The New York herald., 1921-07-01
FRIDAY. JULY /. 1921.
Cut Rail Pay BuysMore Now Than
Peak Pay Bought Year Ago.


Z Peak Pay Bought Year Ago.
81 On all the railroads of the United
award wage reimbursement which does
not mean that the labor of their one
and three-quarter million employees
earns less for these men than it
earned either before the war or one
Year ago, when the last of several
8 q war scale increases went into opera
.sftion. 1t earns more. This is fun
damental truth of superlative i'm
portance not only to the railroad
savage Garner but to every worker
who shall eat his bread in the Bibli-
zeal sweat of his face.
s.sa. The railway scale cuts do not affect
" all the workers alike. In some classi-
s'-'fications the reductions are as low as
s, even 6, per cent. and in others as
high as Is per cent, perhaps higher.
The average for the whole is about
IL per cent.
Generally speaking the decreases
are of higher percentage among the
lower grades of workmen and of a
lower percentage among the higher
grades. In respect of this variation
they begin to retrace on the way
down the steps they followed on the
way up. For after the ascent there
: !. were men in the common labor
Y ratings that showed pay gains of as
.-snauch as 120 per cent. On the other
hand there were men of the more
N skilled ratings and heavier responsi-
\ bilities that showed gains of nothing
like 100 per cent.
ssa But, whatever the rating of the rail-
\ road employee, his reduced wage scale
on this first day of July, 1921. is
:. worth more to him than his peak war
imitation scale was worth to him on
the day he got it one year ago.
- His days pay, reduced as it is, will
buy more food to-day than his days
!. pay of higher dollar marks would buy
year ago. 1t will buy more clothes
and more shoes. 1t will buy more
necessaries and more luxuries. 1t
!, will buy even more amusement.
\. II viii buy more of pretty nearly
everything, except rent. anthracite
coal and-take particular notice!-
rail transportation. But also take
notice that until now persistent labor
cost imitation has kept up the coal
!. sand the transportation price infia-
.'tion. Consider as well that labor
cost imitation long prevented the
!. building Of enough houses to shelter
Suitably the nations families.
Defiation of labor costs on the car
Z ,riers. at the coal mines and in the
Z building trades will as surely make
the days labor at the reduced wage
< worth more rent. more fuel and more
: transportation as similar defation
elsewhere now makes it worth more
food, clothes and other commodities
= and enjoyment.
~, Yet, notwithstanding the still con-
rtinued rent, coal and transportation
imitation. the railroad workers cut
: pay of to-day, July 1. 1921. is worth
considerably more OF all the things
he requires put together, including
u rent, coal and transportation-his
s.whole cost of living-than his days
I. peak pay was worth a year ago.
2 Food and many other articles OF
:. consumption are so far down as COM
Z pared with year ago that they av-
3 erage the whole cost OF living, rent
and everything thrown in, more than
20 per cent. below the whole cost OF
" living a year ago.
~. The index number Of the pre-war
Y cost of living was up last July from
a normal base of 100 to a war infla.
y tion level OF just about 200. This
means the living cost was doubled
sor the dollar cut in half. But as OF
= last May the cost of living index
x, number was down to about 160. As
IL has been gradually declining since
then II may be down as of this July
/ to 155 or $50. But II you call II
still 160, this means the cost of living
averages so per cent. more than be-
fore the war and 90 per cent. less
than the peak last year.
The railroad wage Garner OF low
rating. therefore, whose pay went M
+ to the peak OF 100 per cent. increase
was 90 points better off a year ago
than he was before either the cost
..seof living or his pay began to rise
But, taking the maximum pay cut
s~now Of 10 per cent, his wage comes
...iown to the index number (15 per
lsscent. OF 2eo) 1877. Nevertheless with
1.-THE cost of living down to 16O, pos.
,-,sibly 1855 or $50 now. the difference