The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1930-01-24
.SPEEDUP and LESS
WAGES PROSPECT
FOR COMING YEAR

new lOIk--E - w OAhSAo A~
ing into the New Year to see
what 1880 will bring them in en-
ployment, wages and hours, can
expect TO find these developments
in the months to come:
]. Declining employment, per-
haps until the middle of the year.
2. Intensified speedup, caused by
a new outburst of ferocious COM
petition in competitive industries.
8. Stationary wages for unioniz-
ed workers and declining scales for
the unorganized.
A. A temporary slackening IN
the progress of the 5-day week.
These indications involve no
prophesy but merely an examina-
ton of the present industrial de-
preston. More candid observers
believe the bottom has not been
hit in industrial activity, that re-
covery will be slow and some even
predict that marked improve
ment cannot be expected until in
the fall.
Disaster FOretOld
1880 will be clean, hard and
tough" year, according to The Bus
mess Week, published by McGraw
Hill, which also sponsors the lead
ing industrial and trade maya
zines. Intense competition, with
disaster for weaker firms, is fore
told. Workers can interpret fol
themselves the meaning of this
competition in speedup, lower wag,
es and unemployment.
Economists, statisticians, and the
glorified soothsayers employed tt
shed prestige on big corporations
have been filling the business
press with their representations
Usually these oracles stress the in
herent "soundness of business,
namely, people must eat and live
and therefore will not cease al
buying. Secretary of the Treasury
Mellon typifies their viewpoint
when he says that 81 see nothing
in the present situation that il
either menacing or warrants pessi
mism. During the winter months
there may be some slackness o.
unemployment, but hardly mor'
than is usual at this season of the
year." In this jaunty manner doei
the great Pittsburgh magnate tos'
off the plight of millions of job
less workers.
Those Who Bear the Brumt
In the deluge of words published
concerning the industrial depres
sion whose beginning was seer
last summer, hardly any considera
ton is given the workers who beal
the brunt of hard times. Statisti
clans bend their brains to the tasl
of estimating whether profits will
decline 1870 or $3.50 in 1880 bu
no attention is paid to workers in
come and hardly any more as II
whether he is to have chance Il
make a living.
Construction and automobile
are considered the leading forces
both in depression and recovery
The auto slump that started las
fall continues undated and the in
dustry looks to the production o.
one million fewer cars in 1890
That means a smaller demand 70,
steel, textiles, electrical equipmen
and all the products that go int,
auto building. In construction n
marked recovery is expected, al
though the diversion of credi
from the stock market is expecte,
to prevent further decline in al
industry that has been on tn
down grade for more than a year
To Justify Wage Cuts
| Workers attention is called +
the prospect that mary employer
will attempt to justify wage cut
with stories of falling profits. Blu
the net income available for divi
dends for 1929 is estimated a
three BILLION, five hundred million
dollras for the $50 leading indus
trial firms. This is an increase o
1859 over the previous year. Un
ions should insist that industrie
able to pay enormous profits owe
a period of years can well affor
to let the coupon clippers an
shareholders wait while now.
In its review of industrial pros
poets published Jan. s, 1929, Fec
Grated Press made these observe
tons on the year just passed:
Stacking Of the auto industr
after the middle of the yea.
sharper than customary; restrit
ton in building; sharply increas
ed unemployment in the secon
half of the year, due to bushes
slump; no material change in tn
} wag escales. The observations wel
: well borne out by subsequent d.
velOnments.