Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-08-18

jung; I'm sorry for the renter.
$3.50 to 5000 a month. There are
car knockers who earn $3.50 a month.
In these days of automatic coup.
ling and block signals man of Orll-
nary intelligence can to be a brake
man in a week. The train porter
not sleeping car porter-aS.n learn
his job in three days. The car
knocker, if he. has a good ear, can
learn his job in ten days Il takes
switchman longer to learl his job,
but he does not get the fancy pay
the others get.
When the railroad machinists saw
this inequality of wages they began
to realize that wages seemed to be
based upon organization and force,
rather than upon skill.
We were all put out because the
machinists caused the trains to be an
nulled. We wanted to ride on. From
one point of view the machinist was
wrong. He was wrong in the meth
cd he pursued, but he had his side
of the case and he had good side.
He had a just complaint. The only
wrong he did was in the method he
undertook to right his wrongs.
| Now we throw these incidents to
gether to impress upon our reader:
the tremendous ramifcations that en-
ten the problem of production, con-
sumption, labor and commerce.
We were up to our necks in diff
culties and in problems, and We do
not understand any of them. We
! have not given our mind to them.
The fellow who is suffering does not
think, because he is suffering. The
fellow who is in condition to give at
it because he is busy doing something
tention and to analyse does not do
else CIR busy doing nothing.
+ These problems began to become
acute even before the arnistice was
signed. President Wilson, under
authority of Congress, fixed the price
of wheat, and when Congress passed
laws enabling the executive to over
turn the fundamental rules of com
merce and establish in their place
conditions of artificial control right
then and there these problems be
gan to pile up. Everybody was max
ing money. Half of the pepole were
gouging the government. The big
fellows had their buckets under the
bungholes of Uncle Sans barrels
and the little fellows were grabbing
the drippings. Everybody had some
sort of job. Everybody was busy
J in some sort of a drive Congress,
our chief lawmaking body, refused to
look into the future. The members
did not have time. They were busy
! getting appointments for officers, get
ting cantonments or introducing con-
! stituents to those in authority to let
contracts.
The nation began to eat its capital
and replenished it by creating GER
tificates of Indebtedness which the
people bought one day and threw
back on the government the next day.
Nobody sought to live within his
Ilncome. Everybody demanded more
and got it. If man made $780,
600 year and the government told
him it intended to take $4,000 in
most cases he shot up his prices so
as to make 100000 a year, give
the government 100000 and still
keep 100000. This same process
went down and down until the tax
on the nickel cigar was finally SHOW
ed on to the consumer and he paid
cents therefor and did not COM
plain. 49,, ... ~
About one-half of the people in
the country can pass the buck or
can pass the burden of the tax and
expense to the other half and the
other one-half can pass it further.
The result is that 50,0OO,0O0 people
are paying double or are really pay
ing theiE taxes and their burden and
Jhe burden OF the other 50,000,000.
But Congress did nothing.
When the armistice came Mr.. Will
son went off to Europe, as was his
right He did not consult the lead
ing Democrats and he did not con.
suit the Republicans.
During the December March SEES
sion neither in the Senate nor House
of Representatives was there a single
reconstruction or reorganization
measure passed. The members of
the Senate fought the Democratic
majority in in order to stave things
off until they could pet control. The