The Connecticut labor press., 1920-06-12
LABOR'S PROTEST AGAINST RAMPANT TRAGEDY SOUNDED Gompers Plainly Puts Blame for
 Conditions on
 Congress. SHOWS UP THE BROTHERS Denounces Solons for Failure to Act While Hampering
 Labor.

its record, President Samuel GOmpers of the American Federation of Labof, writing in the June issue of the Ameri- can Federationist, calls for the deteat of the enemies in the forthcoming cleo ton and for the return to Congress of men with whom we can go forward:
 MT. Gompers declares that regard less of whatever artificial issues pol1- ticians may seek to inject into the pres ent political campaign, one ot the great issues about which the American people are thinking most seriously is the cost of living. The article continues, de- claring that the cost of living is a paramount issue because the cost of liv- ing is out of proportion to income.
 MT. Gompers continues:
 "The present Congress may be ln- dicted fairly as Congress of incom- petence on the cost of living issue. It may be indicted as a Congress which has been negligent of duty and thought less of the welfare of the people. The government departments, as for ex- ample the Department of Justice, may be indicted for incompetency on the same grounds. What has been more ludicrous in American public life dur ing the past year than the announce ment of the Department of Justice to the effect that it has abandoned its high cost of living campaign because ot the high cost of the campaign!
 "On August 8, 1o19 President Will son appeared before the Congress ot the United States and delivered a mes sage dealing with the high cost of llv- ing. Upon that occasion the President made specific suggestions to Congress, all of which Congress listened to with real or assumed respect, but to none of which Congress paid any attention thereafter.
 Obviously there was no immediate improvement in the situation, tor the President again addressed Congress on December ?, 1919, making. further recommendations as to legislative reme- dies and calling attention vigorously to the failure of Congress to act upon h1s former recommendations. At this tune he made additional recommendations. These too were ignored.
 "The extent to which prices have risen is a matter of which every family in the country has common knowledge in a general way, although exact and detailed information as to percentages of increase and percentages ot proht IS probably III the hands of but few.
 MT. Gompers here introduced tab ulation of profits reaped by leading cor porations in the past year, showing the increase over normal. It IS shown that 21 great corporations reaped profits for the last year averaging 435 per cent. above profits of pre-war years.
 The article contintles in part
 "If Congress had seen fit to respond to the wishes of the President and enact some of the legislation suggested by him, it would have been possible to curb, at least to some extent, this un- licensed p1undering III the necessities of life For Congress to deny that re- lief is possible for Congress to con- fess the incompetency of which the evil dence convicts it. The attorney general has found 1t possible to indict corner grocers and small haberdashers for offenses which are of no moment at all i'll comparison to the whole situation He has found it possible to advise the people to eat the poorer cuts of meat, which, III effect, constitutes reduction of their standard of living. Concerning the campaign of the Department of Justice to induce the consumption of the cheaper cuts of meat, some interest ing testimony was given before the House Agricultural Committee, by l.. D. H. Weld, of the commercial research department of Swift & Company. The material issued by the Department of Justice in its 1ow-priced meat campaign was under discussion. MT. Weld was asked whether the packers were pre- pairing this material for the Department of Justic. the Department of Justice in their cam paign,' said MT. Weld The represen- tative of the packers was asked whether the campaign to induce consumers to buy the cheaper cuts would not really result in increased prices because of an increase in the demand for the so-called cheaper cuts He said, If 1t is suc- cessful, it will, in response to another question, Mr. Weld said, there will be no benefit to the poor and when asked fatly if the campaign would not raise the price of the cheaper cuts of meat, he made the direct reply, it will raise the price, yes.' .f
 Recently summary of the increase in cost of living was issued by the United States Department of Labor, which shows that in IA American in- dustrial centers there was an increase of % per cent. from December, 1914, to December, 1919. The highest in- crease was 107.87 per cent. in Detroit and the lowest was 91.57 per cent. in Portland, Me
 "The high cost of living is a para mount issue with the American people today and it will be a paramount issue so long as the income of the average American family Is inadequate to main tain a proper and just standard of liv- ing Thousands of American working people have had little or no increase in income since 1914. That being the case they have actually been compelled to accept a reduction in real wages of ap- proximate1y 50 per cent.
 "The recent outburst among railroad workers was symptom of what IS the matter in America. Only two classes of people were surprised by that outburst, the ignorant and the blind. To be sure the railroad workers used tactics which were entirely wrong. They used tao tics which were in denial of all the training and discipline which were fore doomed to failure. However, the unde- niable fact Is that they acted in response to situation that was aggravating i'll the extreme, a situation which had been for years clamoring for relief, situa- tion which officials and employers had failed to comprehend and failed to meet and which had been made the plaything and football of officials and employers. The great body of railroad workers has shown patriotic restraint and long suffering forebearance. Promise ot rel1ef has followed promise of relief. Appeals to the workers to be patient have been made in the name of patriot ism. in the name of business welfare,