Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1920-06-24
REDISTRIBUTION OF LABOR

thousands OF WOfkmen engaged w
making of mems clothing have been
thrown out of employment during the
month, At the same time advertis-
ing pages of the metropolitan news
papers are carrying bold announce
ments of reductions in prices of these
i goods, that show very clearly that
the country has been over-stocked.
The big shoe factories of the country
] have been making reductions in the
/ ir crews, and at the same time metr-
opolitan shoe dealers are gradingly
lowering their profiteering prices.
| The munition towns, which include
Bridgeport, Hopewell, and lesser
points have been hit hard by indrst-
rial conditions, and many of the plac-
| es are already in the class of desert
! ed villages"
For several years people have been
deserving the farms, evidently per-
| ferring industrial occupations which,
! permitted them to live in the large
| cities, closer to the movies and the
white lights With Europe at war
there was plenty to do for everybody
and when the. United States get in
| to the mess the greatest accession to
| the industrial ranus still found a
shortage of labor All of this in
dustrial activity has borne its fruits,
and it is not strange that it has been
| found hat there are too many guns
and revolvers around Bridgeport, too
many ships at Hog Island, and more
powder than is needed at Whining
| ton. Az the same time Detroit seems
to be catching up with herself in the
manufacture of benzine buggies. The
srike in the steel industry last Fall
caused the wage workers of the coun
try to blacklist the steel trust. The
result has been that here has been an
under production in this field
The inventory discloses the unmis-
taxable fact that in large number
of industries that have been consider
ed in the first class" by wage-work-
ers that production has caught up
with herself and that there is already
surplus of labor. In some other
fields of employment in the indastri-
al line, where the work has not been
so alluring, or the hours as short, or
the pay as big, the day of the over
supply of labor has not yet arrived,
although it is noticeable that these
institutions are catching up with their
orders.
Still, there is work for everybody
to do. The farms of the country are
crying for helpers, and every man out
of job in the cities can get back to
work if he will forsake the bright
lights and become useful as we'll as
ornamental in caring for the growing
crops that are to feed humanity dur
ing the coming months. There Is
neither an over-suppy of labor IN the
country, as indicated in some of the
industries, nor a shortage of labor, as
the conditions on the farms would
lead some to believe. The situation
simply calls for radical redistribu-
ton of people who are willing to do
useful work.
Out Britished On Oil.
The British boast that they control
practically all visible or potential oil
feds Of the word outside of the Unit
ed States At the same time there are
large British oil holdings in this coun
try The British Government has
been backing up its capitalists in ex-
tending their holdings in oil lands,
while the United States has done lit
tie outside its own borders, except in
Mexico While our own country had
long start on the rest of the world
it now apears, in the face of an oil
shortage, that Great Britain is our
chief competitor in oil production.
The United States adopted the plan
of other first-class powers in provid-
ing oil burners for its big ships. Now
that there is not an adequate supply
| of petroleum, it appears that naval
development is hampered. Evidently
the United States had been out-man-
ouvered by the British. Incidentally,
it may also be stated that the British
have been getting more than their
share sugar sweets out of the world
market; and it is partly due to their
superior generalshfp and commercial
enterprise that the Cuban crop, even
during war time, was in large part
| diverted to England, whereas, by all
the rules of the game, this sugar
4 should have been at the disposal of
! American consumers.
What Will the Harvest Be?
An estimate of the Department OF
Agriculture places the probable wheat
crop of 1920 at 781 100000 bushels.
This is very large crop from 1919
and five per cent under the average
n Al