Evening star., 1922-09-16
BY J. c. ROYLE.
Special Correspondent Of The Star.
Copyright, 1927

|
Copyright. 1927
! NEW YORK, September 16-There
| is job for ever. ~""7 in the United
| States who wants en-. ... Who can
| hold it down. Cashiers and paying
teilers who make up the weekly. semi
monthly and monthly pay rolls of the
| country will handle more cash next
Saturday than at any time in over
| two years. In spite of that fact,
however. employers week from now
will still be advertising and clamor-
| ing for chance to put names of new
workers on the pay roll.
! The job and the worker may not be
! in the same locality { The worker
| may believe himself above or below
| the job. There will be just as many
mechanics who want to be musicians
as ever, and just as many steelwork
ers who want to be motormen. But
| there will be jobs for all. and en-
ployers are more than willing to nelp
| the worker to seek and reach the job.
Still Many Unemployed.
| Nevertheless, there will be more
! than a million and a half workers
| unemployed next Saturday. One-third
| of these will be voluntarily idle.
| do not want work. The remainder
| viii comprise those suit case me-
chanics" of the wandering loot who
are in a state of transition from one
| job to another. The latter are an
asset, not a liability. The cost of
| their restless wanderings in labor
turnover is minimiZed by the fact that
| they invariably are present to I'LL the
F.; pressing need of any locality for in
dustry.
patches received within the last twen-
tyfour hours from business men.
manufacturers. mine owners, railroad
chiefs, employment bureaus and con-
tractors throughout the country.
These reports point to one inevitable
conclusion-that the trend of wages
is upward. Employers are in the
market for raw material. labor along
with the other commodities. They
have orders on their books and they
will pay what laws of supply and de-
mand dictate to fill those orders. So
will the dealers who buy their prod
ucts and so will the ultimate con-
sumer.
Wage OF Skilled Artisans.
The average wage of skilled arti-
sans in the building trades is more
than $40 a day. More than one-twen-
tieth of the workers of the country
have received wage increases within
ding for workers not only against
their competitors, but against other
trades.
over sl.25oooo more will be paid
in weekly wages throughout New
England next Saturday than was
paid last Saturday. according to re-
ports from Boston. Figures compiled
in New York. Chicago, Baltimore.
Philadelphia. St Paul and San Fran
cisco show that wages paid railroad
|. hA tod
s. 100000 in the same period. The
coal miners of the country will draw
down more than s150,000 more next
week than this.
This merely indicates the general
trend. which will not be affected even
by shutdowns of big plants such as
the Ford factories. II is not confined
to the wearers OF the flannel shirts
and the greasy oreralls. The white
collar workers are equally in de-
sales forces. Clerical staffs are being
enlarged and good stenographers are
at a premium.
The causes are not far to seek. A
, tremendous volume of goods. already
sold or with a ready market in pros
pect. demands transportation. There
is building boom from one end of
the country to the other Silk and
lace industries have commenced TO
improve. The demand for cotton goods
is CROW CIllS the factories IN spite OF
high prices for the raw staple and
la Dor troubles. Wooden manufacture
ers are marketing their products In
satisfactory volume. Coal Is being
produced at record rate. faster, in
fact, than it can be carried to mar
ket.
Steel Prices Moving Up.
Steel prices are moving up in paral-
lei lines with demand and wages. The
q f..l
have advanced and additional men
are being employed at the mines.
Perhaps the most significant indica-
ton OF the general trend Of wage lev
els is seen in the shortage of unskill-
ed labor. The advertisements appear
ing daily in papers throughout the
country indicate beyond question that
the men now employed in the harvest
fields and orchards will be absorbed
into general industry this winter
without menace of bread lines and
soup kitchens, which loomed imminent
in 1921