The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-04

That year out of every 100 men
who had been at work in 1929, Al
were walking the streets. How many
were on part time and starvation
wages no one can say. For every
500 of those pleasant pay rolls OF
1929, labor was now collecting only
SAB.
IL Genus an Hour
The whole wage scale had crum-
bled. At Florence, Ala, there were
cotton mill operatives working 1or
p hours a day-12 cents an hour
At Malvern, Kan, lumber workers.
10 hours a. day. 10 cents an hour
At Atlanta, road work, 10 to 80 Genus
an hour. In Jeoria, brass workers
getting SO a week. l could multiply
these figures indefinitely:
To this the long, painful gains OF
American labor after so years OF
struggle had come. In factories out
of every 1O5 at work in 1929, only %
were working in 1882. The weekly
nav roll had been cut in hall, 1or
those at WOTk. LII UAAS SAS
mines it was less.
No one can say that this nation
has recovered its health. But Ger
tainlv things are better than the
appalling conditions of 1888. Let US
take 100 workers representative OF
the factory population, 100 VINO were
working in 1929. Of these IN March'
1899 there we're SO out of work. Now
of these SO idle workers, % have
been put back to work. Ihere are
still "a unemployed.
Dollar Wages Better
But those at work are enjoying
dollar wages better than IN 1888.
The average wage then was Sl4.5o.
1t was probably less The average
wage now is $26.56. One may DOUBT
that but it is the best figure we
have. This means that instead OF
81 wage earners out of a hundred
earning $14.56 each, there are 70
working with $2256 each to spend
AS to unemployment, the FED
Grafton of Labor insists it is still
IL 10000. There are in TACT no
reliable figures. Massachusetts mas
lust made a survey. Here is what
the statisticians found: Out of every
100 persons employable, roughly 81
were at work at the beginning OF
this year; 9 we're working part
time and "a were wholly out of
work. Of these "a about 5 were
on relief jobs of various sorts.
All this is better But it is plain
that there is much yet to do. Those
"a people out of work or at least
most of them must be provided with
normal, productive jobs. Those 9
on part time must be given full time
work. The government must be re-
lieved of the support of those 5
people on relief jobs.
Meantime business itSelf-at least
big buSiness-has been enjoying
larger profits. A tabulation of $40
leading corporations in all branches
of industry showed that last year
their net profits were $202, 100000
more than in 1888
1885 Gain Extended
This year the gain has been
greater. There are figures available
on only 260 corporations for the
first half of 1885. These show net
profits for the first six months of
1884, $255 ,466,OOO; for 1885, $313,
O57,OO0. This is a gain of 17.9 per
cent.
How are these gains being shared?
There are no reliable figures. The
Department of Commerce has re-
Gently issued a report purporting to
show what our national income is
and how it is divided. William
Green denounces it as misleading.
But this much we know that from
1921 to 1888 labor's share in the in
come of manufacture was constantly
dwindling-from a per cent in 1888
to So per cent in 1885.
The main objective which all la
bor-Federation as we'll as so-called
radical uniOf-haS set I'D for itself