Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-30
Attack on "Pinch and
Scrap" Policy Made by
Auto Magnate.
DECLARES PURCHASING
POWER MUST BE RAISED
Better Pay for Workers Will Solve
Trade Problems, He
Asserts.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
,ial Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. March 2s.-Twenty-five
dollars a week! This is the minimum
wage Henry Ford expects to pay in his
new British factory. Not much? No.
But 40 per cent more than his British
competitors pay.
| Henry Ford, in the British Spectator,
insists that the cure for British indus
| trial trouble Is to create more purchas-
| ing power. Higher wages Is his answer.
Can he do it? viii the British in
dustrial groups fight the move, or will
they follow suit?
The pinch and scrap" attitude
among employers is bad for industry
| and trade" says Mr.. Ford.
If some firms have to 60 out of busi-
ness when wages are raised, it means
that they are not efficient enough to
pay these high wages and 1.-THE sooner
they go out the BETTER" Is the Ford
| dictum.
The two statements in the Spectator
article that stand out as particularly
pat at this time are these:
You cannot get good work out of
poorly paid men. British industry isn't
IN need Of money; 1t is in need of in
| itiative.''
The Ford high-wage theory will be
| questioned in England, where it has not
been tried, but it will not be questioned
| in the United States, where it has DEM
| onstrated its soundness for is years.
And, incidentally, made Henry Ford the
worlds richest man.
Steel and Iron.
Probably no American industry is
racing more strenuous competition out
| side than that of steel and iron, Ger
many Is forging ahead with its blast
furnaces In the Ruhr, tied up, as they
| are, with French industrialists
Russia, too, cannot longer be ignored.
Inc Soviet blast furnaces are now pro-
ducing at the rate of $4,000 tons a
month, equal to her pre-war outuut.
while her pigiron production last year
was over 5000 tons per month In excess
| OF the pre-war volume.
Russia is not satisfied. She has
begun the expenditure of hundreds of
millions OF dollars in developing her
new iron ore fields, largely, of course,
Tor home consumption, but eventually
for foreign trade.
1t Is well known that Russian iron
ana steel resources are very large. Per-
maps German manufacturers will come
to some understanding with Russia. but
every American steel exporter know
that Russia is a new factor to be reck-
oned with.
Seligman's Library.
No university professor in the world
possesses so valuable a library on eco
Monies and finance as DR.. Edwin r.
8. Sellgman of Columbia University,
For so years, he has been collecting
MS library of $4,000 books, pamphlets
and autographed letters He has re-
fused fabulous prices for it.
-, Harvard offered 100000 for the
library. The Soviet Government of
Russia and the japanese Government
are both understood to have made very
much larger offers. But Columbia Uni
VerSity Is the prize winner, with an
offer of about S500,OOO.
Naturally Prof. Seligman was mar
tial to Columbia. A rich man himself.
ne began collecting these books on his
tory, economics and finance when he
entered the university work as teacher
81 years ago. In 1879.
Many of the books are exceedingly
rare and valuable and cannot now be
secured at any price:
Its difficult to estimate the value Of
such library It is priceless because
1t cannot be duplicated One expert
estimated that '$3,0O0,00O would be
needed to duplicate It.
best known students in the field of
economics.
Passport Fees.
American tourists, planning European
Summer trips, face the same old $40
passport fee.
why is it that after 10 years of peace,
the wartime measure increasing the
passport fees from 50 to $40 has not
been repealed? Who is responsible for
holding the passport fee to its present
war level price? Nearly every business
organization, every travel bureau, cham
Der of commerce, railroad company,
steamship company and thousands of
tourists have protested the high fee
charge-the highest. with the exception
of Rumanta, Greece and Egypt, in the
world.
True the fees collected amount to
50 1000 900 a year, while 1t costs only
$15o,000 to handle the work. But that's
no answer.
The fee was established by an act Of
Congress and it viii be necessary for
Congress to amend the act Congress
is In session. Why should the fee not
be reduced to 50, or, better yet, elini-
mated entirely? It's a nuisance fee
anyway.
The Department of State has no al
tentative. It must charge the fee set
by Congress. But again-why maintain
$40 passport fee when nearly every
naClOn mas aDOllSI1eQ SuCIl CHARGE
Why not have the job done at this
session of Congress2
Stabilized Incomes.
Senator James Couzens of Michigan,
one of Americas richest men, believes
that sterilization of the income of
workers must be accomplished by
American business. But If American
business Is negligent, then the American
Government will do so through unen-
ployment insurance, through old age
insurance, and all the other methods
of insurance necessary to preserve
human life.
Says the Senator:
"If every industry were to pay its
men by the year instead of by the hour
or the day, industry would find q way
to stabilize its production so that it
got its moneys worth. Many indus
tries have stabilized dividends. What,
to correspond with that, does industry
do for labor? Do our industries take
anything out Of their good years, their
periods of high employment, to stabilize
the income Of the workers during the
on seasons and hard times? Not
many that have heard Of"
tCopyright, 1880, by North American News
paper Alliance)