Amerikai Magyar hirlap = American Magyar journal. [volume] (Youngstown, Ohio) 1911-1942, 1922-06-29
THE SAVING AND EARNING
WAGE
Continued from Page 81

buy another cotton dress, another
wooden dress, another silk dress, the
question of unemployment in the tex,
tile industries would be solved.
In the family budget investigation
made by the Bureau of Labor Stats
tics in certain coal mine districts last
March it was found that among the
coal miners families interviewed
there was an average annual deficit OF
Sis; in other words, these coal min
ers' families ran in debt last year an
average of that amount. Take all OF
the families interviewed and there
was an average annual deficit of SAC
due to the lack of steady work
throughout the year, not due to wage
rate but to working time or oppor-
tunity to produce. Now, it is very
clear that if the income of the family
does not pay the family expense, if the
wages earned fail to equal the actual
necessary expenses, then the butcher,
the doctor, are paying in uncollecti-
BILE bills to the workers in commun-
ity what the industries should pay
in earnings. No one will argue that
an industry which does not pay enough
to support its workers is good thing
for a community. In fact all econom-
lists class such as parasitic industries
sapping the lifeblood out of COM
munity. The Investigations of the
Bureau of Labor Statistics show that
when wages begin to decrease below
the standard of living that the fam
lily had formerly set for itself, the
first thing hit is furniture, the fam
lily stops buying new furniture, new
carpets, new dishes. The next thing
hit is the wife's clothing. The appear
ance of the children at school or else
where must be maintained-for the
mothers pride will see to that; the
husband, especially if he is out of
work, must maintain q reasonable ar-
pearance in order to have any show at
getting another job; so the expenses
for the wearing apparel of the wife
must stand the brunt.
Thus low earnings in the coal fields
of Illinois or Kentucky due to the lack
of employment closes the furniture
factories in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and the textile mills of Lowell and
Lawrence, Massachusetts. AS this
goes on repairs to the house have to
be neglected.; new houses that were
planned and hoped for are not built.
with the result that lumber purchases
are not made and the sawmills close,
which in turn throws more men out Of
work in the building trades. Sidewalks
go unrepaired, streets unpaved, and
the present production of eighty-six
million barrels of cement drops to not
half that, but to one-fourth of that;
for when wages and living standards
get low enough cement sidewalks,
cement anything, become luxuries and
are much harder hit than flour and
foods. Reduce the wages to that of
the Chinese coolie and you close the
factories of the United States, you
close the coal mines, you stop the
railroads. Cut the standard of living
of the American family in half and in
stead of mining 500,OOO,OO0 tons of
coal to keep up our factories and run
our railroads you would mine 100000
600 with the loss of the investment in
present equipment and the loss of the
profits from the operation Of our in
dustries upon which the other 27 per
cent of those "gainfully employed
now live and upon which those who
are merely clipping coupons and hence
not counted as "gainfully employed
live. For the rich can not purchase
all of the products of our mills and
mines and farms; moreover, the lux
ury of the rich will rapidly decline
when the profits on the purchases of
the wage Garner at his present stand
ard of living cease by reason of the
reduction of that standard.
We can all see this, but apparently
it is not so easy for some people to
see the converse of this-that with ar
increased standard of living, with g
wage that not only met the reasonable
expenses of living but provided a fail
margin of saving, the result woulc
be to correspondly increase the pros.
perity Of all up to the point of full
saturation to the limit of human
wants, point not yet even in sight
The Commissioner of Labor Statistics
tells me that since 1899 and up tt
1919 while population had increased
1877 per cent, manufactured food prod
ucts had increased GIL per cent, tex
tiles 90.79o, tobacco 1870, stone, clay
and glass products 1880, iron ant
steel 112.7@o, chemicals 1920, meta
products other than iron and stee
1860, vehicles including automobile.
1,273.8%, mining 128.49o, and that on
1v in fho coco af aprioult,1ro ord th,