The Rock Island Argus and daily union., 1922-06-10
BY ]. C. BOYLE.

Consolidated Press Correspondent.
New York, June 10.-Wnen the
! line forms outside the paymaster $
window Saturday after this, thou
sands of men are going TO have
| bulkier envelopes passed to them.
/ Increases in wages in many and
widely separated sections of the
country have been the outstanding
feature of the industrial situation
during the past week Such in
creases have not been confined TO
skilled, semi-skilled or clerical
employees. They have been receiv-
ed mainly by unskflled workmen.
Irrespective of any wage reduc-
tions which may be suffered as a
result of rulings of the railroad
labor board the volume of wages
paid out every Saturday and on
which, to a large extent, the volume
Of business done by retail mer-
chants throughout the country de-
pends, bids fair to increase stead
lily throughout the summer.
These wage increases, announced
mainly in the steel and manufac-
| turing industries, have not been
made under threat or compulsion.
| Neither have they been made altru-
istically by employers. Industry
needs more men and the surest and
quickest way to get and keep them
has been to increase wages. There
still remains a shortage of skilled,
| semi-skilled and unskilled laborers
in the woods, the steel mills, the
harvest fields and some of the fac
a. Tn
gree is absorbing the surplus labor
willingly idle as a result Of the
mine workers strike.
Textile Workers Still Out
The textile workers, idle through
labor troubles, will stick close TO
the mills where hey were formerly
employed. The reopening of some
of the largest New Hampshire mills
to those. who wished to return to
work on the employers terms was
not successful in producing large
desertions from the ranks OF the
strikers, but the advance in the
price of cotton with inevitable ef-
feet on cotton goods is bringing
employers and employees gradually
closer together.
There have been some recessions
in commerce and industry along
with the general improvements,
but as Charles NJ. Schwab said to-
day, "it is not the dip down here
and there which marks true prog
ress. It's the general rise in lines
of averages that marks the real
progress of industry in the United
States"
These lines of averages are con-
tinuing to rise. Evidence to that
effect is presented not only by bus
mess dispatches received within
the last "a hours from all sections
of the United States but from the
monthly and quarterly reports of
stock exchanges, railroads, indus
trial manufacturers, manufacturers
Of finished products and distribu-
tors of the same. There are few
outside Of these who are claiming
business depression for their fail
ure to meet business conditions and
events.
Sugar Business Improves.
The sugar business showed more
radical improvement in the last
few days that it has exhibited since
the slump which necessitated a
moratorium in Cuba attacked the
industry. Confidence in the future
is based not only on the advanced
prices of refined sugar but on the
probability that the raw product
will shortly reach a point which
will put margin of absolute safety
between profit and loss for the
producer.
Cotton districts continue to notch
their hopes higher so far as prices
are concerned and some we'll in
formed authorities feel that these
inflated expectations will not be
fully realized. The craze for radio
outfits has suffered slight setback
but this is attributed to the fact