The Connecticut labor press., 1920-12-11
'UflNG WAGES
 WILL NOT BOOM OUR INDUSTRIES
Some Employers Seem to Believe That the One Thing Neces-
 sary to Dc It.
FOLLY IS EVIDENT
Editorial in Shoe Workers Jour nal Points Out Fallacy of
 Proposition Plainly.
By C. L. RA1NE.

1 To hear some employing interests I talk one would think they believe that I the only thing needed to set all the
 wheels of industry in full motion would be reduction of wages all around. We | regret to say that some shoe manu- | lecturers seem to share this view, all though we must in fairness record the fact that far larger number of them are opposed to wage reduction policies at this time
 There are some employers who, real ize that 1t is the wages of labor that consume the product of industries. When wages are low, consumption is low Lack of wages, or low wages de stroy the market for ordinary or staple l commodities. For example, the pro longed depression in industry has re- duced the movement of both freight and passengers on railroads. Next comes general laying off of railroad workers It Is the same thing as idle ness of shoeworlers when there are no shoes to make.
 When railroad men are idle they pur- chase less and so help to reduce the volume of business for railroads to handle. Likewise when shoe workers are idle, they consume less of the pro ducts of other industries, and so the idle workers in these other industries are able to buy less shoes.
 Just how this lack of consumption is to be remedied by still further reducing the purchasing power of the masses of the people by wholesale reduction of wages, the advocates of such policy do not explain. They begin and end with the bold declaration that wages must be reduced. The few shoe manufac- turers who declare for that policy are no better at explaining. 1t than are sirni- lar minded employers in other trades.
 Since the year 1914, the wages of shoe workers in the United States and in Canada have advanced not more than an average of 559o. During that same period of time, the cost of living has advanced 1019o in the United States and 1179o in Canada Now that extortion- ate prices have begun to decline in wholesale markets and are just begin ming to be reflected in come retail stores, a few shortsighted employers want to reduce the wages of shoeworkers about 20%.
 In Massachusetts there is a commis- sion on the necessaries of life. That commission says that in September, 1920, the cost of living actually in creased go. For the month of Octo- Der, 1920, 1t reports decrease of go. The workers of Massachusetts then would be at the same cost of living November l, 1920, as they were on September 1, 1920, or at the very peak of the high cost of living, or just turn ing the peak, just as one prefers to view it.
 There are many things in which there IS no reduction in sight. We haveheard of no reductions III house rents milk remains at the highest price Eggs are higher than ever before. Reductions are reported in the wholesale price of flour but they ahve not reached the con- sumer- The worker pays more to get from his home to his work and there are no signs of reducing this cost.
 We hear of markdown sales of cloth ing but even the reduced prices look twice as high as the same grades were priced six years ago. If any of us are i'll, we find that doctors fees are in creased and we have not heard of any tors, nor of undertakers- It costs more to live, to be sick, and to be buried when any Of us die.
 And still some embrace the fallacy that reduction in wages of shoework- CTS IS now i'll order Having Tn mind that certain fundamental expenses in the cost of living are higher than ever before known and bid fair not to be reduced, such as high transportation cotss of persons and products, house rents, fuel, professional services, etc, the fact remains that if wages are re- duced, the amount left for purchase of ordinary commodities will be less than