The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-09-25

OulO we SdI-
rot escape the conviction that the de-
preston came principally because the
total volume of wages began to
steadily fall, while the value of our
manufactured products continued rap
idly to increase" John p Frey sec
retary- treasurer of the metal trades
department, American Federation of
Labor, told the Ohio State Federation
of Labor convention here
The foregoing statement came as
the conclusion of an analysis by Mr.
Frey of the causes of the depression.
Presenting government figures to
show that while American industries
were enormously increasing the vol
ume and value of their products, there
was a decreasing volume of wages be-
ing paid, Mr.. Frey said:
ut does not require an economist
or other technically trained mind to
grasp the economic fact that, if the
but the volume of wages remains the
same, the wage earners are less able
to buy what is being produced. 1t is
in this self-evident economic fact that
we find the nub, the core, the very
center of the principal reason for the
present depression"
Outlines Labor's Remedy
The remedy for the situation, Mr.
Frey said, is to be found in the eco
nomic basis for wages adopted by the
American Federation of Labor con-
vention at Atlantic City in 1925 He
continued:
THAT convention deliberately
scrapped the previous pronouncements
relative to wages. 1t abandoned for
mer declarations relative to a So
called fair wage, living wage or a
saving wage. The convention declared
that unless the workers real wages,
the purchasing power of their wages,
increased in proportion to industry's
increasing capacity to produce, indus
try and commerce would be seriously
injured.
This economic basis for wages has
since then established itself among
economists and those who have given
careful study to the major industrial
problems. Had our captains of indus
try, commerce and finance accepted
this principle in 1925, the depression
would not have occurred. If there had
been a slight recession due to world
wide conditions, it would not have af
fected industry and commerce as has
the present depression, for the pur-
chasing power of the mass of the
people could have been maintained.
Work Periods Must Be Cut
"Unquestionably there will never
be stable prosperity, prosperity which
is safe and sound, until the wages
paid bear much closer approach to
the annual volume of wealth being
created by industry than they have
in the past
"An immediate measure of relief is
the establishing of shorter work
week and a much shorter work day.
Those now employed must be saved
from discharge by dividing up the
available work within the plants
where they are employed. A mate
rial reduction in the number of hours
worked per week is, in addition, {
longtime necessity.
Among the essentials to stability
and safety in our industries are high
er wages and shorter hours of labor
| Unless both of these are put into
operation, we will have definitely
created a permanent army of unem
ployed which must increase as time
passes and bring with it the graves
social and political problems our ma
tion has faced.
State Control May Come
''It may become necessary to at
tempt a solution of some of our IN
dustrial problems through state ant
federal legislation.
at would be unfortunate if thi
should prove the only way out fol
there is little to reassure US, little t.
give us confidence in the results which
have followed in other countries
when the effort has been made to ad
just industrial problems through leg
slation-the control and direction O
industry by the state.
1.-The American way, the same
practical method, is to make use o
the same methods in industry whlcl
we apply in our government a
free men-the practical application
The credentials committee reporte