Evening star., 1923-02-14
DEMAND FOR LABOR
SENDING Up WAGES
Auto and Steel Plants, Textih
Mills and Road Builders
Must Have More Help.
BY j. c. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star,

special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, February 14.-The inf
crease in labor costs, regarded as in
evitable by those in closest touch
with industrial conditions and pre-
dicted months back in these columns,
has already commenced. Common
labor in the central middle west now
Is getting 39.9 cents an hour. in in
crease of nearly 10 cents an hour
from year ago. Farmers throughA
out the northwest are Offering in
creased wages to farm hands. In
many sections the building trades are
assured of a marked increase Begin
ming June l and labor in the steel
mills and industrial plants has be-
come SO uneasy that executives are
exercising every possible method
short of an actually announced in
crease to hold their pay rolls intact.
The reason is plainly evidenced in
telegraphic reports received within
/ the last twenty-four hours. The
| market for labor is sellers market.
| For example, in the Cleveland dis
| trict SO out of 100 plants employing
normally more than 500 men eac5
| expect to increase their working
! forces before the end OF this month.
! Akron tire makers have announced
| that they are going to shove their
! and they have to have extra workers
to do SO.
workers to do so.
5000 Cars Per Day.
The scheduled Ford production in
Detroit of 5,400 cars a day will be
| exceeded and the Ford Company aims
at a 6,000-car-a-day rate by April.
More workers must be employed to
gain those ends. The growth of the
Ford pay rolls is being felt proper
tionately in every other industrial
| line in the Detroit section, according
to reports today. Investigators who
have been seeking labor in Detroit
and who have been trying to con-
vince themselves that there would be
a let down in automobile production
are going away disappointed. They
have found their answer in the evil
dence that plants are determined to
store up raw materials in order to
have enough cars on hand to meel
next summers demand.
The building program for the year
has been estimated by some compe-
tent observers at more than $4,000
100000. Carpenters, in Detroit are
asking $1.15 an hour. Brooklyn
plasterers who get $40 a day under
the present scale and who, by work
! ing one employer against another,
have been getting more than that,
are SAID 10 nave QeclQeQ on mini
| mum of $50 a day after April 1, with
overtime. Lathers in the east are now
negotiating on a piece-work basis
1 by which some of them, it is claimed,
will make from $50 to S35 day.
Other Demands for Labor.
| Record building operations. highway
/ construction, railway improvement
work and mining will cause a decided
scarcity of labor and higher prices
| in the northwest this summer. accord
! ing to reports today from ST. Paul.
Building operations in the Twin Cities
alone are expected to exceed $15,000,-
| 600. More than 50.0G0,000 tons of iron
ore will be produced and nonferrous
metals will be produced in Montana
| Utah. California, Idaho, Arizona and
| Colorado at a relatively Increased
rate.
| Highway improvements alone will
total hundreds of millions of dollars,
and the labor normally employed is
| scarce and bids for men are high.
! Government irrigation and reclama-
| ton work will furnish employment au
increased rates to thousands. Farm-'
ers all over the country are already
striving for more help and are being
| forced to pay increased wages TO Sc
cure it. The south, with an increased
cotton acreage estimated a s high as
25 per cent. is woefully short of hands
and is willing to pay for them.
| Steel Mills Swamped.
| Steel mills are rejecting more busi-
ness than they are booking simply be-
! cause they cannot get men TO turn
| out the finished products. This is
true not only around Pittsburgh, but
| in the middle west plants.
| Cotton mills in New England are
rushing production and are fighting
desperately against shortened WORK
ling week, which for the moment has
assumed more importance than in
creased wage scales. Lumber camps
all over the south and west are seek
ling workers and are paying more for
them.