Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04
u. s. WORKMAN'S SPIRIT
CAUSE OF HIGH WAGES
William B. Wilson Declares Foreign
Labor Held Back by Lack
of Enterprise.

| named are very young. l pointed
out. Are high wages caused by
the lack of population and the need
of developments"
Not entirely. 1 think that high
wages in these countries are partly
due to the pioneer spirit which fosters
individual initiative. The men who
had the enterprise to emigrate also
had the gumption to work harder and
to deserve real wages. They have
not been hampered by tradition and
old conventions. They created new
rules and new standards of work and
wages
| Why should not wages be higher
in Australia and Canada" l asked.
since they are newer countries than
the United States?"
| Because those who settled the
| United States came at time when
Europe was in the throes of inter
nal strife. The middle classes were
rebelling against the nobility and
a great influx of these men who
dared to shake off tradition came to
these shores. In later years the emf.
grants to the British colonies have not
necessarily been men of great initia
| tive. Some have been subsidized by
| their government.
Plan Curtails Demand.
THE workers of England >don't
really know the meaning of indi
vidual enterprise. They have
pinned their faith in socialism. In
stead of applying the law of sup
ply and demand as in the United
States, they reason that if they re-
strict the supply that the demand
| will increase, and they can then force
their employers to pay them higher
| wages.
This reasoning would be all right.
if they did not overlook the fact that
when the supply is curtailed in every
| industry that the demand is also cur
tailed throughout the country. They
| forget that the workers in every
other factory are trying to do exact
| ly the same thing and so they accom-
plish exactly the opposite of what
they desire"
do the workers of the Continent
apply the same reasoning?" l asked.
Yes. the continental worker has
the same concept, except that he en-.
deavors to make private enterprise
improbable in order to force the adop.
| ton of MARKHAM socialism. Syndical'
ism-that is, socialism of different in.
duStrieS-iS quite general in France,
while MARKHAM socialism is more prev
alent in Germany and the countries
of Central Europe, such as Hungary
Austria and Czechoslovakia.
What little Of this socialistic spirit
exists among the workers of the
United States was imported from
abroad and is gradually disappearing. ;"
Wages Not on Decline.
Mr.. Wilson paused, looked out of
the window at a group Of workmen
who were building an apartment OPP
posite his Washington home, and
thereby gave me time to PROFOUND an.
other problem. All of the countries
paying high wages, I reminded him,
were new countries with sparse popu
lations. On the other hand, the coun-
tries which paid the lowest wages
were the oldest countries, such as
India and China, with the denSest
populations. Therefore, with the
population of the United States grow
ing at the rate of about one million
year, it would seem to be only
matter of time before American wages
were reduced to the starvation level
of Europe and Asia.
Mr.. Wilson, however. did not agree.
Zone of the factors which holds the
Orientals back Is their social SYSTEM"
he said.
India is divided up into castles and
it is impossible for a member of one
to rise above the particular one in
which he is born. In other words, the
luck Of birth governs the enterprise
Of the people of India. The same is
true to a certain extent of the English
and of the other peoples of Europe.
They are bound up by tradition.
Now I claim that one of the great
est saviors of peoples is hope. When
child is born in India or Europe
there is little hope that he will ever
rise above the station in life to which
he is born. Without hope he has no
inspiration to work.
But in the United States there
is every hope and every incentive to
work and to prosper. That, to me, is
| the great reason this Nation is what
it is today"