The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-07-22

No e,nrr. fairor or soundor discussion of To
wage question has ever bcou made than tho
following digest from the weekly review 81
WolIman y CO.. Of Now work
"lIirh wages. whom they are not 20 high ~
to chcrk production through their unflvorab
reaction ON buying powor or II thoy do not
operate to interfere with competition. are a di--
tlnct benefit 10 tho economic woll-hoinc ~ nry
country Tho benefits are 40 pronounced and
obvlous that It would be mpcrfluous to rel
tcrato them. So essential 70 the general wcfric
~ the prosperity Of tho great body of manual
laborcrs. skilled and unskillcd that Tor many
years It was the popular belief that wagcs ucvur
could be no high that the benefits to apclcty at
largo would not offset any incidental III cffcctn
probably for the first time in history vo
have learned that we can have too much uf
such good thing high wages During the
and especially In the two years after the
signing OF tho armlstlce we began 10 have the
truth acrnly brought home to us Labcr
charges played such large part In the cost et
everything bought by the public from pins -
pianos from shirts to automobiles. from con
to railroad travel that wage reductions hago
been hailed signs Of returning sanity.
1T is fully as much in the interest OF labor.
tho producer, Co have n downward revision In
wage scales. as II is In the intcrost OF tho
sumner OF labor's products This is because we
have come To such pass TINT high wage scales
arc no longer synonymous with high wages.
High wage scales not only increase costs to such
extcut that the burden the consuming
public becomes unboarahly oncrous, hut they
react upon tho workers themselves and prevent
them from getting a normal return on their po.
tential earning power
This results In thrro distinct losses to SO
clcty In tho first place production costs
kept high because OF tho workers insstcnCc
on tho maintenance Of tho scale thus resulting
In un njustltably high prices. second, production
is kept down and the public wealth diminished
to that extent. Third. and most important OF
all to the body OF iaborers as "A whole, the aG-
gregate OF wage payments IL smaller than II
would be IL the scale lower and produc-
ton going on closer TO capacity
at IL n simple matter ~ primary arith metic.
II ten carpenters are employed fun week OF
a. hours at so c"nta an hour, they earn $22
por week apiece. and the total payroll is SEQ.
II the same carpenters hold out for 81 per hour
and six OF them are unemployed while the others
work three days of eight hours each per week,
the four carpenters who are working may get
sci for the thrco days against 322 for tho fivo
and onc-half days, but the aggregate payment
TO the carpenters ls only 500.
THAT IL about the situation We arr In today.
Those who at work may hc earning trife
moro money per man and doing less work, but
there are millions Of others who are out OF
work and earning nothing. Tho total wage pay
rucnts are smaller than they would be II np-
proxmatcly all were at work at lower wage
scale. The rcnction can easily become disaa-
trous ON all producing groups, for "a the as.
grcGato payments fan or the buying power OF
the community declines and this slows up pro-
duction in other directions, thus leading 20
more uncmploymcnt and reduced agErcEatc
wage payments, This state Of affairs Is oEsra-
waited by the continuance " high costs and high
prices resulting from the high wage scales.
"IIgh wage scales ara all right II they carry
johs with thcm but without employment thcy
ARE merely reminders that labor is charging
more than the traffic viii bear"