Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1920-12-03
UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASES;
PART OF PLAN or BOSSES
TO. BUST UP UNIONS


Unemployment in the Twin Cities,
as well as in every other part of the
United States, is becoming so general
az TO cause serious concern TO those
who depend upon their labor for
means of obtaining q living,
Public notices recently posted by
railroad companies asks the public to
be patient and not be too ready to con-
denim the roads for poor service. The
notices state that the rolling stock In
in poor condition, and that great eff
forts are being made to place cars
in condition to render better service.
In the face of this statement, hun
dreds of thousands of railway car re-
pairers have been laid on, and more
are being discharged every day.
Factories are being closed down en-
tirely or the working forces greatly
reduced, when purchasers Of their
products must wait patiently from
three TO six months after placing an
order before the goods arrive. Woods
men to the amount of rs percent of
those ordinarily employed, are jobless
at time when lumber is high and
building operations almost 1T stand
still because of the difficulty In OBJ
tanning materials. Automobile fac
tories are closed, but it. takes several
months to secure IA new automobile.
Wooden mills are idle, while Europe
is badly in need of clotning and al
though clothing manufacturers say
there is great surplus of manufac-
lured cloths. this is being held with
the intention of causing protracted
period Of idleness in the ranks of en-
nloyes of the wooden mills.
In fact, industry is shutting down
| in the face of want.
/ Fine arrangement! An arrangement
carefully planned for the purpose of
i forcing down prices. An arrangement
+ that has thrown million and a half
/ workers out of employment at time
! when the cost OF living is high wages
/ low, and cold winter just around
the corner An arrangement that Is
calculated to starve the worker into
accepting less for his labor than Il is
worth so that organized greed may
+ benefit financially. An arrangement
that viii be fought tooth and toe.nail
+ by the well,organized crafts, but
which will be forced upon the de-
fenseless individual who must fight
his battles alone.
Are wages high? No one can adj
nit II. Living has increased. az last
reports, log percent: wages have In.
creased about 20 percent: cost of liv-
ing should, therefore, drop about 80
percent before wages should be ex-
pected TO drop. The laborer Except
those who would spend all they get il
they got a hundred dollars a day) is
poorer than he was before the war.
His savings will not buy a home as
quickly now as then. The amount he
-ean now lay up for old age win not
keep the wolf from the door for an
equal period now as ii was supposed
to have done then. Future prospects
for those whose hair is beginning to
thin and turn gray. are by no means
as bright as they We're in 1914 At
the present standard. the poor house
stares more people in the face than
ever before.
And still, greed seeks 10 still fur
Their reduce wagesl And on the pre-
text that the cost of living is being
reduced Government figures show
the cost of living has been reduced
TWO percent.
A recent survey made by COM
mission created for that purpose. es-
tahlished the fact that the average
family could not live on less than an
hourly wage of 70 cents. This meant
steady employment. and the sense of
the report was that the entire rs
cents would be spent for the bare
cost Of living, and did not take into
account money required to build
home or to tide the family over
period OF sickness, and did not pro
ide for old age.
Another commission reported $4,000