Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1926-11-26

YANKEE DOODLE
ECONOMICS FAULTY

NEW YORK, Nov. -. - Labor
unions have no monopoly Of flight
ing temper" suggests John S. Keir,
economic adviser Of the DennisOn
Manufacturing Company. in reviewing
Prof. Thomas Nixon Carvers book,
''Fhe Present Economic Revolution in
the United States"
The review Is printed in the Man
agement Review. Prof. Carver is pro-
fessor Of political economy, Harvard
University. He says, at is time for
our laborers to step indulging in that
expensive luxury, the fighting temper,
and begin the method Of buying and
paying for control Of industry"
"As to the first quotation" Mr..
keir said, nations have been so re-
luefant to adopt such policy 1t is
neither equitable nor scientific to sim
gle out a part of the body polite and
expect this single part to adopt it.
As for the second quotation, it has
been recognized since the time of
Cain that it takes two to make fight.
, and the laborers have had no monop-
oily OF the fighting temper. And if
labor should abandon its fighting
temper and attempt to buy control of
industry, as Prof. Carver counsels, is
there any guarantee that capitalists
would also abandon their fighting
temper and agree to sell real con-
troll Of industry to labor7"
Mr.. Keir does not accept Prof. Car
ver's claim that employees stock own
ership is factor in his economic
revolution" Figures printed by the
National Bureau Of Economic Re-
search are quoted toshow rather con-
clusively that practically none of the
income Of Individual laboregs is de-
rived from investment in stocks,
even in those companies that
make special effort to place their
stock with their employees, the money
return from the investment to the
individual employe each year Is not
significant income factor Thus in
one large p0mpany, 1900 employees
hold 81 b000, 900 worth Of stock. This
would be an average Of 500 per en-
ploye. If this investment carried
rate Of 0sper cent, the yearly in
crease in wages due to ownership Of
stock would average $42 per en-
ploye. II Is doubtful If labor would be
influenced in any way by so small
m increase in wages. Even count
ing its cost in low wages, strike
would be expected to yield a great
er return,
"But if the ownershsip of stock by
labor is not particularly significant
from the standpoint of money return,
what is It's significance as to the in
tangibles- particularly the spirit Of
proprietorship?
Prof. Carver's claim that increased
savings deposits by labor is another
proof of his economic revolution" is
likewise challenged by Mr.. Keir.
"In the first place." the reviewer
states, .'there is no proof that the
great majority Of these savings are
those Of labor, which term, by the
way, is nowhere. carefully defined in
the book.
"a savings bank Is an institution
protected by the state. The capital
it has to loan is made up of the saw
ings Of many small depositors, some
Of whom are laborers. The bank
loans to some company, which in turn
invests the money loaned to it. The
company is a capitalist. But 1t is a
pretty far cry between the capitalist
company to whom the money is loaned
and the individual small depositor in
the savings bank. To call the small
depositor a capitalist, and therefore
sympathetic to the problem Of cap
ital on this score, is the same kind
of a hypothesis which argues that
all men are brothers and imbued with
love for one another because Adam
was their common ancestor.
There are other elements also in
Prof. Carver's economic revolution
that somehow do not ring quite true.
According to Prof. Carver, instead of
labOref being in a position of de-
pendence he is now rapidly attaining
position Of independence. And yet
more and more laborers are dependent
upon a money wage. And they have
little or no control over the circum-
stances which dictate the possibility Of
the wage being paid.
"The average annual wage of the
laboref group is 81 1,25O. Judged by
any standard one may assume, this
sum does not represent any more than
a bare subsistence level for a married
man.
Throughout all of the work there
breathe spirit sufficiently star
spaneled to delight the heart Of the
most ardent 100 per cent American.
$50 marked is this spirit that one
reviewer has labeled the whole book