Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-13

have read that, in one big ship yard, every man who applied for work was taken on at almost any wage he chose to ask, utterly reSard- less of his value or of the need for him. He might not ever have seen 8 ship; he might not know g garboard- Btrake from 8 capstan bar; he was hired. Often he was hired as an esk- pert ship p-carpenter at an experts pay, though he had never seen the inside of a shipyard before. It is said that hundreds if not thousands of such men stood around in the yards day after day, doing no work. asked to do no work, incapable of doing useful work, oust getting in each others way-and drawing their big pay.
 Yet the government not only stood for that sort of thing, but appears actively to have encouraged it. The result was not only a veritable orgy of money wasting, it was the devel- opment of a deplorably effective dew lPs normal school in the art of get ting unearned pay or profit. Not only were those directly involved un- fitted for future usefulness at real work, but the news of their graft" spread from Maine of Oregon and in fected hundreds of thousands of others.
 Of course, the men who, week after week, drew and pocketed their un- earned or only partly earned pay were just as truly prohteersn as the employers who used them to swell their own incomes It won't Whiten either one to have the pot call the kettle black. But, human nature be- ing the routed mixture that it admit tedly is, what else was to have been expected?
 Naturally, men who got $5 or sg or S10 day for doing next to nothing, are now and always will continue to be hankering after more of the same pudding. What appeal can farm work. at farm wages, have for them? Or for the millions of others who,- having heard of it. want to share in similar graft? And it all started from that 'cost plus" idea.
 l don't know who the unspeaka- ble nineempoop was who adopted the system on the governments behalf Whoever he was, I sort O feel as if he ought to be compelled to work eighteen hours day for about eighteen cents Q week, the rest of his life, trying to repair damages Even then, he wouldn't live long enough to suffer an adequate punishment. E. In the meantime, there doesn't seem any Way out of it for the ave rage small New England farmer who can't get essential help, but to mar row the limits of his work to such bounds as he can attend to with his own labor, assisted by such tools as his circumstances permit him to buy. If this reduces production and still further boosts prices he. at least cannot justly be held responsible.
 I do not know nor have I ever heard of single farmer who really wants to restrict production. But a farm can not be carried on without labor. And if labor is not to be had at wages which possible farm pro ductien render feasible, then farm production must diminish
 Such an outcome means hardship for the farmer as well as for every body else. But the farmer can, after all, stand it longer than most others, That is reflection which ought to be commended to the attention of labor agitators.
 In climbing after the big apple at the very top of the tall tree, it is ex ceedingly poor judgment for the climber to break out all the rounds of the ladder below him, as he as cends.
 He may want them badly to climb down on.
 THE FARMIR