The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-12-19
MT. Wallace's Horoscope
Washington Post)

Secretary of Commerce Wallace has issued report dealing with wages and profits in the automobile industry that will simply add to the flames of current wage controversy. Except for purposes of political propaganda there is no excuse for publishing docu ment of this description bristng with hypotheses and unyerifiabe assumptions It is designed to prove that the automobile industry could basic rates 25 per cent by l947 without raising prices and yet continue to make high profits. To reach these conclusions MT Wallaces satsticans have had to do a lot of guessing about future conditions what they likely to be in the next two or three years as regards increases in productivity and in material costs volume of sales and other factors affecting future profits. Even with 25 per cent wage increase and some increase in material costs" according to the report profits three times larger than in the l93639 period can be expected sales 21z times large" in 1947 and l948 on the basis of 1922 prices.
 As was to have been expected spokesmen for the automobile industry dispute the validity of the de- partments estimates and protest it's conclusions. President Wilson of General Motors says that his company would have to increase its volume of produc tion by 60 per cent 1936-39 in order to make much money it did during that period, under OPA price formulas without any wage increases whatever And the general manager of the Automobile Manu- lecturers Association declares that labor efficiency in the industry currently 20 to 40 per cent below levels This clash of opinion again emphasizes the need for labor and management to get together and settle their differences by of impartial fact finding analysis of the position of the individual auto mobile companies involved in wage disputes, It is certainly not the business of the Department of Com prejudice the issues at stake in pending wage controversies by resort to sweeping conclusions based on assumptions open to challenge.
 Furthermore, the Department of Commerce study to take it for granted that if an industry is able to meet wage increases out of profits, the case for higher has been proved In the presn instance, however the question should be raised to whether all these prospective profits of the automobile industry belong of right to the automobile workers Why should they be the sole beneciaries of technoogcal progress and reduced production costs? Under a progressive free economic system the gains from industrial progress should be shared by all workers consumers Sharing is accomplished by lowering prices This is the way to stimulate expansion and create jobs. Moreover the man who has invested his savings in an industry IS also entitled to share in the rewards of progress If all future profit increases are skinned off by wage increases the incentive to effect economies and eX pand by lowering prices will be greatly weak ened, if not killed. These larger issues involved in current demands for wage increases have been almost lost to sight owing to the statistical bombardments to which have been subjected Yet they are of fundamental importance to the preservation of a sound, progressive, private business economy.