The New York herald., 1921-09-05
Y. SEPTEMBER 5, 1921.
Profitable Labor Day.

II labor, whether it spells itself
with a big L or little |, will this
year devote the holiday created in Its
honor to serious thought about the
situation in which it has been placed
and the means by which it may be
extricated from it's unsatisfactory
plight # may turn September 5, 1921
to profit.
The short visioned and selfish
counsels Of professional unionist
politicians who treat workingmen as
commodity for the perpetuation OF
their own power and leadership have
been devoted to insistence on the
policy that, no matter what happens
to anybody or to anything else, war
inflated union wages must not and
shall not come down one single
penny in world readjustment to peace
conditions.
Farmers, manufacturers, mer-
chants, investors, all these, say such
leaders, must take their losses from
to sell, must bear their punishment.
must make the best they can of the
new conditions, but union wage earn
ers must and shall continue to get
the same pay they wrung from the
necessities Of the nation when the
peoples of the world were locked in
deadly struggle.
That these wages mean two bush
ais OF wheat in 1921 where they
Meant one bushel Of wheat in 1920
What they mean almost two pounds
of cotton where they meant one
pound few months ago, that they
mean greatly increased contributions
from the producers OF all sorts OF
goods compared with what they
bought only little more than twelve
months ago are facts the labor pol!.
ticians say they will not take into
account.
That war imitation wages paid to
one class of workers mean double
work by other workers to get the
labor is fact everybody will be
forced to take into account when the
struggling ultimate consumer, on
whose spending all business is de
pendent, is compelled by the greed
and short sightedness Of trade union
politicians to stop buying the goods.
and the industries which supply
those goods shut down because there
is no market for their products.
That one class of the population,
whether workers in overalls or work
ers in white collars, can maintain
war inflated wage scale while all the
other people are on peace wage
basis is a palpable economic fallacy
which will cost labor high and cost
the country high IL the labor poll
ticians induce any considerable num-
ber of men and women to try to rule
their conduct by 1t.
II Labor with big L or labor with
a little decides this day that 1t will
accept a peace wage basis 1t will
have taken a long step toward the
correction OF the evils from which
the country suffers. And having done
this it will be up to labor to give
thought TO another thing.
Ever since the war rush began all
labor, taken by and large. has been
reducing its efficiency, suppressing
production, cutting down the return
II has given to its employers. A
good many men and women have got
in the habit OF doing as little as they
possibly can for as much as they can
get. Let Labor with big l. and
I labor with little consider the con-
sequences Of this abuse and figure
out exactly what it means.
They will find that 1t means wasted
:ime and energy. artlhcially higher
costs Of production, enhanced prices
for goods, which must result in re-
Ctricted markets due to decreased
demand, and diminished employment
for workers.
While the ignorant or selfish lead
ers who teach that restricted pro-
duction makes more jobs pose as
frien1s Of the workingman they are
sN fact his most insidious and dan
gerous enemies. They are actually
inducing him to adopt a system
which must inevitably constrict and
eventually strangle the opportunity
for employment. Therefore Labor
with big l. and labor with little
had better make up their minds to
give ali honest hours work for an
honest hours pay.
These thoughts are particularly ap.
propriate for Labor with a big L and
for labor with little on this Labor