Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-09-20

/ ~ Sd SEPT n: 81
d Dosyo 81. fellow bus1n ess man who
run. factory sfailst zrrealiz that your
orders come from those lsh ops, and.
are depend lent Id turn upon the patron
age and prosperity 81 those shops?
Oh Do you, ellow farmers and fellow
miners, fail to realize that the demand
for your products depends upon the
demands from the factories, and that
these factories depend upon the. Or
ders from the shops, and that the or
ders from the shops depend upon the
prosperity and the patronage OF those
shops, which are in turn dependent
upon the prosperity Of the wage earn
ers, the. greatest individual element in
the whole Nation? . za. -.
H The conditions of prosperity are a
very economic house that Jack built"
and the foundation of the house is
the welfare. of the worker, based on
good wages and consequent high pur-
chasing power. .~.>> y--
~ Therefore, when the mine owners
and railroad owners demanded a re-
duction Of wages without absolute ne
cessity they committed a fundamental
economic error. When the Railroad
Labor Board authorized a reduction
they sanctioned a blow not only at
the welfare of the workers, but at the
general welfare of all business and at
the prosperity of the country.
OF course, the workers would not
tolerate this reduction in wages, Who'll
" unnecessary and unjustifiable at
this time; and whether moved by sell
fish considerations or not, they were
performing a patriotic service in not
tolerating it.
The plain truth of the matter is
that any management of any business
which cannot succeed and still pay
good wages is not only inefficient, but
un-American; because good wages fol-
good work not only is-but is recogni
zed to be-a fundamental American
proposition.
Most Of our American business men
are able to conduct their business sue
cessfully and pay high wages; and
they conduct their business successful
ly not in spite of the high wages, but
on account Of the high wages be
cause success is combination of eff
cient management and efficient labor
! The proof that reduction in wages
| was in no way necessary at this time
in the coal mines and on the railroads
is shown in the fact that great indus
tries, like the steel trust, under the
skillful management of Ebert H. Gary
were raising their wages 20 per cent
| at the time that these mining an(
railroad industries were attempting
to reduce 'wages-and is further
shown in the fact, that the coal oper
ators have finally put their men -bacl
to work at the old wages, and can, an(
will, not only conduct their bushes:
successfully with wages at that stand
Eard, but profiteer very handsomely il
addition.
The railroads must not only event
ually pay the previously established
wages, which they attempted to re
duce, but will probably soon have tt
pay an added wage:
The demand for labor is increasing
thruOut the Nation.
Wages will increase in proportion
and the opportunity to take advantag
of the necessities of the working MAJ
will not exist, even for those VIII
shortsightedly desire to take such &C
vantage.
The fundamental mistake, therefore
which has precipitated all the injur
Of these strikes and these interruI
tons of the business of the country
and these burdens upon business an
upon individual citizens, which vii
endure as long as the limitations O.
fuel and transportation endure, wa
made by the coal operators and tn
railroad managers when they unjus
ifiably demanded lower wages, and b
the Railroad Labor Board which sane
toned these unjustidable demands.
Perhaps these mistakes may not b
made so often when it is thoroly RI
allied how important high wages an
a high standard of living and hig