New-York tribune., 1919-06-25
TELEPHONES,
Beeknan 8243
Beekman 5000
Banker Says Labor
Tends to Support
Price Initiation
Nobody Gains From Higher
Scale Except at the Elk.
pense of Some One
Else, 6. E. Roberts Saws

FORT DODGE, Iowa, June "a
George E. Roberts, assistant to thu
president of the National City Bank in
an address here to-day before the low,
Bankers Association, declared that be
is reluctant to believe that the new
level of commodity prices is permanent
"Some people think" he said. "that
the new level of wages and prices
throughout industry is permanent.
do not want to believe that it is. | am
reluctant to believe it because think
it will work grave injustice to thou
sands of people. If the present level Of
prices is permanent the value of money
and Of all obligations to pay fixed sums
of money will be deprecated approxi-
mateiy one-half. 1t means that all the
savings of the people which are in the
form of bank deposits, contracts.
promissory notes, or life insurance are
in large part. possibly one-ha!f. wiped
out as with a sponge. The farmer or
years of life, has converted his prom.
erty into bonds or mortgages, will find
the interest as he receives it, and the
principal when it is paid, of only about
one-half the purchasing power that he
bargained for. A great many salaried
people and wage earners are unable to
get prompt adjustment of their nav.
and, indeed, nobody gains anything by
the higher scale except at the expense
of some one else.
An Easy Way Out
~ say that I am reluctant to believe
that the new level is permanent, and
yet l recognize that powerful influences
are at work to support and establish
it. The labor organizations are en-
trenched and powerful, and have public
sympathy largely with them. Employ
ers, as a rule, rather than have a con-
flict with their employees, will pay what
ever is demanded if they can pass the
cost on to the consuming public. This
is the easy way of dealing with the
labor problem, and the present state
of imitation favors it,"
Mr.. Roberts also discussed the price
situation in relation to the invention
Of labor saving machinery and the
further application of science to in
dustry
at is a depressing fact" he said,
that for the last twenty years the
greater part of all the gains achieved
in industry by the genius of invention
and management, and by the accumu-
ioeaSAA VI Sdpitdi, mas DccU uSeL 10 INe
wage earning population by the higher
cost of food and raw materials.
Now, this is grave situation. It
looks as though mankind was losing
out in its contest with nature 1t re-
wives the Malthusian theory that pop
ulatlon naturally increases faster than
the food supply. We know it to be
true that as population grows more
dense it becomes more difficult to pro-
vide for it, except as increasing knowl-
edge gives larger command over the
natural resources. Aside from mans
ability co improve the methods of pro-
duction, the tendency is against him.
1t is steady pull against the current.
A Never Ending Problem
"But the development of the steam
engine and the locomotive changed this
situation rapidly. 1t opened up the
Mississippi Valley and other fertile
regions and gave relief to the world.
But relief for how long? The rise of
prices in the last twenty years shows
that the problem was only pushed
back. 1t is problem that never can
be finally disposed of so long as popu-
lation continues to increase. And
there are no more Mississippi Valleys
to come to the rescue. There are ex-
leHoi'c areas VI ldHO III oOuCn America,
in Africa and Asia, but they will not be
occupied rapidly. There is land in
Canada, and, as l have said, we have
nowhere near reached the limit of
production in this country-but you
are as familiar with these conditions
as l am.
Il do not wish to play the part of an
alarmist. l don't say that the world
is on the brink of starvation. The
great increase in food production
which we have had in this country
during the war shows something Of
our latent possibilities, but this pro-
duction is stimulated by very high
prices. / want to call attention to
what 1 believe to be the chief factor
in the social situation, the economic
pressure and unrest occasioned by the
rising cost of the common necessaries
of lifo y