustment in this problem is a spirit or patience and fair play The war ring countries are passing through a phase of national neurasthenia. char acter1zed by an impatience with things as they are and a dangerous read- ness to experiment with all sorts of radical vagaries which would certainly make the new states worse than ne old. What Is most needed is wise counsel and careful action on all sides Little can be gained by harping upon apuses and wrongs belonging to the past. What Is most essential is care Iul study of workable plans that will carry us step by step toward the goal
 
 lent methods that would simply con- 1use and destroy. Capital has already taken the initiative in adopting a con- clnatory attitude, this being notably expressed at the recent convention in Atlantic City, when thousands of big employers declared in concert their readiness to facilitate betterment of conditions on logical lines. Wages ! ha6T 1o Ivy {,oo labor have leen shortened, and many Of our. leading manufacturers have undertaken liberal measures to anne.
 1orate the conditions of workfngmen. The concessions on the side of capital and the gains on the side of labor during the last ten years, if correctly chrontcled, would fill a big volume, with the changes largely on the side Of the latter. But labor is still dis lcontented, mainly because of the in creased cost of living. The question naturally follows what is res 2onsibIe for" this latter increase. and the only answer is the war and labor itself. War forced high prices by its extrav- agant destrictiveness, by diversion of labor to useless products, thus lessen ing the production of industries: not to speak of the killing and maiming of millions of men and the utter de- moralization Of industry and trans portation. The only effective cure for this impoverished condition is to fill the void thus created by increased production or more work. But this la DOT refuses to do, and persists in muI- tiplying its own hardships by insist ing upon still shorter hours and still higher wages which means dinain- ished instead of larger production. If labor really appreciated that such a suicidal policy increases its difficult ties. 1t would adopt more rational methods, but labor unwisely increases the cost of the very things of which It Is the largest consumer and makes its own situation worse rather than , better. Under really sound leader ship. labor would endeavor to in- crease the output, even if only for it's own special benefit. Such a course ; would stimulate general consumption . ana widen employment As long, however, as labor resorts to force rather than reason and refuses to rec , ogn1ze the operation of natural law, strikes and loclzouts must continue
 Hundreds of millions of dollars in in- creased wages have been granted to i railroad employees, which will have to
 De passed on to railroad consumers the bulk of which will fall upon work. ingmen themselves Wages of coal
 miners, farm hands, textile mills, stee,
 milhs, etc, in fact all classes of labor
 have been necessarily advanced. Thi. means high prices for all these ser. [ vices and comm cp1htieS. and Onca y,,op.s