The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-03-06
DIVIDEND INCREASES

tnaL ldSt year lHSE pIOllIS WcIS $430,00O,000.
 %
 DIVIDEND INCREASES
 have not at hand data for com pairing profits of 1929 and 1894 in our representative small workshop as did wages and payrolls and production. But we can make the comparison for different date. The MIRA has just completed Q study on this point and 1t is very impressive. Instead of becoming entangled in bewildering web of hundreds of millions, let us com. pare two men-a worker who rep resents the average working man and an investor who represents the average stock and bond holder in big business. Let us look at them in 1926. Then our worker was get- ting, let us say, $100 a month in wages. Our stock and zondholder was getting $100 month In divi- dends and interest. Now let us look at these two gentlemen in 1884. The workers wages had been cut to $6O. The security hold CTS rewards had risen to $150. The worker had lost 40 per cent. The security holder has gained 50 per cent. Of course all security hold CTS have not been so fortunate. This Is the record of a large group studied by the MIRA.
 Now if you will keep all these facts in mind you will understand why reports about business are so conflicting. This is why you arc
 !, ma I, grumbling and another rejoicing. When you ask man How Is business? you will therefore get different answers. If he answers you in terms of volume of business he will say it is better because 1t has risen 36 per cent since 1852. |, If he answers in terms of pronts he will say it is very good because in 1882 there was a deficit and there are large profits now. If he answers in terms of volume Of pro- duction, he will say excellent, be- cause production is up 54 per cent But if he answers in terms of pay rolls, he will say it has improved only moderately since 1t Is up 2l per cent. If he answers in terms of wage increase he will say not SD EOOu UcCduSC IL ID uP pat o " cent. If he is one of the 3,500,OOO who have gone back to work he will say 1t is fine. If he is one of the 10,500,O00 who are unem- ployed he will say 1t is terrible. But you are looking at the whole picture and you will see that 1t Is quite uneven; that the Improve ment of the business man has been L Lak nf 1St1 sNInUnns that the rise in purchasing power has not kept pace with the expan- sion of production and that, on the whole, we have a long way to travel. ,.El
 INITIATION CERTAIN
 But there has been a gain. And the question is, are we holding that gain and can we travel the remain der of the distance soon?
 At the moment we are arrived at a sort of pause. Since 1929 the depression has gone through four phases. The first was the period of ballyhoo when we tried to shoo 1t off the lot with three cheers. The second, beginning in the fall of 1031, was the debt-saving pe- riod launched with the REC. The third was the inauguration of the New Deal. It continued the cheer ing and the debt-saving, but ada ed an attempt to organize busi- ness to limit production, raise prices and check the downward spiral of wages. The fourth phase lcame near the end of 1888 with the doies-spending great sums for re- lief in various ways.
 Now we enter the fifth stage. It may be called the period of infia- ton. Will 1t be credit imitation or currency imitation? This will he answered soon. but 1t will be in1s- tion of some sort. We have t.av- eied from IS to 50 per cent of the road on cheering, debt-saving, pride and production control and doies. Can we negotiate the re- maining 50 to so per cent of the journey on imitation?
 O--0
 MISSING LINK
 To complete the picture we must point to the one biz fact. Let us