Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-22

labor had they been employed for every man
at work produces something Of value to So
ciety that is lost irrevocably when he is idle.
Naturally each mans productive value de-
ponds upon the nature of his work, and to
arrive at this item in the cost of the coal
strike one mans estimate-or guests as
dependable as the nexts. Perhaps the most
Illuminating conception Of the value Of time
when usefully employed is conveyed in the
old copybook aphorism, "Lost, yesterday,
somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two
golden hours, each set with sixty diamond
minutes; no reward is offered, for they are
gone forever"
A Loss Everybody Shares
But every member Of society, be he bust
ness man, professional man, farmer, work
man or parasitic idler must share in this
loss occasioned when a days wage is not
earned and hence cannot be spent and the
product of a days labor has not been real
I lied and is gone forever. Everybody has
seen town or small city largely dependent
upon one business or manufacturing estab-
lishment "go dead when that establish
ment suspends operations for a period, and
a like deadening effect, more or less serious,
must be felt in every section of the country
/ when so essential industry as coal sus-
ponds operations or is only partially pro-
ductive and hundreds Of thousands of wage
earners go on an indefinite vacation.
| This deadening effect, moreover, &C
~cording to economists began with the first
serious threat of the coal strike. They
point out that with the opening Of the pres
emit year there was very general determj-
nation to pull the country out of the
slough Of business depression and bring
about that return to normally" of which
so much has been heard and so little realiz-
ed for many months. Men in all lines Of
endeavor were planning to get under full
swing again, and perhaps to extend or ex-
Dand their OD6ratiOnS. New 6nt1rnriSng
were projected, bankers were more optimis-
tic, credits were becoming easier, capital was
seeking work to do instead Of a hole in
which to hide. The road to prosperity SEEM
ed open again.
Then came the controversy between the
coal miners and operators with practi-
cal certainty Of a strike on the first of
April. Better wait and see what happens"
instead of Cup and at 'em!" became the
watchword in the business and commercial
world, and there again is found a very in
definite but none the less real item of loss
that is to be added to the cost Of the coal
strike,
Lost profits to coal operators lost freight
revenues to railroads Can enormous sum in
| the aggregate); lost profits to all middle
men and dealers who handle coal, and lost
profits to all industries and businesses af-
fected adversely by a real or threatened
coal famine, are other items in the total bill
which thu countr.- must pay, because the
men who own the coal and the men who dig
il would not set their house in order before
March 81
It will be long time before anyone will
hazard an estimate as to what this total
cost is in cold, hard ash, but one thing has
oeen made certain already-it will be
enough! Optimists among members of con-
gress and other leaders in public affairs
agree, however, that whatever the bill is it
will not be too much if it arouses the public
until measures are taken to avoid similar
debacles in the future