New-York tribune., 1922-03-26
Lewis Assails
Vicious Circle
For Wage Cuts
Miners Leader | Declares
Maintenance of Present
Scale Is Effective Means
of StabiIizing Business
Battle of State IN ents
alexander Declares He Can
Prove Miners Pay Rose
l62 Per Cent Since 1918

REPRESENTATIVES, pt poLH StOSS III the
,sal controversy, and some not di-
rec,ly representative of either, took
advantages OF the local luu in the an
hracite negotiations yesterday to fight
. battle Of statements" on various
issues involved. Most Of the state
ments had to do with the anthracite
phase Of the question.
Chief among them was a lengthy
typewritten discussion OF the hard coal
miners demands by John L. Lewis,
eoresrdeu of the United Mine Workers,
liz which he declared that decreasing
Il heir wages would mean an intensity
II sg of business depression. accused en-
Nsoyers generally of responsibility for
Il, vicious circle in their manipulations
|Sd production. wages and prices, and
h a,dvocated maintenance of present
wages as the most effective means for
b. stabilization OF business and in
H oustry in general.
Asserting that organized forces Of
n oroductiou have "dchated" farmers so
ssr cent since the war period and that
Il ,hey now desire to administer the same
treatment to labor, MIR. Lewis states
hat aside from the inhumanity of
heir arguments. this is entirely falla-
,lous as d matter Of economies"
Urges Deaation of War Profits
After pointing out that "def1ation of
Tho huge wartime profits would lead to
considerable reduction in prices with
H ont any necessary effect on wage
rates" and that cutting wages results
il diminishing purchasing power, Mr..
lswis continues:
.-4a t,e u,,,1 l., r.
industry to meet the situation by a firm
declaration that there will be no
further wage cuts; that so far as labor
/ costs are concerned there is to be no
h turther reduction in the cost OF produc-
ton, and thus in prices The effect
upon industry would be Immediate
The spirit of waiting would disappear.
The corner would be turned. The pub
lie would begin to buy and the whole
Industrial world would be stimulated.
"0f course, the anthracite operators
annot act directly for all industry,
f tut they can act for one of the most
4 important basic Industries, and action
4 such as here suggested would have an
effect far beyond the limits of anthrs-
+ cite mining. It would be an example
which would spread and stimulate bust
+ ness as almost nothing else could do
Moreover, as every one knows. the
financial interests involved in anthra-
cite mining reach far out into the
h business world of America, and any
action they may take will have far
reaching effects.
"For the operators to urge the ia
Dor defation' idea would be for them
to accept and further propagate that
vicious reasoning in circle which
says; Stimulate business by reducing
wages in order TO reduce prices This
merely leads on to the endless circle
the reduction In prices will then jus
tify further reduction in wages,
Ehich IN turn will cause further re-
ductioD in prices, which in turn will
Justify a further reduction in wages,
md so on ad in6nitum.
No Bottom TO Reasoning, He Says
There is no bottom to such reason
lrg Nor is it supported by the his
tory Of the past several months. Dur
ing that time there have been very
considerable reductions in wages in
certain industries and in the prices of
certain commodities, but this did not
lead 20 increased demand for those
Commodities
"This was due partly to the fact that
reduction in wages and earnings suto-
nstcallv diminished the purchasing
power of the great body of workers,
More important still, however, was the
;act that price reductions instead of
encouraging buying merely encouraged
every one to wait for still further re-
ductions which we were led to believe
we're probable through the constant de
aation' in labor promised by the tinan-
elal journals and business interests,
1T is evident, however, that stimulus
20 production can come only through
increased demand for goods, and that
TINS demand viii not assert itself until
prices and wages are stabilized. An
t0racite operators can do this so far as
wages IN ehat industry are concerned
and such q result would have most
Widespread effect upon all industry
The anthracite operators thus have q
great opportunity for constructive ac-
ton now before them"
Alexander Contradicts Lewis
Another statement. sent to The Trib-
hue by NJ. W. Alexander, managing di-
rector of the National Industrial Con
ference Board, took issue with Mr.. Lewis
over a statement made by MIN to this
newspaper criticizing as ridiculous
and absurd" a previous statement
issued by the board to the effect that
the wages of the anthracite miners
mad been increased from 1872 TO t66 per
cent since 1914. MIR Alexander's reply
TO Mr.. Lewis reads, in part:
We are ready to prove the truth OF
the statements recently published in
the name of this board to the effect
that the average earnings of all wage
@fners in the anthracite industry were
rs cents in June, 1914, and rose tc
i2S cents in October, 1921, an increase
cf l62 per cent. Tho average actua
earnings of all wage earners in this
semi-monthly period for the last hall
o. Dune, 1914, were $29.8f, and rose tc
$l5l8 in October, 1921. an increase oi
lO2 per cent. On this basis the weekly
earnings Of all wage earners rose from
1916 in 1914 to 34.71 in October, 1921. =
statement issued from Washington
S9E Ellis Searles, editor of THE Unltef
Nine Workers Journal" attacked Tho
statement issued recently by J. ID. A
aaorrow, president of the Nationa
Goal Association, that the latter die
ho' testify concerning retail prices OF
ccoat before the Interstate Commerce
Commission
Mr.. Morrow. however, did state that
curing the seven months, April i-Octo'
per, 1921. The average cost for labor al
me mines was only 81 81 ton. and ne
9uostanti9ted this testimony with taou-
;;sted statistics" says Mr.. Searfes. "lhe
.uited States Bureau of Labor Stats
~cS' which collects and publishes the
sVVernment information on prices ano
me cost of living. states in its Monthly
hevlew for January, 1922, that the
average retail price of bituminous Goa
throughout the United States was, in