Evening star., 1921-11-30
Cutting Their Own Pay.

A shop council, representing the
employees of Armour & Co., meeting
with officials representing the pack
ers. has decided that the company
cannot keep up its present wage
scale. Accordingly. the workers
agents determined the amount Of a
reasonable reduction, and have now
gone before their fellow workers 10
secure the acceptance OF the de-
creased rate Barring the possibility
of failure on the part of the shop
council, the press is inclined to hall
the cutting Of their own wages py
the employees of the company as a no.
table victory in the achievement OF
industrial peace.
THE voluntary acceptance OF
wage reduction" comments the New
York Times independent democratlc)
sis something unheard of before on
so large a scale, and Is rare on any
scale" and commends the procedure
as a sound. sober method of wage
adjustment, resting on economic gooo
sense" The Chicago News (inde-
pendent) thinks the action of the
packing employees affords striking
object lesson in the moral and eco
nomic benefits of open dealing, con-
Citation, accommodation and indus
trial good WILL" while the New York
Herald independently states that
these workers "in truth, have more
economic sense than Congress has.
They are better industrial reconstruc-
tionists than the United States Rail-
road Labor Board is" and they must
have a fine opinion of national Con-
gress which cannot see what they
see" and 'look for a finish of a United
States Railroad Labor Board which
does not do what they do"
That the workers did surprising
but logical thing" is the opinion Of
the Rochester Democrat and Chron-
icle (republican); they sent COM
mittee to inform the officials of the
company that they had Its interests
pans affairs, and that "they were
ready to put their shoulders to the
wheel to bring back prosperity"
Lynchburg News (democratic), why
should there be anything especially
startling in the methods employed
and the results thus aseertained?
Doesn't the principle which functions
in the settlement eminently accord
Wta mss and rPe ea
mands for the application of this
method of settlement in demanding
that $50, too, the public should be
dealt with in its relations with pub
lie utilities. If street railways can
not pay their expenses and some re-
turn on legitimate investment (not
watered stock), there ought to be
some way Of letting the public know
the exact facts, with statements as
to salaries of managers. officials. etc.
was actually losing money there
would never be murmur against
increased fare"
"A tendency to reserve judgment is
shown by a number Of papers until
| it appears" as the Baltimore News
independently phrases 1t, that the
plant congresses really command the
confidence Of the workers" adding
that "if there can be true industrial
democracy in the less fully organized
industries, like the packing industry.
great deal of unrest for which the
! unions have been responsible will be
eliminated" for under the Armour
system there is no place for the
unions as such. the men being con-
sidered only in their capacity as
workers in the industry" The Chi
cago Post independently thinks, how
| is still a very imperfect affair, .de-
pending for its efficacy on the good
faith Of the men at the top" and.
while disclaiming any intention of
tperpetrating. pun, believes that
"the guarantees Of square deal to
the workers are now armor-plated.r
"The means utilized by the packing
companies to readjust- their wage
schedules are both better and worse
| than the methods formerly used to
| attain the same ends" is the opinion
| Of the New York Globe (independ-
! ent). work committees and indus