Evening star., 1946-02-07

prepared position with its profits
intact.
Which is one way Of looking at
the labor situation.
Another Is through the eyes Of
Wall Street, where the war and
rumors concerning 1t are discussed
feverishly in relation to the prices
of stocks. In Wall Street the op-
posing armies are not seen as people,
but aSprices. Wall Street is backing
high prices to win.
Another way Of looking at 1t is
through the eyes of Congress. In
Congress they see the people in
volved, although not all the Con-
gress members see the same people.
Some see one group of voters and
some see another. Mostly they see,
or profess to see, what they call
the public. The dominant sentiment
seems to be that labor has too
much power" or, in reverse, that
management does not have enough.
As Cartoonists See 1t.
And still another way OF seeing
the picture is through the eyes of
the cartoonists. Not all of them,
but most, have worked out a for
mula capable OF infinite variation
but expressing the same idea. It
has to do with labor and imitation.
The cartoonists, like the rest OF us,
are against imitation. So they show
how 1t works. First, wages 60 up.
That makes prices 60 up. Then
wages have to go up again and
that makes prices 60 up again. And
presently we will have imitation and
we'll all be sorry. Sorriest of all,
as the cartoonists see 1t, will be
labor, because, don't you see? labor
started the whole thing by demand
ing more wages.
Well, there is one more way of
looking at 1t and that is through
the eyes of labor. Not meaning a
set of initials such as UAW, USA,
CIO or AFL, nor labor leaders such
as Philip Murray or William Green.
Meaning just the rank and file, the
doughfoots Of labor's army. There
are millions Of them, but you can
get their viewpoint by talking with
one. Suppose you try 1t.
You explain imitation to him. He
can understand 1t as we'll as the
next man and why not, since the
logic is irresistible and anyhow he
doesn't like high prices any better
than anybody else. So he asks you
what he can do about it. That looks
like your chance. You say, "Well.
If labor will just be reasonable and
not insist on higher wages"
Situation of the Individual.
"You mean me?" he demands.
Look, he says, his family can't eat,
buy clothes and fuel and pay the
rent on the $50 or SAT or $26 week
he's making. He agrees that infia-
ton is terrible and he's against it
and will continue to be, but only if
he personally is earning enough to
eat, pay rent, etc. Otherwise he's
going to let somebody else worry
about imitation.
Now you've got to the heart Of
the labor problen1-the situation of
the individual worker. But you
haven't got the solution. That's
nothing for you to be ashamed of,
considering that the problem is as
old as human cussedness.
Just one thing new has been
added during the present conflict.
That is the proposal of the auto
workers to drop their demand for a
wage increase If 1t can be shown
that the increase would necessitate
a raise in car prices. They say, and
apparently believe, that General
Motors can hike wages, hold prices
and still have the biggest profits in
its history. The market for cars is
SO great and production will be so
large, they say, that the factory
cost per car will actually be re-
duced. AS their contribution to the
battle against imitation, they offer
to gamble part of their wages on
this conviction.
It's a new idea. If applicable to