New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-02

short sellers are enlisted. 1t is
widely believed that the short inter
est now is as large as at any time
lately Evidence for this is that the
borrowing demand for stocks is
large. Some houses are even said
to be lending practically their entire
line of active stocks. Even invest
ment issues like Consolidated Gas
lend at half the money rate.
1t is strange that the automobile
trade has not made more use of the
argument that the absorption Of
funds by Liberty loans during the
war, which DETECTED those funds
from the buying of automobiles,
has now left. large number of peo-
pie with enough funds in the. shape
of. Liberty bonds to buy automobiles.
If it had not been for the Liberty
loan campaigns they would never
have been able to save enough for
car. l}
Great employers are almost as
Vigorous as labor. leaders in their
assertion that wages must not be
reduced. They say that labor must
stay up, or they say that labor must
stay up as long as the cost of liv-
ing stays up. The first statement
has two meanings, and the second
but one. There are money wages
and there are real wages. Real
wages are wages in terms of what
they will buy. Basing mans pay
on its purchasing power as indicated
by one of the well-known "index
numbers" or combination Of them,
is much more scientific than giving
him merely fixed amount in
money
Why is it not adopted? First,
there is economic unintelligence
both among capital and labor, and
employees would at any time have
their suspicious aroused by an en-
ployer who tried to introduce this
method. This unintelligence has
been largely done away with by the
startling changes wrought in the cost
Of living by war. But more seri-
Gus barrier remains. You cannot get
capital and labor to agree upon
adopting that system at the same
time. Labor is willing to adopt it
only when the cost of living looks
as if it were going up; capital wants
it only when living costs seem likely
to fall. Capital would like to adopt
it now, but inasmuch as capital did
not adopt it a year or two ago,
when the outlook for the cost Of
living was in the opposite direction,
labor may perhaps be condoned for
suspecting capitals motives.
There is another elastic method
OF fixing wages. That is to base
them on the selling price of an in
dustry's product, as illustrated in
the copper mines. This prevents
labor unrest when an industry is
making great deal Of money, and
it makes reduction easier in difficult
] times. 1t would be impracticable to
base wages on the net, or even the
gross, earnings Of the particular
company for which the men worked
Not only would the men distrust the
figures, but one company in par
ticular industry would be paying Z
higher wage scale than the other
and the other. would lose it's men 0,
be compelled to raise the pay. Ever
the course Of the price-of- produc
wage does not run smooth. Will
copper nominaIly. at % cents, miner
are being paid on the basis of % t,
80 cents, and employers. want to re
duce the wage to "a basis of 81
cents, though they will not admit t.
consumers that that is the price %
copper. A combination Of the cost
of-living basis and the selling pric.
basis and proft-sharing plan nigh
prove the most scientific way of pay
ing for work. But, when could capi
tai and labor be simultaneously
persuaded to want such a way?