Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-06-08
CONDITIONS OF
BUSINESS ARE ON
UPWARD TREND
BY International Labor News Service

BY International Labor News Service
Washington. u. C.--Remarkable in,
dustrial progress during the last
month q. two has been accompanied
by gratifying wage increases.
All industrial trends are upward
Commodity prices increase and con
unue creation OF situation for which
high wages otfer the only remedy
High production rates are noted
everywhere.
If wage rates commensurate with
commodity prices and production
rates can be maintained there is no
reason why there should not be long
continued prosperity.
Wages.--On May Ii the L. s De
partment of Labor reported increases
in rates of wages in more than 500
establishments, covering 43 industries.
The leading industries in this respect
were foundries and machine shops,
cotton goods, brick. furniture. paper,
Sawmills, and iron and steel. The
wage increase movement started in
April in the woolen and cotton mills
of New England where employers
had maintained wages far below that
required for a decent standard Of
living The steel mills and the meat
packing industries, which had been
most prominent among autocratic
employers TO take advantage of the
industrial depression to force down
wages below the general level, were
then forced to raise wages in order
to hold their employees. The pulp
and paper mills joined the movement.
Transportation, to some extent, fol-
lowed. Employees in the lower wage
levels in industry benefited most.
Average weekly earnings in the 43
industries reported by the Depart
ment of Labor We're S25.77 during
April, as compared to S25.54 in March
and $24.S3 in February.
Cost of LIVING If commodity
prices were maintained at present
levels, increased production would
eventually and inevitably bring in
creased wages. At present wages are
advancing a trife faster than com
modify prices. Much of the increase
in commodity prices is due to inha-
ton and not TO increased values or
increased costs. The manipulation OF
sugar prices is an outstandinr illus
tration of the process of imitation.
Metal prices were bound to increase
because few mines could produce with
profit at former low prices. The
rising price of copper, for instance,
results in increased employment for
copper miners, many of whom had
been without employment for a long
time. Concerning the increased price
of clothing, many retailers are boost
rRFla awf he Is.H g Hh...lr
sale costs, but on rumors that future
prices will be higher. This is pure
speculation.
Production.-April and May have
seen a continuance of the high pro-
duction records established during
March in iron, steel, automobile, tex
tile, building mining, and transpor-
tation industries. The soundness of
the present industrial situation is
demonstrated, among other things, by
the fact that commodities produced
have been moving steadily into trade
and no large stocks are held for spec
ulation. In other words we have a
boom-time volume of trade and credit
without imitation and so far with a
minimum amount of speculation.
Employment.-Ther is not much
talk of unemployment at present but
muc htalk of labor shortage. As a
matter of fact shortages, so-called,
exist mainly in industries that are
trying to maintain former low wage
levels. New industrial establishments
are installing labor saving machinery
that enables them to pay higher
wages and still hold production costs
down. This kind of industrial com
petition on the part of new establish
ments is feared by old line plants
that are trying to protect their profits
by forcing down immigration bars.