New-York tribune., 1919-09-26
WYE SUGGEST that when the Wash
wv ington conference meets it will do

wv 1ngtOn conference meets 1T VIII 90
we'll to take up for consideration
book upon "Thc Wealth and Income of the
People Of the United States" by Professor
Willford l. King, of the University Of Wis
consin
Professor King says that the quantity of
goods turned out absolutely limits the in
come of labor, and after careful calcula
ton of the nations production concludes
| that if all rent, interest and profits were
eliminated and added to wages the latter
would not at the outside be increased over
25 per cent. But the elimination of these
would leave nothing in industry to finance
growth and development.
Following are some Of Professor Kings
comments, which are very pertinent at this
time:
"After all reasonable allowances have
been made the fact remains, practically
that beginning with 1870, there has been
increase in the national dividend
nous that it cannot logically be ascrbcd
to anything but the tremendous advance in
productive power due to the revolutionary
improvements in industry which have char
acterized the last half century. 1t seems
improbable that any other great nation has
ever experienced such sweeping gains in the
average income of the inhabitants 1t has
almost necessarily, been accompanied by
great rise in the standard of living
"Of late We have had period of muck
raking' in which all things that exist have
been pictured as very bad and growing
worse. The misery of life, the difficulty of
making both ends meet, has been over
omDhnS sized True ID iuct nc din;o,,1+
secure the articles required by our standard
of living it ever was. But our standard
Of living has grown more expensive In
creascs in quality cost even more than in
creases in quantity. Our wants always have
and probably always will increase with our
ability to satisfy them, so that there is
never any hope of winning the race with
our >standard of comfort. Such race is
just like chasing ones shadow. Neverthe-
less, to the present author, a larger per
capita supply of economic goods appears to
be a most distinct benefit to any nation, and
the United States has been greatly favored
in this line during the last sixty years"
"Thc period l850-190O saw that come 10
pass in the United States which the Englishs
economists of the earlier nineteenth CEN
tury deemed impossible improvement
of the workngman's economic welfare TO
the extent that he was lifted out OF the con-
ditions formerly thought nseparable from
a working life He tasted the cup of learn
ing; he experienced the joys of leisure and
entertainment. and he so limited the size of
his family to enable his children to CON
tinue- to secure these advantages Larger
income and moro learning naturally brought
more power and secured more respect. The
army of labor became an ally to be courted
an enemy to be feared"
The Grim Fact
After careful discussion Of the division
Of the national income among all classes
Dr. King reached the conclusion that if all
rent, interest and profits were added to
wages the sum of the latter would not he
increased by more than one-fourth He
says:
at would seem improbable that with our
present national productive power, any
feasible system Of distribution could in
the average wage earner's income in
purchasing power by more than ore-fourth.
and this is eNtr me rather than d mod
crate estimate. While such a change might
might not be csirabc. it would at least,
work startling revolution in the condi-
ton Of the employees Of the United States