The daily independent., 1937-08-11
THE SOUTH
AND LABOR


and invariably fair i'll It's
opinjons, gives place in its edltorlal coi''li'llS
70 bcartcnine facts relating to the improve
,,,opt of the lot of labor in Southern III
dustry We quote:
A gratifying report comes from the Southern Ita
states industrial Council at Nashville. leilll iIs
research department after South-Wlde inquiry
bsSed on the month of April. gives out the lol-
lowing figures i, Ill ;,,dustries
is 463 cents an hour.
The differential in wages mas oecleaSeu tiu -,
1876 per cent in 1888 to 24o per cent IN Apf; pe <
1897 The average wage rate has increased 400
ner cent since 1888. compared WIN an uciease
pf 90 per cent for the country as whole
In cotton textiles, the average wage rate lol
AnrI was 1913 as compared with 81 Genus Ill
March for the country as whole Inc laCIer
sr,,ra comedies with that of the Standard sta
tistics Company as recently published In TINS
newspaper which showed 7l.8 per cent rise IN
the cotton goods wage rate since 1888
IF the report be wholly accurate, the SITUATION
of tho Southern worker. from the wage stand
point is remarkably improved
Here is evidence that no Labor Standards
BOARD is required to bring to Southern work
ers due reward for their labor The conserv-
ativc South moves slowly, but it does move
in the RIGHT direction Organized labor Will
do for the workers in the lumber industry
in the South what it has done for textile la
bor, without Federal interference.
That Southern industry needs for survival
a wage dfferential is the opinion of most
authorities concerned with Southern life and
Southern economic problems.
For heavy industries in the South to
thrive it becomes necessary that Southern
wages in those industries be on lower
level" writes Arthur f. Morgan. chairman
of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Com
menting upon Mr. Morsan's statement, Louis
Graves in his Chapel Hill Weekly says:
Now, Mr. Morgan is no hard-bitten economic
royalist' who is indifferent to the welfare OF
working people: Quite the opposite; ne wants 10
see the wage level lifted. But his studies have
convinced him that, until important economic
factors-transportation costs, for example-un-
dergo a change, a nationwide uniform wage
level would be disastrous TO many DrancneS OF
Southern industry.
In saying that Southern industry needs for
survival wage differential. Mr.. Morgan ana
men who think as he does are not embracing
policy of despair and defeat They do not THINK
that the South must reconcile itself to a perman-
emily lower wage level, but they realize that an
arbitrary wage-fxing law. in attempting to raise
wages suddenly and without regard for the deep
seated economic causes of the existing regional
differences. will do labor, as well as other ele-
ments in the South. more harm than good. That
the outlook for higher wages in the South is far
from hopeless is proved by developments in the
last two three years Wages in important in
duStrieS have gone up, and as productive ca
pacity is increased they will so still higher. This
will come about if an arbitrary and uneconomc
wage-ixing law does not interfere.
Not all of the fear of the PresidentS S
Wages-Iours legislation is confined to the
South's Economic Royalists; many of la
bors best friends in the South are afraid
of it,