The Washington times., 1919-11-18
FOOD COST ST|RS
BRITISH LABOR|TES
Gouger Act FaiIs-Unions Will
Attempt to Solve Weighty
Problem.
copyv:Cnt. 1919.
~ r. L 0oifeeee

LONDON, Nov. 1s.-The entire labor
union movement of Great Britain is
deeply agitated over tire high cost of
I'm wages have brought them no real
relief. Feeling is general that some
thing can be and snouli be- done by
the government to bring down high
prices. Trade union leaders pcint out
that the Government Is the chief
weapon to cut high prices. The
profiteering act has not resulted In
reducing the cost of living; instead, il
has gone up. In the past month 1t has
gone up s per cent
Frank Hodges. secretary of the
Miners Federation. is at the fore
front of the union mems movement to
get some plan working which will
assure all working people some meas-
ure of relief. His plan is that eAcess
profits taxes now used to reduce the
national debt, should be diverted and
used in making the cost of things
less.
Hodges maintains that taxation of
excess profits had not forced down
prices; instead, IT had kept them up.
LAS these profits are made out of in
dustry," says Hodges, "and out of un-
warrantable increase in prices to the
community, those profits should be
taken universally from all people who
made them and utilized in the direc-
tion Of bringing down prices"
The whole matter will be gone into
thoroughly at the special session Of
the Trades Union Congress The
labor movement itself will endeavor
to find a solution Of the high prices
problem and the solution found will
be pressed upon the government
sSiIent Sunerers.,
Northcliffe's Evening News has this
to say of Britains New poor, the
silent sufferers"
"In Russia the Bolsheviks have en-
.deavored to rid themselves Of the
middle class by means Of wholesale
murder. 1t. almost looks as il we
were going to achieve the same end in
this country by means OF high prices
and high taxation.
There are two classes Of the new
poor in special who are suffering
severely-far more severely than most
of US know. There are those who live
on pensions or on the interest Of
their savings, and who find their in
come tax put up to six shillings in
the pound (Sl.26 out OF every s4.20
income), local taxes trebling. and
what is left TO them is worth less
than half it was in 1914. That makes
all the difference between tolerable
comfort and intolerable penury.
THE second class consists of pro-
fessional people with earned incomes.
These have not been able to double
their charges like manual workers,
and in consequence, their incomes are
virtually halved.
DO Not Squeal.
The new poor constitute quite
large class. Their wives are often
their own servants and they work as
hard as any factory worker. These
people do not squeal. They suffer for
the most part in silence"
Thus with the new poor and the
manual working classes, along with
the old poor of which England GER
tainly had a plenty, there is a popular
backing to any campaign designed to
cut the cost of living.
But Government figures show that
the prices of most things are still
climbing.
Food scarcity has eliminated Satur-
day night cheap markets for work
ngmcn's families; furniture and
clothes have advanced from 200 to 500
per cent over 1914 prices; rents are
up and housing accommodations less;
the intended abolition of the bread
subsidy will soon add $3.50. 10000 an
nually to the wOrkpeople's food bud
get. When prices Of other foods ad
vanced the poor increased by 60 per
cent their consumption OF bread.
The Daily News, after a thorough
investigation which showed that pre-