Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-23
Prosperity HeraIded
By Steel Wage Rise


Continued from Pass One
will have a beneficial effect upon tn,
Industrial situation itself. The Goa
strike and the railroad strike were
caused primarily by the high wages In
| the coal md railroad industries and BY
the demand to get wages down 20 that
prices could be decreased. It was be
ing asserted that prosperity could moi
come back without a liquidation of the
wages of workers in these two cases.
VIII Speed Mine Agreements
But business has recovered without
the cut in these two classes wages and
in spite of the industrial disturbance
which two serious strikes have caused.
The soft coal operators who have not
accepted the Cleveland agreement will
be quicker to accept It now, for with
wages advancing in steel and probably
in other industries, they will no longer
hope to cut wages In coal, and will nc
cordingly be reader to resume operation
at the old wage scale.
Also the chance Of further trouble
next spring In the mining industry,
when this temporary arrangement made
at Cleveland expires, will be lessened
now that we have once more entered
upon a period Of rising wages.
The shopmen's strike may not be af-
fected by the tendency revealed IN the
steel industry. for among the railroad
executives there appears an obstinate
determination to fight to finish and
defeat the shopmen's union. But trou:
BILE with the other classes Of railroad
labor is now less likely.
When the shipments s strike began. the
ro fIrnal nvnl,.ttyao ulonninH 70
seek cuts in the wages of their other
employees. But with the labor market
advancing they are not likely to ask for
such cuts, and moreover, the Railroad
Labor Board IL not likely to order them.
To Avert Labor Troubles
Thus the chances of long period
of industrial trouble are being dissi-
pated by improving business conditions.
The upward turn discrcdits the work
of the Railroad Labor Board in Its cut
Of wages. In the very moment when
wages were about to advance the Rail-
road Labor Board ordered the cuts.
The board has shown little UNDER
standing of business conditions gener-
ally or Of the trend to betterment. 1t
yielded Just as unintelligently as the
man in the street to the propaganda
that business could not be restored
without wage liquidation. II 1t had
shown frmness and understanding, the
railroad strike might have been averted.
1t provides a slow system of wage ad-
justment which tends to keep wages up
when business Is depressed and labor is
plentiful and to cut them when the up
ward turn comes and the labor market
shows shortage.
Recent events have tended to improve
the Republican prospect of holding its
share Of the labor vote next November.
In the first place, there is the practical
settlement of the coal strike, then Mr..
statement to Congress, cspe-
clally his declaration against war on
the labor unions, has been we'll received
by organized labor generally, and final
ly comes this increase of wages by the
steel corporation which will be followed
in other industries and which shows
that the employer is once more bidding
tor men.
The restriction of immigration has
been great factor in creating this
quickly improving market for labor.