The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1932-09-02

HOfHlc COHulIlOIlS, anu ldDOT pdTL III
them, are strikingly similar today.
The same ills confront us, and while
the so-called remedies are numerous,
none of them has effected cure.
The question of a Giving wage"
in the earlier days, as Lloyd says,
was as important as it is now; more
so, in fact, because trade unions then
were just beginning to put the prin-
ciple of the living wage into the ''bill
of rights of the workers"
The workers then knew, as they |
know now, that if the principle of the
living wage was destroyed it meant |
the destruction of the organized labor |
movement.
And it can be said that this prin- |
ciple is still the motivating force of |
organized labor, although employers
some of them-and economists are
beginning to realize that the Giving |
wage" theory is the keystone to any
community's or industry's prosperity. |
Organized labor goes step farther
than the theory of living wage, and
says that following the principle is
the living wage itself. In other words,
employment. The inalienable right to
work.
The so-called workers "insurrec-
ton" in England in the late Victorian
period, started by the miners, was in
defiance of the long established the
ory of big business that wages should
follow price" something that even
today organized labor is fighting.
The workers demanded that the cost
of a decent living should become a
fixed charge on industry. A life
line" was established, below which
employers were warned not to go.
Price knows no law but that Of
competition in its ups and downs.
Labor decided that it was not chip
in a gambling game and refused Ion
ger to assume that roll. Since that
day the industrial battles which have
been fought have been around that
contention.
Since the early '90's organized la
Dor has battled long and diligently
to establish the American standard
of living The sporadic assaults on
this standard by the shortsighted
have brought sharp protest not only
from organized labor, but from the
wise ones of industry.
Thrusts against living standards,
through wage reductions, are numer-
Gus, the enemy taking advantage of
unemployment to force their demands.
Here is where organization stands
as a bulwark against such inroads.
AS in the earlier days, along with
the cry of unemployment, was the
moan of "overproduction." AS Lloyd
told the workers 40 years ago, "the
declaration ,of independence yester-
day meant government; to day 1t
means self employment, which is but
) another kind of self-government." ;"
And so it is.
Yet today there are thousands
starving with farm products rotting
for lack of buyers; shoe factories are
silent with people barefoot; clothing
factories and stores are deserted and
people wearing rags. All this is in
consistent with American manhood
and citizenship.
The whole situation is impossible,
and, as has been pointed out by la
Dor leaders, no human society can
hold together on such terms.
1t was the same in the Victorian
DAYS of which Lloyd spoke to the
Chicago convention Churches open
ed their doors to the homeless; soup
kitchens were opened for the hungry
and destitute; garrets and Easements
ransacked for clothing and shoes for
the needy; "made" work was provid-
ed Tor Clle JODIeSSy anu tIlS SauiC dSeiF
tiles apparent then as we are seeing
today. 1t is all kindness, to be sure
but no problem was solved by it ther
: and none is being solved now.
: The solution is not being tackled in
the right way 1t is no easy job; II
takes thought and drastic action tt
: bring about a solution. Unemploy
ment in land of industry and hun
: ger in a land of fatness are al
wrong.
The question of the machine in in
dustry is d crucial one. One machine
: can turn more men out of jobs thar
all the charity organizations in {
community can take care of. That.
: a problem worth solving. No worker
: ever needed to belong to trade
union so much as right now. Hi
9 economic salvation depends on it.
The worker must make his owl
: place in the sun. Nobody else will d.
. it for him. Henry D. Lloyd's advic
e 40 years ago is as good now as it wa
. then-The Journeyman Barber.
ONLY 100 YEARS AGO