The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-11-23
"WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER %, 1921.
STRIKES AND THE INEVITABLE

The Troy traction strike which has
been in progress for ten months, has
been called Off. The cost of this
strike to the employees. the company,
and the people Of Troy has run in
to millions.
While heralded and considered as
a strike against the traction company
it was, in reality, strike against an .
economic law, in that it demanded
that the company pay out more than
1t took in, This kind of strike is
fairly common in dealings with public
service corporations and on a small
scale, was similar to what the recent
I proposed railroad strike might nave
been.
Il 1t is a part of the vicious result OF
the Adamson law which was prob.
ably one Of the most dangerous laws
ever enacted in any country. The
Adamson law was an attempt to pay
wages by use of the taxing power.
That is, to collect money by taxation
and use the money to pay wages to
one favored class or group of wage
earners
! OF course it ought to have been
clear to the ineompetents in congress
! who enacted the law that Il the tax
lag power was used to pay wages to
one class, iaen other classes and
\ groups would have equal right to de.
4 mand and receive the same thing
! They did demand it and it was
n learned too late that the system lsid
I. down by the Adamson law is as inn
possible OF operation as it Is to make
I the Mississippi river flow over the
H Rocky Mountains. 1t violates a
natural law OF economic necessity.
III No business can pay out in wages
and expenses more than it takes in.
The company or even the state or
nation that undertakes to, soon
ceases to exist, yet the attempt has
lgfbeen made repeatedly IN recent
months.
III Tho traction strike at Troy had
/ another slant that is interesting be
| cause It sheds light on another
| economic Law. The traction company
| appealed to the public service com
mission to increase fares SO that il
could continue to pay the wages that
it had been paying. but the public
tseryice commission refused. The
probability is that if the request had
. been granted it would not have adj
r ded to the income Of the trolley line
When prices get up to a certain
point, people stop buying or buy on
~ in limited quantity. This Is what
happened TO the railroad companies
Government operation and the Adam
S son law forced up passenger anC
- freight rates to point which drove
e. business to get along without thu
railroads to a larger and larger ex
tent If the Banner can bring pape
from Fort Edward by truck cheape
than il can get it by rail the railroad
III doesn't get the business. There ar
thousands Of similar cases and all 0
y them cut the railroad income.
- = The railroad companies, the troll
Il. ley companies and other companie
have no choice in the matter. The
have to get back to living inside thei
income or cease to live Presldeu
t 10 Harding, congress, and the standin
OF army cannot change it. All tn
I'd money in the world cannot oyercom
OF this economic law. For very brie
Z time some one class or professio
may get fayors but when it is a
tempted to apply t'7e system sene
.-~ ally 1t falls by its own weight an
always will fall.
There is one way and one way chi
to keep wages up to the high stan'
ard they reached during the war an
llthat is by either increasing the hour
or by increasing the efficiency so a
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