Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-04-14


] just because of the gains that came tc
i labor from the war. When labor OBJ
! jects 10 having its wages reduced, il
is condemned as selfish and greedy
and held up to CONTEMPT as an enemy
of the common good, unwilling To
share the common sacrifice necessary
to bring back pre-war conditions"
Before joining in such harsh con-
demnation those people who have
been taught to judge not lest they be
| judged should be quite sure of their
facts. Those whose standard Of liv-
ing is higher than that of the wage
workers whom they condemn for not
cheerfully accepting reductions should
be doubly sure of their ground, re-
membering that they profess a gospel
whose ideal of life includes the shar-
ing of all things necessary for the
development of all the people.
Before lending aid and comfort to
the current attempt to restore pre-
war conditions for the wage-workers
the followers of Jesus, even those
caught in an adverse business situa-
ton, will need to ask whether those
conditions make for the Christian
ideal of society. They will remember
that the pre-war situation included
the fact that a large body Of Ameri-
can workers were without "mini-
mum standard of living" that still
larger body were without comfort
standard of living" and that these
two conditions the churches, both
Protestant and Catholic, were seeking
to get changed.
The next question is Did labor
make so much out of the war that it
can afford to give up some Of its
gains 2" We all know from observa-
ton that some wage-workers and
some trades in special demand made
unusually high wages, and for the
most part spent them in useless lux
uries. But now that the economists
have had time to measure the situa-
ton as whole they report that this
group of facts does not represent the
whole situation. They measure gains
and losses in the income of the wage
worker, not by the size of the pay
envelope, but by what the money will
buy. They ask how much food and
clothes and rent and education and
recreation can be secured by the
worker In return for his work. A
study of what happened in certain
large industries during the war, made
by two professors of political econ
omy, is printed in the September
American Economic Review. II con-
cludes: "All the evidence seems to
indicate that at the termination of the
great war the return in commodities
which the American workman re-
ceived for actual length of time
worked was from ten to twenty per
cent less than it was in the decade
lS90-l899, and from seven to seven
teen per cent less than it was before
the sharp upward movement of prices
In 1916. The purchasing-power of
the established weeks work, more.
over, wah from twenty to thirty pc,
cent less than in the nineties and
from ten to twenty per cent less than
In 1915. American labor as a whole
cannot be legitimately charged with
having profiteerer during the war.
Rather, like Alice in Wonderland. Il
was compelled to run faster in order
to stay in one place." Another arti-
Gle In the Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Sci
ence for September presents a num-
Der OF statistics concerning industrial
activity during the war, describes
the favorable conditions for MANY
workers, and says: In spite of these
favorable conditions the above statis-
tics seem to indicate that the lot of
the wage-earner witnessed little ma
terlal Improvement. The facts avail
able seem to bear out the contention
tnat wages are the last to follow the
rise In prices and are first to come
down when the slump begins"
other studies from similar sources
confirm this judgment. Expressed
most cautiously and conservatively
1t says that the American Industrial
wage-workers as whole made no
net gain out of the war. Moreover
this chapter in their history is not vet
finished; for, while wages are still
coming down, the prices of some of
the things that bulk the largest in the
wage-earner's budget are going up.
Many thoughtful men are asking
whether the war has not left per-
manently lower standard of living Ia
Europe. 1t Is time for the people of
tins country to ask whether it is not
llkely to have the same effect here.
IL was clearly shown in 1915 by Pro-
lessor King, in the book "The Distri-
button of the Wealth and Income of
the People of the United States .
that beginning with 1890 the wage
workers of the United States have
been experiencing slower falling
standard of living, that the better con.
dltlon which before that time was the
boast of the United States is slowly
leaving US. Now it appears that this
downward tendency, which was inter-
rupted during the early part of the
war, is continuing. Moreover. the
farmers are in the same situation. A
comparison of the prices of food crops
with the prices of the things which
the farmer has to buy in order TO live
ana 10 make those crops shows that
the farmer of 1921 has about half the
p9rchasing-power that he had in 1920.
Inc commercial Monthly for October,
1871, affirms, "The purchasing power
OF the farmer has been seriously cur
tailed for some time to come" and
adds, 1T still remains true that the
purchasing-power of the workers can
not return to the level of the war
years for some time to come"
What, then, shall be the attitude of
the Christian in a situation where
millions of workers on the soil, in the
factories, the mines, on the railroads,
are experiencing a slowly falling
standard of living? They will remem-
Der that this means not only fewer
or poorer shoes and clothes and food.
put also less education and recreation
for the children and young peonle
1t means that the life of the next
generation will not be developed SO
far as the life of the last. Those
who regard this condition as a good