Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-03-09
PROSPERITY OF Community GUAeED BY THE PROSPERITY ITS INHABITANTS
HIGH PRICES
DO NOT MEAN
HIGH WAGES

One Of the hand. picked ldeas whieh
employing interests continually pass
out - the public Is thar nigh prices
are caused b high Wages.
Take building construction for eN.
ample. Everyone knows that in 1899
and 1921 there vas a shortage Of
houses such as had never occurred be
fore. Fer years very little building
has been done, FAR less than the not-
nal axeraee construction each Nrar.
The trouble was that costs wore zoe
high,
When the housing shortage was at
its height and the pugsie VAS crying
fer new buildings. The contractors,
following the usual eaStem 81 en-
plosers, blamed lahor. When wages
would come dewn in the building
trades. they claimed. the costs Of con.
struction would drop, and building
would begin.
Since then. during late 1921, and
al of 1922, there has been con.
s,ruetien boom which has smashed
all previous records. More buildings
were constructed in 1929 than amy
other year in history.
Ii the employers had been correct,
IF high wages had been holding
back construction in 1920 and i92l~--
the records would now show tre-
mendous drop IN building trade wage
scales In late 1921 aud the early part
of ig22.
As a matter of fact nothing of the
sort has occurred. Skilled mechanics
in all trades In New York City, for
axa.,.t,l. ,.Eax., th..a s.i.esa tAnr.. .,.,.Y
buildings put up in 1929 than any
where else in the country, received no
reduction at all. The employers ask.
ed for a cut in advance Of the termi.
nation of the wage contracts, II was
refused, and when the contracts ran
out building labor was SO much in de
mand that contractors were paying,
voluntarily, more than the contracts
prescribed.
The United States Bureau Of Labor
Statistics has published figures which
show the average hourly union rate
paid In a3 occupations In the build
ing trades in 66 principal cities of
the country in May, 1922 as compared
with May of the year before. In 1921
the average building trades worker
got Si.03 an hour. In 1892 he got
500 an hour. The amount Of the cut
was only 7st.
Obviously il was not the reduction
In wages which brought about the
building boom; and, conversely, II was
not high wages that had limited con-
struction in the past. II was the
price of materials that controlled the
situation. Prices of materials, in turn,
were, like construction, not influenced
primarily by wages paid TO labor.
Take lumber for example. IN 1916
the price of lumber began to rise. In
1917 II averaged aAst higher than In
1918. In 1918 Il averaged bbSs; In
1919, 100 and in 1920 no less than
207eo higher than the normal 1913
level. The high point was in the
spring of 1920 at just under 275pa
above normal, The price of brick
went through much the same gyration
and reached an average i79ge above
1913 durin gf920., The average of all
materials went as high as 200po above
their normal level in 1920.
During late 1920 and 1921 the price
of building materials dropped almost
as suddenly as they had risen before.
In the fall of 1921 the average figure
nhu come uoNn no ifsS tildh 9Nftf az
the spring of 1922 IL reached slight
ly lower level; about 5beo above nor,
NAL.
The beginning of the building boom
was, the figures show, coincident with
the rapid decline In material costs.
Wages had little II anything TO do
with what happened.
When employers blame labor for
high prices, it's time for labor to look
into costs.