The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-08-02
THE PROBLEMS OF CAPITAL AND
LABOR

The Pathfinder devotes lot OF space IN
its latest number to discussion of BUSH
ness conditions, viewing from the stand
point that the country is full of capital,
living idle in the banks, while several mil
lion people are still out of work and many
lines of business are hating and hobbhng
- along. .'.
The Pathfinder rightly believes that the
.. problem could be solved by bringing cap
ital and labor together in productive en-
terprise. That is the real problem. In
scores of places throughout the country
IT, capital and labor come together only for
4 the purpose of fighting, it seems. That,
"a however, is not the big idea The Path
- finder has in view. The magazine is con-
Is sidering the vast amount of idle capital M
49, the country which could be used to put
% people to work in industries that are not
81 at present operating, or in new industries.
g. The Pathfinder concludes that leader
a. ship, in the ranks of both capital and la
~ Dor, is needed to find a solution OF the
- problem, and that leadership is lacking on
both sides. "Organized labor has been
! Z given it's greatest chance, but has failed,
.. says The Pathfinder. The magazine then
~ points out the fact that everybody is viii
- ling to share in profits but not in losses.
'rn~ The "profit-sharing" groups organized IN
80 England are used as an illustration. 4. Ehey
- flourished for while, then business
slumped, and instead of profits there were
S" losses. These cooperative groups were al
-, right so long as there were profits, but
when losses were sutained they broke
~ down at once. Everyone was delighted to
- take profits, but nobody was willing 70
So share in losses. st
IS This is one of the chief difficulties by
49, which the relations of capital and labor
- are frequently disrupted. Labor seems to
~ have the notion that there is no limit to
the capacity of Capital to pay and pay
~ and pay; that business or industry can
~, be operated indefinitely at loss, regard
80 less of the financial ability of the business
Is to sustain the loss Labor seems to think
a.. that an industry can go ON operating, pill
go ing up surplus merchandise without regard
b to market conditions; or that, wages Or
other manufacturing costs-can be increased
g. beyond reasonable limits, the increase add
ed to the selling price, and the product
will move right along in the markets.
Manufacturers know that this is not true.
Perhaps greater effort should be made to
help labor to an understanding of the
az, problems of the manufacturer.
A first class illustration of this difficulty
is afforded by bitter strike now in prog
4 = ress IN an industry in another State. This
- concern manufactures products for the
building industry. Its business has been at
E, low ehb for several years, due to the fact
that there has been little building in any
section of the country, The building bust
,, ness;is stifl at about the lowest point it has
reached in several decades. Under these
! = conditions the employees of this plant ask
: = - for wage increase amounting to 62. LIZ
, :. per cent If granted, that would have 50
be added to the selling prices of the prod
ucts manufactured by this concern, and it
would increase selling prices to a level
where the products either could net be
sold at al or the demand would be greatly
decreased from the present small volume.
There is probably not an industry in the.
country that has net faced this situation
for the past four years. That is certainly