The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-04
The Future of the Crisis

but it is cold, hard, fact, proven by exper-
ience."
More Cries For Wage-Cuts.
This cry for a general attack against wages
receives added impetus from the National
City Bank of New York, one of whose lead
ing figures, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., has al
ready set an example by slashng miners
wages Is to 20 per cent. The June issue of
the National City Bank Bulletin opens its
wage-slashing drive by an attack on build
ing trades workers wages They go on in
this tone: "Due principally to this high level
of wages and to the many restrictions i'm
posed by the unions which have prevented off
setting economies, building costs have been
maintained at levels which not only act as a
brake upon new construction, but are RESPONSE
Bile for the enormous increase in rents" etc.
And this imperialist sheet directly calls on
the A. F. of L. to cooperate in the wage
cutting drive.
What the Basic Industries Show
An analysis of the basic industries, and
some factors which have not been touched on,
will show that the crisis will intensity Steel
production has dropped from an average of
80 per cent of capacity during April to rs
per cent at the last report. But the very
causes which kept up steel production will
now contribute to press it down still further.
Hoovers remedy" of quickly grabbing the
crisis by the tail and throwing it out of the
window seems to have strengthened the mon
ster. The railroad executives speeded up
plant and equipment orders which acted as
the main spur to steel production. What hap
pened? E. G. Hardwood, writing in the An
nalist MAY 30, 1930) shows the result:
"a concrete example is offered in the case
of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Early in
April this railroad was said to have COM
pleted most of its new rail projects for 1880.
Presumably this crowding of the work in
the early months of the year was in re-
Spouse to Mr.. Hoover's plea to expedite
construction"
No more steel orders from the A. T. & S,
F. Railroad, which bit off bigger chunk than
it could chew. and is suffering acute crisis
pangs. The same is true of all the railroads.
We informed that the 60 per cent of
the automobile output is produced by Ford
and Chevrolet. A large part of the output
of Ford and Chevrolet is not production but
overproduction. The very nature of the belt
system, and the highly rationalzed technique
of these plants make it impossible for them
to continue curtailed production in the face
of falling prices. They must produce in guam
tity or not at all That the output is not
being "digested" is very plain from the fran
tic shouts of the Ford and General Motors
big shots who Historically ask for lower
tariff in order to help them dispose of the
rapidly increasing stocks in foreign markets.
The very sales of these "cheap make cars"
add further stress to the top-heavy INSTALL
ment system and help in the long end to
broaden the trough of the crisis.
Thus the steel industry is threatened from
this field.
And what has become of Hoover's tremen-
dous building campaign that would make the
crisis vanish in the "twinkling of an eye?"
(The exact words used by Gov. Brewster in
presenting Hoover's famous three billion dol
lar building program.)
Building activity has dropped, in spite of
the fact that some projects that were not
contemplated for year or two, were rushed
for construction. The entire building program
plan has merely thrown the whole industry
out of whack, and is now subject to severe
criticism from many of Hoover's supporters.
Structural steel orders at this time, the per-
iod when they should be at their height, show
miserable drops.
And dragging the crisis still further down,
like heavy anchor stuck in soft mud, are
the constantly dropping prices, which is world
WIDE The New York Times, financial editor
(June 1, 1930) connects the falling prices
with dropping production: "The still receding
prices for steel products have one obvious
explanation in the same curtailment of de-
mand, whether for railway materials and