The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-09-26
FavOrs Drastic Reduction
of Government Work
mems Wages
WASHINGTON MEN
OPPOSE MEASURE
Fear 1t Will Reduce Buying Power of
LabOr-U Mons Strong for Disarma-
ment and Cannot Oppose Reductions
Work May Go to Private Firms.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Special Dispatch to The Reformcr)
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, Sept 26-Wages
must come down. The Harding admins.
tration faced with an issue of continuing
the present wage scales in the navy yard
here resisted the appeals of organized
labor and made drastic cut. The con-
troversy was carried up from the navy
department to the cabinet where Presi-
dent Harding himself took a hand. Al
though private industry has been strug-
Cling with this quest for months, the gov
ernnent has avoided giving amy moral
support to either side. When the navy
ward dispute arose, the issue was inescap-
able and now the word has gone forth from
the administration that the quickest way
to normalcy hereabouts is by wage cuts.
The White House mails have been full
of letters from taxpayers urging dImln-
ution of government expenses. The adj
ADMINISTRATION has felt that wage cuts, eS-
pecially in government enterprises, Is an
enviable and logical answer to the demand
for economy.
Curiously enough. the business men Of
the national capital pleaded for labor IN
not to make the wage cuts 80 drastic. The
Washington merchants We're led to take
this action by the argument that cut IN
wages meant a curtament of buying
power. Labor headquarters admit that
they have consistently urged the relation
ship between the retail community and
wage scales, but nowhere has that theory
been so conspicuously championed as here
in the national capital. The plea, how
ever. was unavailing. The Harding adj
minstratOn stood pat
Attendant Dangers.
Politically speaking. the Endorsement by
an administration of any issue that re-
IateS to wages always has its dangers.
The Wilson administration granted prac-
tically every demand for wage increases
and while earning the friendship of organ
| lied labor, it lost the support of many
| employers who insisted that the govern
ment was setting an uncomfortable prece-
/ dent. 1t Is realized by administration Off,
Gals that everything the government says
on the subject of wages will be the basis
of discussion by both sides Fortunately
| for the Harding administration the rail
road problem had been passed over to The
railroad wage board, a separate inStitu
ton. and the roads were in private hands
so that the action for wage reductions die
not fall on the administration. The situa
ton in the navy yards is one in which thu
administration takes complete response
Ibility.
Labor FavOrs Disarmament.
Organized labor is in a paradoxical po
iSitiOn, however. with respect to the navy
yard cuts. Labor has taken firm stan,
for disarmament The reduction in tn
work in the navy yards means a eurtail
lment of government expenditure for arma
ment and cannot very we'll make much o
AN cutlery against the laying off of work
men who are engaged in the armamen
race. On the other hand, it is reporte,
that the purpose of the wage reduction i
not alone government economy, but al
effort to transfer to private interest
much of the work that has heretofor
been done in government yards.
| The government has always paid hig
grade mechanics a scale of wages highe
than those in private Yards This ha
kept within the navy yards class o
skilled labor unexcelled outside the gov
lernment. The drop in pay may driv
those mechanics into the private yard
and enable them to do more government
work than heretofore. 1t may be that tn
movement fer the abolition of government
navy yards is growing. 1t is an age-ol
|. controversy with much to be said on bot
sides. But labor suspects that the privat
interests will reap an advantage from tn