Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-24
G0MPERS SAYS
LABOR PRICES
MUST NOT DROP
Declares WOrkmen Will Fight
Wage Cut to Last
Ditch.
RAPS SOCIETY IDEAS

Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.
ATLANTIC CITY, \. j., Aug. 24.-De-
Tending the toiler who rides to work In
his own automobile and sends out fol
Ice cream to top of his dinner pal
lunch, Samuel Gompers. president Of the
American Federation of Labor, speakins
for the executive council Of the fedora
ton, now in conference here, declared
last night that organized labor will re-
sist efforts to reduce wages because Il
would act as 4 'bOOD-erGng' and fur
Their stagnate industry
who is it. in all this talk about re
adjustment and construction that the
pressure is always brought TO bear upon
those whose standards of life and ever!
day existence would be demoralized and
deteriorated by a reduction in wages and
why this drive TO reduce wages 6rst:' Nc
asked in a statement that came with the
conclusion Of the first days deliberattor
Of the council
wouldn't it he more humane to start
with them as have and whose proft'
or incomes derived from their surplus
savings would be the only factors sg-
fected The question Is between prof.
its in dollars or the Generalization sno
deterioration Of the American wage
earners' standard, and who is there who
can point out workman and truthIuhy
say;
That mans family is living letter
than a decent American citizens family
should live and Is receiving wages more
than commensurate with the services hC
renders society,""
These are only a few Of the things
7 hear being discussed and are asked
me as I come IN contact with the rank
and file on my travels throughout the
United States. They cannot understand
how readjustmeut and reconstruction car
only mean a reduction In their wages
have been asked:
WHO among the capitalists has sug'
gested a reduction in the rate Of In
terest on n loan or a reduction Of profits
Or even simultaneous reduction of wage:
and profts?'
SAYS UNEMPLOYMENT
AFFECTS MARKETS.
There are over i've and a half mil
lion unemployed in the United States. &C.
cording 20 the report OF the Department
OF Labor.
This subtracts from the purchasing
power Of our home markets an amount
equal to the wages lost. or S2T, 10000 q
day. OF almost q billion dollars a month
The fact that these men, willing and
anxious to work. are forced into idleness
Is N indictment is an economic crime
Force down wages as a way out and
you will further curtail our domestic
purchasing power. more factories vii
close because the people haven't the
money 70 buy their products and the
present depression viii become ever
more acute and the reduction. If it car
be forced upon Us, will not only prove 6
boomerang to the employer. but menace
to our economic, financial and pOlitics
structure
4 answer most emphaticaIly yes II
the question as to whether organized
labor will resist attempts Of capital to
reduce wages.
a few Of the reasons why We shall
are: Organized labor is not a separate
ana distinct species or animal inhabiting
this mundane sphere They are human
Just as Won and I. God placed in their
breasts the germ Of aspiration and i'm
bued them with that natural instinct of
self preservation and the germ Of thai
instinct can not be isolated. torn out or
annihilated by law or tyranny.
In spite Of the old concept OF master
and slave. there is taking place in the
entire world today. e revulsiOn OF feel
ing against that condition OF society
which prevents ones standard OF life
bearing any relation whatever to the
service rendered society. Instead Of being
a direct ratio. IL is in inverse ratio today
The war proved among other things
that the workers are the producers Of al
wealth and that it is their service upon
which our national strength and pros
perity depends. Why shouldn't there be
some better relation between the stand
ard Of life and the all-essential service
thew render7 Why shouldn't they have
an ever-iucreasing share In the product
Of their toll and some voice in the deter
minatiou of the conditions upon which
they sell their labor, without which toll
society and civilization would shrivel anC
perish
TAKES HOT SHOT
AT RENT GOUGERs.
why, remember right here IN thi,
hotel before Il was entirely finished
some OF the guests declared in amaze
ment: What IN the world are we com
ing tO?' some OF the carpenters came T.
work in their automobiles and sent out
at lunch time for ice cream. That Is
q dangerous concept Of the day among
all too many. Automobiles and ice
cream are ell right for those who dom
serve society and who produce nothing
but the toilers must enjoy none Of the
good things OF life, they must aspire to
nothing. Theirs is but to drudge. Thli
idea is inhuman. Who has the right Ia
say you shall have no more than Just
enough to live on?'
rs that what society expects the red
Handed A American Of rnHaV fp h1 Il
with? Should I be mealy -mouthed OF
apologetic when / demand for them q
little better share day by dsy in the
product OF their toll. that a little light
and happiness may be brought into their
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