Evening star., 1939-07-08

WAS QOIle III or DaVlo Lawrence.
der to encourage workers to take
jobs in industry. AS for the 80
hours a week, this was ordered so
that workers would give labor in
exchange for their wages commen-
surate with the money paid instead
OF allowing workers to earn the
equivalent Of their whole monthly
wage by working for say 60 hours
month and collecting the high rates
per hour of prevailing wages.
The Federal Government, in 9TH
er words, cut wages and heightened
hours. This is being done by gov
ernments all over the world, but in
America organized labor-both the
A. F. L. and the c. ! O-has begun
strikes against the United States
Government and against Congress
IN particular in the hope of coercing
the latter into changing the new
relief law under which the 13O-hour
arrangement was specified.
AS usual in such controversies.
1t is not a one-sided question. The
assumption that relief workers are
lazy or are chiselers has been widely
spread by critics, but, while it may
be true of some, it can hardly be
true of all. Nor is it true that all
workers can find jobs at prevailing
wages in preference to Government
jobs. When work is done for the
Government that is exactly the same
as is done across the street for
private employer and when one
worker gets a far larger wage than
the other, there is bound to be re-
sentiment, which is not erased by
telling the worker he ought to be
glad he is getting some relief in
stead of none
Fraught With Danger.
Drastic changes in the setup, with
no assurance of private employ
ment for those who want it and no
employment system built up to alb
sorb the willing workers is a policy
fraught with considerable danger to
the morale of hundreds of thou
sands of citizens who cannot posi-
bly, understand why for equal work
there isn't equal pay.
If the law had specifically ap-
piled only to those workers who
are trying to hold two jobs at the
same time, it would have struck a
responsive note. Many a taxicab
driver, for example, complains Bit
terly at the competition of these
workers on WPA jobs who collect
security wage from Uncle Sam and
then rent a cab and go out in COM
petition with taxi drivers who have
no income from Uncle Sam.
The idea of setting a wage and
hour scale for WPA workers differ
ent from private employers is
theoretically sound if it be assumed
that incentives are needed to COM
pei w. P. A. workers to take private
jobs. But the horizontal operation
affects all the same way, those who
want to take other jobs if available
and those who want to chisel.
Reopens Whole Problem.
The episode is not without its
benefits because it will reopen the
whole problem of relief. The ad-
ministration has insisted that work
rather than relief should be pro-
vided for the unemployed and that
the Government should become an
employer on projects upon which
private capital did not wish to en-
bark. Many self liquidating prof.
ect, so to speak, can be built with
w. P. A. labor more cheaply than
private projects if the 100 hour
month arrangement is to stand.
Is it the function of the Federal
Government itself to provide work,
or to open the channels of private
capital so that private employers
can offer employment to idle
workers?
This is the fundamental question
which confronts Congress. The more
the W. P. A. is put on a parity with
private employers, the higher the
cost to the taxpayers and the more
competition there arises between the
Government and private business.
Work relief" was begun SO as to
help the morale of the idle citizens.
But on dollars and cents basis it
would be such more inexpensive for
the Government to furnish a dole.
The workers have been educated to
believe that the Government must
create work, irrespective of how
sound it Is from an economic stand
point The only way out for the
Government now is for Congress to
provide incentives to business so
that employment will increase and
there will be a gradual ending of
Government-made work.