The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-11-09
WAGE DEFLATION
IN PROGRESS At
MANY POINTS
Costs of Production Must Drop
or Business Will Stop
AUTO CITIES HARD HIT
A Hundred Thousand Men Out Of Work
in Detroit, Cleveland Toledo
and Akron Alone.

defation has begun That is the IN
depreciation generally put upon the
reports from all over the country
and from all lines CT business and
industry to the almost uanimons ei-
feet that manufacturers and business
men in all lines are confronted with
the necessity for either curtaiiing
their working personnel with "a re-
sultant lessening OF production or
reducing wages and salares on a
wholesale scale.
Reports Indicate that not only
wage earners but salaried men as
well are being caught in the econom-
ic pressure that is beginning to
squeeze normally small incomes back
to their normal pre-war dimensions,
Many firms are known to have begun
the process Of wage and small sal
AIRY denation by operating first on
the income unorganized clerical
force and the minor executives. The
cuts in many OF these cases are said
to have equalled 30 per cent.
There is evidence in reports from
the big industrial centers and in the
Department CT Labor statistics fer
the month, TO show that unemploy-
meDt is greater ~ the present time
than at any period since before the
wa.
Cleveland and Toledo are sad to
be flooded with unemployed. A hun.
dred Thousand men have been laid
of In Cleveland recently and 10000
are reported as still minus Jobs
whereas the normal number Of those
out of work is 10000. Conditions in
Toledo are said to be equivalent e
il not worse than in Cleveland The
problem in both cities is aggravated
by the arrival OF workers from Ak
ron and Detroit, where thousands oI
workers in the rubber and automo
sbile plants have been laid off within
the last few weeks.
The estimates cf those now out o.
work in Detroit range from 10000 L
100 600. Whereas six months ago al
apartment in Detroit was almost un
obtainable al any price, for rent
signs are common in windows there
now and there has been genera
drop in rents.
While union labor leaders have
+ been warning the men in the rank
that the manufacturers intended al
unjustihable general cut in wages
and prophesying trouble as a resul
none has as vet developed wheri
cuts have been made. On Monda.
at Uncasyille, Conn, the cotton mil
of the Uncasvile Manufacturer
Company after a shutdown OF tw'
weeks. reopened with genera
wage reduction OF 90 per cent Il
the afternoon of the reopening day
+. D. White, the general manager G
the company. said that the full work
ing force had shown up and tina
there had been no trouble as a re
3ult of the wage reduction.
we were operating at a loss unde
the old wage scale, he said. 1T wa
a question of shutting down alto
gether or reducing wages Work !
not to be had elsewhere and the en-
ployes were glad Ct the opportunit
to continue work at the reduce
wage"
In line with the experience Of thi
company are those of other Ne'
England textile mills, the tire an
rubber companies in Akron and th
automobile manufacturing concerns /
DctroN.
Many of the textile mills in Ne'
England have been running On haI
time and there are cases of recer
record where they have gone en-
full time schedule with reduce
wage rate at the request of the en-
ployes. The tire and rubber con
panes in Akron and the automobil
companies in Detroit have been pu
ing wage reduction into practic
} under camonhage for months. Th
methCd has been as follows:
; Lay off a certain number of mo
getting so cents an hour; wait unit
they appear for work; explain tht
} the old Job at the old rate is not ava
2 able but that there is work to be ha
for 60 cents an hour; then, il tn
work is desired, put the applicant
back in their previous places doin
, the same labor at the reduced rate
In Akron and In Detroit at lea'
thousands CT men who have bee
laid off within the last few month
, are again at work at a reduced wae
rate. SO far the threatened labC
upheayal has not occurred