Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1920-12-10
WHAT'S BECOME or the
MORE PRODUCTION" CRY
OF A FEW MONTHS Aoof

What has become OF the propaxan.
da for increased production and breah.
neck speed in industry that Hooded
the country iess than two months
ago. Is this propaganda enjoying a
momentary ebb according 10 planned
schedule, or has IL hecn forgotten per.
manently' The world needs produc.
tion fullSime production--as badly
now rs II needed II three months ago,
or two months ago. Whilc the propa.
sanda was AT its height labor pointed
out the fact that employers were pre-
venting full production and went into
some detail to show that such was the
case. lamentabie as II was.
The proof Of employers incincerity
was strong then. II 10 sonviacing to
day.
To-day we read such headlines rs
these.
Thousands Idle. Forcing Wages
Down.
"Seventy-ssre Thousand Detroit
Workmen Lose Factory Jobs"
increase Reported In Labor Ste.
biiity."
Labor stability" means that WORK.
men are sticking clossr to the Jobs
they have In the fear that they may
not BIZ ablo 70 replace those Jobs Il
thsy quit
II Is but few weeks since the
American woolen mills and the penn.
sylyania railroad created = sensation
by laying of largo numbers Of mon
IN the midst of the political campaign.
Mill towns continue to report num-.
bers. OF working people laid on.
We are confronted with Industrial
Hypocrisy In highly perfected de-
gree.
The world needs production. The
employers have been saying 30 for
months. They began with tho armia.
tice and they continued until a few
days ago. Now they have stopped
saying 40.
The reason II not that the worlds
needs have been satisfied The reA.
son Is twofoid: Imitation is coming out
OF the business structure and In that
process employers see what they be.
lieye TO be an opportunity TO cut
wages though there has been no inns-
tion in wages, Secondly tho moro un-
serupulous employers believe that by
laying of workmen with an announce
ment OF curtailment Of necessities. tho
same or other workmen can be hired
within a brief time at a sufficient
wage reduction TO make tho tempo.
rary suspension justinable from
profit point OF view.
when Inconvenience In caused tom.
porarIly by the workers In their sf.
fort to overcome obstinate and un.
justifiabie opposition In the struggle
for human betserment, there usually
is public clamor and protest. When
employers, for profit. adopt policies
that strike at the very support Of hu.
man life. where is the public clamor.
where the high.minded protest.
Wheels of industry may be stopped
for business reasons" and tho morals
of society are not outraged. But whom
the wheels OF industry stop because
the workers have declined to contrib.
ute their services under conditions
which they can not tolerate. Bosiety's
moral code Is affronted at once and
the affront IL given ready expression
by press not too we'll educated In
the how OF getting at industrial truth.
The long and short OF these facts
lead TO the conclusion that the world
needed production until recently be-
cause production was profitable. and
that 1t no longer needs production
because production is not 1T the mo.
ment as profitable as II was, or ss II
may be a little later.
The working people declare that
the world needs production now as
much as last month, or two months
ago or a year ago, and that TO In
terfere with the forces OF produc.
tion Is a social crime which society
will some day md a way OF visiting
with proper punishment. - Samuel
Gompers. in American Fedefstionist.