The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1920-05-27
TINE FOR A REACTION

tion-wide tendency to cut prices on all
commodities and a Tightening up on
the money situation by the national
banks of the country, there must in
evitably follow falling off in the
demands for all classes of labor, skill
ed and unSkilled. and consequent
decline in the present high rate de-
manded in salary.
We believe that the average salaries
the past three years have been en-
oessively high and are still out OF pro-
potion to the increased values on COM
modities and materials.
When the hurried work OF the gov
ernment construction, building and eN-
cavating of all kinds at the great
cantonment sites was begun, an un-
usual demand was at once created for
labor. The federal government need
ed the work and the great undertak-
ings must of necessity be rushed to
completion regardless Of cost in dol
lars and waste in material. The work
was turned over to contractors on a
percentage basis-we1l say ten per
cent. of the total cost Of all work per-
formed at Camp Jackson was paid to
contractors. The federal government
is alone responsible for the situation
today, the high cost Of living and the
fabulous salaries exacted by jack-leg
mechanics of every description and
vocation. The government created
an incentive, and the contractors took
advantage of it by paying big prices
and running total costs into fabulous
sums, ten per cent. of which was their
pay.
In the first place scarcity in all
branches of labor was caused by the
drafting of men out of their several
lines of occupation, and the supply
was soon unequal to the demand.
Work at the big government canton
ments was under way and must be
rushed to completion. Then the con-
tractors began to advertise for work
men, offering unheard of salaries per
diem. In a short time it was known
far and wide that day laborer could
draw s4.00 to $500 for an eight-hour
day; a jack-leg carpenter $500 to
$500 for the same eight-hour day.
1t was not long then before every
community was losing the small per
centage of labor the draft act had
not already taken. Farm hands left
their employers to work for govern
ment contractors, because $500 per
day was better than $3.50 Drivers
of delivery wagons who could use a
saw and hammer 20 the extent of
making a box or chicken coop quit
his job (that for which he was best
suited) and became a high priced car
perter on government work. Mean
time the men-the real workers of
the country-were 6 awing the meas
ly sum of S1.00 per, in addition to
clothes and rations. They underwent
hardships, many were killed and died,
many more were manned, injured, in
capacitated for life. The ranks in the
field of labor were depleted and they
have not and will not soon be replen-
ished. The cantonments have been
completed, served their purpose and
many of them demolished Those
who worked on them have returned to
find employment as carpenters, plum
bers, ETC., and realizing the necessity
of the work to be done, they are de-
manding from contractors and pri-
vate builders daily wage that is
little short of the scale paid by the
government contractors when Uncle
Sam was footing the bill and paying
the butcher" ten per cent.
This sort of thing cannot last much
longer 1t is intolerable. The prin-
ciple is wrong and therefore must
sooner or later collapse. More pay,
shorter hours and less work has been
the cry of labor for the past two
years. In most instances their de-
mands have been unreasonable, but
acceeded to because of the importance
of the work in hand.
There has been a good deal of build
ing going on in this community the
past eight or twelve months and it is
estimated that the labor used in car
rying on the work has been at a
price equal to two-thirds of the total
cost, making the price of the material
used one-third, and usually the man
who furnished the latter must wait
80 to go days for his money, while
the workman has been paid every