Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-07
CAPITAL IS BLAMED
FOR PROF|TEER|NG
BY UNION WORKERS
Railroad Brotherhoods Present
Graphic Statistics on High
Costs of Living.
SAY BIG BUSINESS GETS
LIONS SHARE OF INCRE ASE
Ry Associated Press TO Every Evening

By Associated Press 10 Every Evening
Washington. May "A study OF proti-
teering in American industry, made under
The auspices of the railway brOthcrhoOds,
was presented to the Railroad Labor
Board TODAY In support of the railway
workers demands for higher pay and TO
refuse the charge that increased labor
costs are responsible for the high cost OF
living.
Prepared by " J. Lauck, former secre-
tary of the War Labor Board the study
seeks to show that proftecrinc in industry
Is the fundamental cause for high prices
n practically all commodities. Il gives
many statistics to support that con-
scntlon.
POINTS TO WAR MILIIoNAIRES.
Calling attention TO the many war
made millionaires, the study contends
hat a three fold relationship exists
between high prices. prohteering and
he addition 10 the quota of mlliionaireS,
and that the increase OF tho wealth OF the
wealthy Is an "unanswerable refutatIon
all attempts TO charge labor with
prohteering and 10 all attempts to hold
labor responsible for the high cost OF
living.
For. if invested wealth gets larger
return saws the study, "a lager proper
ION OF the national income back than
formerly. the man who gives persona
service or labor is bound TO get smallerl
proportion The menace OF the future
lic~ in the probability that the vast profits
which are still held in reserve viii be
capitalized in order that under the pre-
text Of fair return on capital. those who
own them may continue 10 take the larger
proportion o. national income, even at the
expense Of very great suffering on the
mart of the workers, when the overhead
stimulation OF war has passed away.
HUGE PROFITS TO SUGAR REFINERs.
OF the extraordinary increase in the
price OF sugar now mounting 10 800 per
cent, the study SAYS, the increase In labor
cost paid by the consumer was less than l5
per cent. The result OF advanced prices,
according to the quoted reports Of twelve
companies producing over half the sugar
consumed IN the United States, was
pictured in the net profits Of these con-
Germs, which II was SAID advanced from
an average Of s11 900, 900 during the wears
i9I2-lol4 10 So 100000 for the years
I9i6-1o1S.
In the meat packing industry where
profits we-c said "a have increased between
500 and 400 per cent, the labor item was
shown 50 small th4t q wage increase Of
100 Ter cent would add less than FIVE pcr
cent 20 the total cost of t he meat. The
increase m price between 1914 and 1918
was shown as eight times the total labor
cost and the 1918 prices represented %
times the labor item.
pRoFTTEsRING IN CLOTHING AsD SHOES.
The costs absorb approximately ono
half the retail price Of certain kinds Of
cloth, the report declared, while the labor
nen amounts 10 from one fourteenth 70
one twentieth of the price.
Similar relations were pictured II men s
garments.
Shoes, according to the study. "fur-
nished splendid opportunity for the
prohteer," the profit items IN 1914, II was
charged, absorbed neariv one half the
price paid by the consumer, or nearly
three times the total labor cost. while
IN 1917 the profits items amounted 70
approzims tel~ threc-fifths Of the total
prica and more than I'VE times the tot al
labor cost.
COAL PROFITS UP 400 PER CENT.
increases in the retail price Of bitumi-
nous coal were shown at four times the
increase II labor costs while the proper
tion of the proceeds Of the industry receive
by the coal operator was shown IS IN
creased from IS TO 400 per cent
Profteering did not stop with the arrnl-
suce, the report declared presenting
figures to show that corporation profits
III 1919 were 10 per cent ever the pre-
war ave rage VIII ch means the study
added. that 1919 profits were more than
double the average for the years 1912
1914.
An average Of 81, 200 per family Of FIVE
during the yeare 1868 IS was declared
TO be prof ably a highly conservativ.
estimate OF the fabulous use Of pro6teer-
Hg.