Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1946-07-05
High Wages
A Myth
by Ben Dor


now safely over. Now let's
look to see who got the money
that was poured out to pay for
the war and at what this
money can do to the democ-
racy we fought for.
Everybody knows what the
score was before the war.
President Roosevelt put it very
we'll when he said that one
third of the nation was ill-fed,
ill-clothed, and ill-housed.
During the war, there was a
lot of screaming about how
rich workers were getting.
We were supposed to be put
ting in full time fighting Hit
ler, we had to take few min
utes off every now and then to
apologize for the big money
we were making, and for how
we'll off we were.
We can stop guessing, be-
cause the figures are coming
in. Also, we can stop apollo
giving, for the figures show
that, as a result of the war,
the rich are still very, very
rich. And the poor are still
very much with us,
TWO REPORTS
Within the same week, the
government has made public
two reports. The first of these
by the Senate Special Com
mittee on Small Business, was
called Economic ..Concentra
tion and World War H." You
ought to get a copy and look it
over. 1t tells a lot about the
future of this country, and of
the democracy we fought to
protect.
1t shows, for example, that
the big corporations - there
are really just few of them
came out of the war with even
greater power than they had
before. This "tiny majority" Of
the business population, 2%
of the manufacturing firms of
the country, in 1914 had over
500 of the employees. "Their
size and power" says the re-
port, "has grown more domi-
mating than ever" They have
more cash, more know-how,
and more advertising power.
1t Is In times of depression that
small business gets squeezed
out. In times of boom, small
business gains on its big COM
petitors. But during the war
boom, according to the report,
the opposite happened.
WHO HAS SAVINGS?
The richest 10% of the peo-
pie together own 60% of the
bonds and the money In bank
accounts.
The poorest 4096 of the peo-
pie own about ] %. The big
gest amount owned by any
body in this group is less than
5000.
In case you're surprised, let
me remind you that before
you can buy bonds and put
money in the bank, you've got
to earn some money.
Take the poorest 30To Of.
the population - those people
Roosevelt talked about. The
whole gang together, 30% og
the population, earned about
80 of the income that year.
But their neighbOrs across the
tracks, the richest 1919 of the
population, together earned
29% of the incOme-prOpor-
tionately ten times as much.
Again, these are prosperity
figures. AS things get worse,
this picture will get worse too.
Fewer and fewer people will
have more and more of the
money.
But what it means right
now is that your job depends
on how just a few people be-
have-the few people who
have the dough. What they
decide to buy, you can have a
job making. AS long as they
spend, you work; when
they've bought all they want,
you're through.
The other people around
you may want and need the
things you can make, but that
doesn't help. They haven't got
the savings to buy them with,
and tn cir current incomes
won't support production very
long.
These figures should be re-
quired reading for every men,
ber OF every union in the
country. They should be read
and explained to every voter,
before he goes down to vote
next election day. They should
be laid before every candidate
for office whose name appears
on the ballot. And he should
be asked what he intends to
do about them.
What, Mr.. Voter, are we 60
ing 10 do about II?
PICKET'S PRAYER
TAI -N.slr~ -, -