The Washington times., 1923-06-04

Higher Wages, Shorter Hours,
and Better Working Condi-
tons Urged by Leader.
BY ROBERT 8. THORNBURGH,
international News Service.

International News Service.
Constant Improvement in rela-
lions between wage earners and
employers, growing ability OF
workers to improve standards Of
living through increased wages,
better working conditions and
shorter work days constitute the
foundation of the road to indus
trial security, Samuel Gompers,
president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor declared today.
This is labor's program for per
manent prosperity" outlined in
the harmony meetings with Sec
rotary Of Commerce Hoover and
julius Barnes, president of the
United States Chamber of Com
merce.
Generosity q Consideration.
Gompers made 1t plain that in
any program for promotion of per-
manent prosperity in United States
generosity in dealing with the hui
man factor in labor must be taken
into consideration.
eff reason could have full sway
tor only q brief period, eliminat-
inR the DISCRIMINATION and the con.
flict which still exist, the American
people could easily enough build for
themselves a paradise almost be-
yond imagination" the Federation
chief declared.
"Those who clamor for wage re-
auctions, for policies of feudalism,
disruption and disorga IMITATION in in
dustry are in the fullest sense of
the word promoting national retro
gression and destruction. Their at
titude is the very antithesis OF pa
triotism and all thinking persons
are coming more and more to re-
gard it so.
Gompers quoted Department of
Commerce figures to show that
United States sells IS per cent or
the automobiles moving in interna-
tional trade, produced by workmen
whose wages are three times that
OF some foreign competitors, to
show that payment of adequate
wages does not hamper trade. He
said similar conditions are found
in other American products, which
compete successfully in home and
foreign markets.
Continued payment of high wages,
continued advancement and I'M
provement in standards Of living,
continual charging capacity of
wage earners to purchase and con-
sumo products of American indus
try are better representatives. of in
dustrial depression than any sug-
gestions brought out by Secretary
Hoover's business cycle committee,
Gompers said.
Waste Being Eliminated.
Improvement in productive pro-
cesses goes on without interruption, -
he added. Improvement in en-
ployment relations, one Of the most
important factors in increasing
production, is seen. Waste in in
dustry is being eliminated with the
help of labor and of scientific
workers in the field of manage
ment.
IF wages increase so that the
tremendously augmented per capita
production can find distribution
among the masses Of our people we
ehal. have gained magnificently.
But IL such increase in production
should come without a concurrent
increase in the ability of the masses
to procure and consume we should
be confronted by a tragedy Of un-
thinkable proportions"
Gompers declared that high paid
labor can compete successfully with
the products of low paid labor and
that American workers are the most
efficient in the world. He quoted
Secretary Hoover to show that
great productivity Of the present
day is due to better organized ef-
fort" and to increasing skill, adj
Vancement in science, labor saving
devices and improvement of proc
esses and temperance.