The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-09-25
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
CAPITAL ALSO MAY STRIKE

| When one reads or hears of "strikes," the NINA
instantly gets the idea of a group OF workers III
concert walking off the job and seeking to smut
down a plant and keep it closed down until 'ne
management meets their demands.
! But labor is not the only partner In INDUSTRY
which can, and does, Strike" the Railway Age
says. $50 can and do both capital and customers,
To strike" of capital the Railway Age largely
attributes what it calls the slow and incomplete
recovery that has occurred" emphasizing ITS con-
tention that the total business being done IN the
country now is relatively much smaller than pre-
vous experience indicates that it should be four or
five years after the bottom of depression.
AS a matter of fact, the journalistic mouthpiece
of railroad management asserts, the "strike" OF
capital which is now going is much more Sc
rious matter for the future prosperity of this coun
try, including that of organized labor, than any OF
the labor strikes which have recently occupied SO
much space in the newspapers. 1T is the principal
cause of the continuance of poor business and oil
the recent decline in general business"
Wherefore, the Railway Age thinks, "it would
be well at this time, when labor is in the saddle
and riding high, to give some attention also to the
other partners in observation-disclosures and capital
The Railway Age publishes a table which shows
that the new financing done by the railways in the
five years ending with 1886 averaged less than
100000, 900 a year as compared with an average
of $5l2000,000 year in the five years ending
with 1880. The same table shows that the total
amount of new financing done by all corporations
in the five years ending with 1886 averaged only.
S463, 900, 900 a year compared with an average
of S5,SSOO 900, 900 in the five years ending with
1880.
Admitting that there was sharp upturn in new
investment last year, which continued during the
first half Of this year, the Railway Age says:
Nevertheless new investment las contrasted
with refnancing) virtually at standstill for
four years, indicating deficiency which must DC
made up if the rate of Improvement in the stand
ard of living of the American people is to regain
It's pre-depression level And the increase of new
investment since 1885 has been relatively small
and entirely inadequate. The new investment IN
the railroads in 1886 was only half great as in
the pre-depression years and in industry as whole
only one-fourth or one-ffth as great"
The Chicago railway publication disciaims any
contention that the strike" of capital in the early
part of the depression was primarily the fault OF
the labor unions the politicians, but insists that
it is militant unonism and its political cohorts
which now constitute the main threat TO hVihs
wage for capital, and who thus discourage indus
trial managements from seeking investment tunds
and that make investors chary of offering them.
The only kind of confidence" that helps bust
ness, says the Railway Age, sis well founded
confidence among business men that they will de-
rive reasonable profits from any new investments
they make; and their confidence or lack of 1t IN
new investments is determined mainly by the prof.
its they are deriving and expect to be allowed to
derive from investments already made"
Yes, capital and customers, as well as labor, can
strike, and sometimes do, and strike of capital
or customers or both can hurt labor much as
strike of labor hurts capital and customers-The
Charlotte Observer.