Evening star., 1943-05-01
The tert of Price Adnafnis-
traitor Prentiss M. Bro,pn's speech
Lat .ss0Tf fn11p3Bc.


Your Government needs your sup
port in this crisis in the coal fields
"a crisis which, if not averted, viii
reach the battlefields. The ,argu'
ment of those who would breai
the industrial peace and junk thu
''no-strike" agreement Is that in.
creases in the cost of living have
run beyond increases in wages
This, my fellow Americans, is not so
Wages in industry, factory ano
mine have risen more since tht
outbreak of war in 1889 than have
either the general cost of living OF
the cost of food. Tonight I pro-
pose to show these facts.
Sterilization is not easy. It L
not easy for people to live with
It is not easy for Government. The
Government can do the job only ii
the people-all the people-are will
ing not only to accept stabilization
but to support it; only if every one
is ready not only to support the
sterilization of the other fellows
price or wage but to accept stabili-
zation of his own price or his own
wage.
Must Hold Everywhere.
A year Of experience has shown
us that increases in the cost Of liv-
ing beget increases in wages and
that wage increases in their turn
beget increases in the cost of living.
It has shown us that we cannot
hold the line anywhere unless we
hold it everywhere.
A month ago I wrote leaders OF
the Congress to oppose the Pace
bill, which would have substantially
increased farm prices. I did this
not because was unmindful of the
claims which the farmer has upon
the Nation. I did it because an
increase in farm prices would have
touched off race between wages
and the cost of living, and because
of my profound conviction that
farmers, like workers and all the
rest of us, have nothing to gain
from such a race and must, indeed
lose everything. The Pace bill did
not pass.
Today we are faced by a crisis
on the wage front. Demands are
now being made for substantial
wage increases. I am compelled tc
speak in opposition, just as month
ago I spoke up in opposition to the
proposed rise in farm prices. I am
compelled to point out that if this
wage increase is granted, increases
cannot be denied to workers in
other industries and increased
prices cannot be denied to farmers
These increases in wages and in
farm prices can only mean further
rise in the cost of living. What
will it profit workers to have more
dollars in their pay envelope If II
takes all these extra dollars, and
perhaps more, to feed and clothe
their families?
Miners Earning More.
I recognize how strong are the
claims of the coal miners. Theirs
is hard and dangerous work and il
Is work without which the wheels
OF industry must falter and stop
But I cannot say too strongly that
the coal miners cannot better theil
position in race between wages
and the cost of living. Now for the
facts.
Coal miners are earning today fal
more than they earned at the time
war broke out. Average hourly
earnings in the bituminous mines
IN January of this year were % pei
cent above the average for August
1883. This does not measure the
full improvement, however. Where
three years ago thousands of miners
were working one or two days a
week, with frequent layoffs, today
they are working full time. Their
weekly pay envelopes show the diff
ference.
Average weekly earnings in jan
uary OF this year were So per cent
greater than in August, 1899. ]
cite these figures, not because ]
begrudge the miners their gains
but only to show that they have
shared with most of the rest of us
In the economic improvement of the
past three years.
Rising Prices Cut Gains.
There is, to be sure, another side
to the story. These gains have not
been wholly real. Rising prices have
eaten into this increase of earnings
Nonetheless, they have not eater
1t away altogether. During the
period in which weekly wages rose
SO per cent, the cost of living in
creased % per cent. Therefore
despite the rise in the cost of living
the weekly wages of the miner will
buy Is per cent more goods today
than in the summer of 1899.
1t must be admitted that the
prices paid by miners for food ano
clothing have undoubtedly riser
more than is shown in the officia
figures of the Bureau of Labor Sta
tisticS. AS we all know, there art
chiselers and black market opera
tors who are profiting from the
Nations need, who are charging
not the ceiling prices we have es-
tablished, but what the traffic will
bear.
1t is doubly bitter for those who
honestly abide by the rules of the
game to pay tribute to those whc
do not. How serious this black
market is, no one knows. A careful
study made by a great labor union
In New Jersey shows a 10 to Il
per cent higher cost than does the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. The
true figure is probably somewhere
between the two. But accepting
for the purpose of argument the full
price rise stated by the union, wages
in industry on a 1899 base outstrir
the claimed rise in the cost o1
living.
Rise Reasonably Stabilized
Even If we confine our inquiry tt
food costs alone, which we were
legally unable to hold until the
Sterilization Act was passed, wage.
have risen more than the cost o.
living, as examined by the New
Jersey CIO. Our purpose in the Law
was not to change but to hold thu
level, to stabilize.
In the year just past, the Offic'