Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-09-27
WAGES MUST FALL
WITH COMMODITIES
SO SAYS GEORGE D. ROBERTS,
FINANCIAL STUDENT AND
BANKER.
AMERICA MUST HAVE
BETTER FARM POLICY
Great Necessity Of Moment is to
Press Equilibrium Between Prices
and Wages as Deflat;on Process
Goes On, Says Roberts-Farm Pro-
duction Seriously Threatened.
to Times Republican.

Special to Times Republican.
Dcs Moines. Sept. 27.-Faliing
prices anl, their relation To the farm.
to wages and to the economic condi-
tion of the country are discussed by
George ID. Roberts, former Iowa edi-
tor, later director of the United
states mint and now editor of The
Americas" published by the National
City Bank of New York. in the Sep
TENDER issue of his publication. The
subject is discussed particularly with
reference to the business, of farming,
and he, declares that America must
devise d more efficient and definite
farm policy. He says it is inevitable
t3sat commodity prices. food prices
iSrl wages must all decline.
He believes the great necessity OF
the present moment is to preserve
equilibrium as the process of defla-
ton goes on.
If commodity prices. food prices
and wages fall substantially in UNI
ison nobodN will get hurt he points
out but If they do not it is newt
able that either the farming group or
the wage earning group is going to
De badly hit.
1T is To the manifest interest of
the country to endeavor to manipu-
late events in such Il way that the
nf~Aement will proceed equitably
that is, that approximately the same
rate of decline shall take place III
the three great factors of food and
ether commodity prices and of wag
Gs.
Zone thing is certain and that is
that all three will decline. Efforts to
hold up any ene of the three win
surely react with startling effect on
those who attempt to circumvsnt or
10 nullify the memorable workings OF
the economic law. Not only will the
particular group involved be Fit but
the country at LARGE viii be damaged
II the whole world is STRUGGLING from
one phase of economic life TO another
| and more normal tme, it is to The
best interest of thisAcountry to get to
| that normal plane as rapidly as pos
sible, in order that our industry may
adjust itself to conditions in other
parts of the world and we be able to
compete on even ground with oui
competitors everywhere
He declares that farm production
in this country. is most seriously
threatened because with live stock
prices and food prices declining the
| farmers Will be inclined to cease pro-
ducing as they will not and can no,
| produce at a loss.
Just how much of a decline in
food prices will be witnessed this
year is a controversial point he
continues "altho daily quotations or
grain, and live stock show that g
substantial decline exists in practic-
ally all food commodities where it lis
| possible to compare prices with those
ruling at this time last year Bu'
they are still high at the point where
they actually enter into consumption
that is, in the retail stores. The av.
erage wage. worker is still paying ar
exceedingly high prize for the foot
consumed by himself and family.
| Wage Reduction Sequence.
In face Of this, Sdeflation will un.
questionably bring about wage re.
duction an 4he purchasing power o.
the dollar increases with the pro-
gress of deflation. Wages expressed
in dollars mean little. What the dol.
lar will buy is the important point
If wage reductions should proceed
faster than the decreases in the price
| of foodstuffs, an industrial situation
| fraught with the greatest peril would
result. Man must eat-that is hi:
fundamental need-and if het find.
his wages too small to maintain hi:
| family in decency the results are APP
| to be- disasreeable for all concerned
ION the other hand if reductions in
the price of foodstuffs should pro.
| finds himself in possession of sup
plies that bring less than the eost OF
| production, it is inevitable that he
will desist from producing until he
believes conditions assure him pro.
| fit. The economic laws governing
farming are just the same as in any
| other business. and with all the de.
| sire in the world to be altruistic the
farmer can not, go on producing
what to sell. let us say, at $1.75 pei
bushel if it>costs him SO bushel tc
produce it. Already price reductions
in live stock at the primary markets
in Kansas City, and Chicago have re-
suited in enormous losses to stock
raisers who paid high prices for feed
and had to sell at less"
Mr.. Roberts declares that thinkine
men, notably the editors OF some OF
the high class farm journals, realize
that together with national rail.
road policy. national shipping poll
cy and a national banking policy ii
is necessary for the best interests OF
the United States that national farm
policy be worked out and rigidly ad.
hered to. They also realize that the
farmers of the nation bear a pecul-
tarly vital relation to the Other
groups that make up the country
because at the bottom of all produc-
ton and prosperity must come the
prosperity and well being of tht
class that produces the food on which
the others live.
THE time is at hand" he con-
ch,des, when. such policy should
receive the most careful considera
ytion of the nation at large The fina
solution of the railroad and banking
policies and the prospective solution
Of an American shipping policy were
not the work of any particular class
or group. they were typically Amer
lean. The eventual adoption of meas
ures that will assure larger and
cheaper production of food, coupled
with greater stabilizati2n of con-
6itions under which farmers live and
produce must also be American"
In order to get the greatest eff
cheney out of his truck. a Nebraska
merchant has divided the box body
into sections and in this manner he
rrinS SnNercI ID If cam m