The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-02-19

amount of labor actually performed, far beyond these figures.
 "As a concrete example of this, there is at this time young man working at a plant in Birmingham who was in military service, sJa- toned at Camp Wheeler, with the rank of sergeant. His commanding officer was ordered to reduce thls man to a private and transfer him to a powder plant in New Jersey. On reaching this powder plant in New Jersey this man was put to work in 8 crew Of 10 men, all civilians, ex- cept himself All of these men, with the exception of the soldier, made | from $10 to S15 a day, the soldier made $1 gross. The civilian em- ployees were free after their day ! work, but on the other hand, the soldier went back to camp, stood ae- treat and was permitted to go put of camp once in a while and had to carry out the daily routine of a soldier.
 Says Men Let Out
 Most of the soldiers got out Of the army the latter part of 1919 at the pinnacle of high prices. but after the labor market had begun to decline. Being totally without funds, they were forced to go heavily into debt to buy enough clothes with which to appear in public and many of them lost their positions during the de- pression, before they had finished paying for these clothes. Most firms and corporations followed the long established custom of discharging the last men employed, in case of a de- pression. and in most instances the ex-service man was the first to be let out. This situation resulted in thousands of them being absolutely penniless as soon as they were dis charged, and thousands of them are still in this situation. Conservative estimates place the number of ex- service men now out of employment at oo,o00, and the great majority of them were practically penniless when they lost their positions. How ever, statistics show that other la borers who remained at home during the war had accumulated on an aver age of nearly $500, which enables them to live during the period of de- precision.
 As an example of the bonus paid "Bfg Business" figures show that in the five years ending 1920 each share of common stock of the companies mentioned earned the following amounts:
 Baldwin Locomotive $155.66 Bethlehem Steel .......... 20t.07 Republic Iron and Steel. . 135.66 United States Steel. .... 144.02 Common shares of stock in each of the above named companies in the summer of 1914 were at far below l par.
 These profits represent the bonus received by big business as a result of war service-the service. to quote l Congressman Fordney. of making bullets rather than of facing them. " Is it unfair to ask these corporations l to return a portion of these profits to the men who made them possible ?
 The American soldiers fought nobly and well, as they have always done in times of national peril. Many gave their lives-their comrades were ready to do the same. Their devotion to the cause of their country was not measured in dollars; the stipend of | $30 month did not inspire them to do and die. Theirs was a patriotism worthy of the glorious record of the past. While they labored and fought in the trenches, ignorance and in- | efficiency at home wasted their na- | tional resources and fattened the profiteer. Now, we face the future | The burdens placed upon our backs
 we shall in turn pass on to these same youths who bore our burdens in
 the battle front, and they, in years to come, will pay the bill. Nothing | was ever yet corrected except as a result of criticism. If by pre- senting the naked facts and by criti- cising where criticism is due, we may make it possible to correct some, at
 least. of our deficiencies,' we have done all that could be done and have done no less than our plain duty.
 BIRMINGHAM POST AMERICAN
 LEGION,
 By Matt H. Murphy, chairman Leon c. Bradley, Frank M. Dixon T. J McEwen, committee.