Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-09-20
I q I A & !
Bel C0U 1 FIR Y!
William Randolph Hearst Write.
Interesting Statement o. the
Above Subject IS

The great injury inflicted upon the
business Of the country by the coal
and railroad complications, and upon
the people of:the country and upon the
Nation itself, lis due primarily to the
fundamental economic error that 5wag-
es should be reduced and that any
benefit can come to a country by re-
duction Of wages. F. >s := .= Z.
II the late great war. has anything
at all to its credit, anything at all that
we can look to as a general advan-
tage to humanity, it is the fact that
created tended to raise the wage scale.
The effort of all intelligent people,
as well as humanitarian people, the
effort Of all people familiar with So
cial and economic principles and OBJ
jectives, should have been to main
tain this wage scale and the standard
of living made possible by high wage
scale, even tho the cost of living
| should be somewhat reduced. -. /.
We know perfectly we'll that the
y
not due and never has been due and
never will be due to the CHEAPNESS
OF American labor.
It is due to the skill of American
labor, the intelligence and education
Of American labor, the contentment
energy and enthusiasm of American
labor and, of course, in addition to
this superiority of American labor the
superiority of American machinery.
! The superior skill, education, con
tentment, energy, enthusiasm Of Am
erican labor are due primarily to the
superior American standard of living
and the opportunities, ambitions and
interest which that high standard OF
living creates.
To strike at that standard of living
of the American laborer is to strike al
the very base of all his superiority
to kill his superior skill and intelli
gence, his contentment, his enthusi
asm and interest at the very root.
It is the extreme Of false economy
1T is the utmost of bad management
to say nothing of the social and ethi
cal questions involved.
It may. be taken as an elementa
proposition that no saving from wage
reduction compensates for the loss O.
production of disconnected labor-o1
labor rendered less efficient through
a reduction of the standard of living
and a consequent limitation Of those
opportunities for education and indi
vidual improvement which make Am
erican labor the most efficient in thu
world.
In addition to the injury which ;
reduction Of wages inf1icts upon labo
and through labor upon production
there is the general injury upon al
business which reduction in pun
; chasing power Of the mass of the com
munity enevitably involves.
Is it possible that we business mel
do not all realize that great part o
} the general prosperity of the war pei
iod and the immediate postwar perio
was due to high wages and the genera
distribution of those wages in purch
ases-for the workingman generall
spends nearly all that he earns!
When wages were high the working
man and his family bought freely, tn
shops prospered, store stocks were e.
} hausted, the factories were overwhe
med with orders, and the fullest maj
ket prevailed for raw material full
nished by the farm and the mine.
Do you, fellow business man, VIII
own a store, fail to realize that tn
: hand which reduces wages dips int
l your till to deprive you of a proper
: tionate part of your patronage an
( your profits?