The labor world., 1922-02-25

wage question which is now spara-
mount in America. The labor press
states the labor side with its pardon
able bias. A million readers of such
journals as the Saturday Evening
Post expect them to be fair and i'm
partial, which they are not.
In last week IS number of the Post
there was printed an article entitled:
"The Coal Outlook" by Floyd w.
Parsons, which contains so many bold
and brazen falsehoods that one Won
| ders whether or not the Post respects
the confidence Of the American peo-
pie. The article in question is pure
propaganda Of the coal barons and
the railroads. It states their case even
better than they have been able to do
themselves in their string of book.
lets now being widely circulated. In
deed claims are made for the mine
owners and the railroads, and charges
are preferred against the workers that
they haven It had the courage to make
in their own literature. The Post has,
gone the limit to indict American
labor for the present depressed in
dustrial situation, and to exonerate
big business from all blame.
Fuel and transportation are the
basis of all industrial life, contends
the Post, and it AYERS that before the
price and sale of farm products or
manufactured articles can be stimu.
lated the wages of coal miners and
railroad employees must cor1se down,
Not one word is said about the effect
on prices Of dividends on watered
stock and dividends to multiplicity
of unnecessary coal corporations that
are drawing the life blood from the
coal industry, and which are sitting
all others. The Post, like all the other
enemies of labor, wants labor to do
all the iquidating. The beneficiaries
Of railroad and coal, privileges
wouldn't leave a dollar go from un.
der their heavily weighted corpora
tions. They rest content, with the aid
of their servants of the press, by
passing the buck to labor.
The Post article declares that the
labor cost Of producing a ton Of an
thracite coal is $4.O7. That means
wages to labor. A. reduction in wages
of 20 per cent would cut the labor
cost 81 cents on each ton Of coal at
the mine. That would put about one
additional bucket Of coal in home.
bin. It is ridiculous to say that it
would materially reduce the price of
coal to the consumer.
"The wage Of a miner is $3.50 a
day. says the Post. "It is only $500
day in the Pittsburgh district"
says the Miners union, and the av!'
erage- earnings Of miners in 1921 were
$763 per man. Does the coal -consum-
ing public want them to earn less?
If coal miners and their families can
not feed themselves with food earned
from wages they. must be fed from
some other source, for Christian ma
tion will not permit them to starve.
The living wage is the just way. The
charity process is not the right way.
It is more costly in the end.
The Post article is too long to an
alyze in, its entirety. Any ordinary
writer in possession only with gen.
eral information could puncture it full
of holes with little effort. The Ian.
guage employed by the author indi-
Gates his prejudice and his bitterness
against labor His temperament dis.
credits his story, which teens with
falsehood. y =. ..~..,+, 1za.,,>.
If the Saturday Evening Post ex.
poets to retain the confidence Of the
American reading people into whose
homes it has been made welcome be-
. s. So h y VA & b -.sE g. a 60