The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-02-05
VOICE OF
THE PEOPLE


The pendulum has swung nearly to
the limit The questions that have been
under such general and intense discus
sion will be settled, not by our logic
but by our second sight. The high cost
of living in all its forms the number of
hours one should work, the price per
hour one should get, the right to strike,
and all these kindred questions, are go
ing to be swallowed up in the question
what can l get to eatf What can |
wearg To work with? To build withY
Go anywhere you will and the shortage
Of commodities, is the shrinking fea-
ture of every business conversation.
Business houses keep their travelling
men more to help the even distribution
of their goods among their old custom
ers than to solicit sales. The number
of items on the cancelled order list
is often as large as the invoice list Of
goods shipped. And cancelled items IN
clude the most common and necessary
things, nails wire, lumber, footwear and
clothing, thread, etc. Strikes, according
to statistics gathered, cost US last year
the loss Of nearly three million tons
of coal not mined. The loss of l,768,
800 pairs Of mems shoes that
were not made The loss Of
nc, 1886, 500 mems shirts and l9,l83,800
pair of overals not made, and 1924,
900 feet of lumber not sawed. "A pair
of shoes cannot cover more than one
pair of feet, nor a shirt or a pair Of
overalls more than one body, and we
are all of those shirts, shoes and over,
alls short Of normal supply And
these losses are but drop IN the
bucket to the total losses this country
has sustained through strikes last year.
All have suffered, nearly every kind OF
production has had its strike, causing
shortage. About 100000 persons have
been engaged in strikes for longer or
shorter period this year, reducing the
production that much below normal.
Add to this the unusual demand for
MANY of the articles from across the
ocean. The new question will soon
loom so big that the old one will be
forgotten and settled, in the struggle
for something absolutely needed.
Various things also are affecting the
food producer. The hullabloo of the
government, and the "Big City, at
torney about the Fl. G. L. have always
hit the farmer without any appreeiable
benefit to the rest Of their fellow work
ers. Farmers are humand and feel the
unfairness Of this, but it does not cut
much figure. What does make the diff
ference though is that Il has added
one more uncertainty to the business,
we have the season, the wind and rain,
the heat and col, the wet and dry, the
bugs and the help question, and now
some hullabaloo may cut our profit in
two several times The help question
lis the most uncertain. A Farmer dare
not plan very big, because he may have
help to SOW, and. none when it comes
time to harvest. There are some good
men but the majority are not to be
depended on any more than the vino.
eff the wind blows we can grind, if
not, well, we will have to wait for it. y
Our labor unions and our big dailes,
some of them) are cultivating mreia
bility in the employed class. They are
throwing their biggest asset to the
winds; they are uniting their dupes
for the advancement they are bowling
for. An admirable article in the
Youths Companion proves that rail
roads are run b. their employees and
always have been. Nine-tenths Of the
railroad presidents, superintendnts and
other officers have come up from the
the ranks, and come up because they
were reliable, and made themselves cap
able and valuable, and not because they
wanted to run things. IF Providence
favors US with an unusually good crop
there may be plenty to eat, but there
are not nearly as many producers as
here were a year ago, many have gone
for bigger wages, shorter hours, more
leisure, more pleasure and left dad to
plod alone. Yours truly,
F. w Roberts.