Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-13
SALAR|ED PEOPLE
ARE HARDEST HIT
Ground Down Between Extremes,
Are Beginning to Organize
in Self-Defence.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

Washington. D. c., Jan. 13.-Not long
ago q number of clerks III New Orleans
organized for the purpose of getting bet
ter wages and better conditions, ol iaoor
from their employers. The college pro
fessors have orga nIzed, and 50, as All the
world knows, have the actors. he ponce
have gone on strike In one CITY, ana
Threatened tn do so in another In at least
two towns the newspaper men have trleu
to organize regular unions, though without
complete success.
And this is only partial hst Of them
the white collar unions. You will hear that
term in the Middle West, and perhaps IN
some other parts of the country. 1t means
that the vast army of the sala~ied ana
professional people squeezed and starved
between capital and labor, bearing the
br1int OF heavy taxes and high hvlng cost,
are beginning to organize IN seli-detetse-
1t means that the war of classes winch Is
being waged all over the world Is forcing
another class into class consciousness ana
class organization--the middle class.
FAITH IN EQUALITY.
OF course. in this country we have no
classes We are all social equals. and so
there are, theoretically. no social classes.
We have been raised on the doctrine that
sny boy born in America has perfectly
good chance TO be President Of the United
States-or of the Standard Oil Company.
We have firm faith in opportunity and N
progress You may be a hookkceper today
and therefore in the class Of salaried en-
ployes, but YOU look confidently forward to
the time when you viii own share oi the
company, or found a company Of your
own. How you will dc it, YOU don't know
You have immense faith IN your own luck
and latent ability You NAV marry the
boss's daughter, ike the poor but de-
serving lad in the story, or YOU may play
the stock market on q good tip. or Won
may just naturally plug your way to the
top by hard work. Isn't that the way Abe
Lincoln climbed from log cabin INTO the
White House?
This has long been our national faith
that opportunity is equal and that q /
good man can forge ahead. and IS not, /
therefore. a permanent member 81 any 1
class, social or economic The validity Of 4
this national faith might he debated at 1
great length. The point is that We have 7 4
especially those Of US who wear white
collars. Labor has practically rejected Il.
BY organizing unions and striking and .
lobbying for better conditions If work, the
laboring man announces IN effect that ne
knows he IS going to remain iaho' ING .
man. and that he intends to make that
career rs profitable and comfortable aS n
possible. Of course. he NAV skvrockc' into .
big business Witness Charley Schwab Il
But he hes observed that the number q A
those who so skyrocket is relatively small
In the salariei classes it NAV he little
larger. but still there is an enormous NUM-
Der of us who are doomed 10 work for
salaries all our lives. And We arc beginning
to realize that fact. We notice, too, that
the laboring man, by actin" upon the
assumption that he IS gong 70 remain 2
laboring man, Is rather getting ahoad OF Us
His wages have come nearer to keeping
up with the living cost than have OUT
salaries and fees Recently at govern
ment hospital young doctors performing
operations were getting 81 900 wear
which Is about four dollars day, and
certain artisans working around tie place
ve~e getting six. Situations Tic that are
Men write for ncwSnaDe7S anG
mould public opinion for les than plaster
Frs get young engineer in government
employ has charge of 3 hundred iahorerS !
On big Job and some Of the skilled ones
make more than he does A coal miner IN
4 Ia hana makes $50 a week. and the super
ntendent OF local high school envies him. !
But it is hardly necessary to emphasize [
the fact that the sals-ied men, and to [
eSser extent, the professional man working 1
or fees. are the ones who have suffered !
most from the high cost Of living. All Of 1
Il who belong in that clsss are bitterly '
sware Of the fact The significant thing Is
hat we are beginning to be conscious Of i
ourselves as a class and 10 band together il
Z self defense That Is WHIST the white col {
a. unions mean. Il Is also what most Of )
he consumers leagues and cooperative G
torres mean. y
In England thev have gone step farth- .
T. They have never bad our Democratic q
about classes over there. d
hey have frankly organized IN iddle Il
lass mon under that name and II has 7
lresdy become 8 political factor to tt d
eckoned with. 10 Gernsnv. too, there T
sve been formed some middle class I.
rgsnizations 70 resist the SDartacide Il
fort of the working class to rule. Ii
THREE CLASSES IN NATION l.
The fact, of the matter, Is Of course,
hat there are ST least three distinct =
asses in every industrial nation. end ~
1at most Of the members OF each of them u
emain IN them all Of their lives. On the s
ne hand Is the Isboring class, composed y
those who work for wages IN the great =.
rimary industries which produce the a
Of life. On the other hand IS the iT
spitaliSt class composed Of those who =
ave money aud 1--we bv investing # in p
rose same industries for the most part
he farmers really constitute a sepafate y
ass. The farmer has been wont 10 regard -
mseli as 3 capitalist, bur IS beginning to II
size that his interests are more nearly Y
enticaI with those Of the lab0ring man
The other and the largest class of all u
insists OF those who work fox salaries and u
e. This class is far less distinctive aud
and self-conscious than any ~ ~
the others 1t IS not aware Of itself. II "a "a
,es not know what It wants or what is N
,od for it, II is the prey ii dernagogues Ia
q Of gand8s Labor appeals to it ~
ying:
You. too, are . worker for wa Ges. Your
terests are mine. Government owner 'e'
ip and government control every thing uil
az viii break monopoly and lower the az
81 Of living, IS to you~ interest rs vel IS ihf
- mi.