Evening star., 1947-10-22
SchweI|enbach Called
Partisan in Speeches
On Wages and Prices
Cabinet OfficioI Selected
Figures to Suit Purpose,
Lawrence Contends
By David Lawrence

Have wage increases kept pace
with the cost Of living, and is it cor
rect to say that wages have been
increased far beyond the rise in the
cost Of living?
This question has been projected
into the national forum of debate
by administration officials who are
answering 1t from their own parti-
san standpoint by selecting those
facts which suit their purpose.
Thus Secretary of Labor Schwel-
lenbach has just made two speeches
one before the convention of the
American Federation of Labor and
one before the CIO convention-in
which he endeavored to prove that
only the figures since VI day are
the ones to examine in answering
whether wages have kept pace with
the rise in the cost of living. He
says:
Usually figures are given out as
comparison between 1889 and
1947. Every one knows that during
the war years wage increases were
not objected to by the manufac-
turer because he knew that the
Government would pay the bill,
either in adjustments of their con-
tracts on which they were working,
or contract settlements after the
war. Every one knows that in 1889
we had loose labor market under
which the purchasers of labor had
pool of 100000 unemployed
upon which they might call if they
desired to keep the wages down. The
subject which Is Of Importance and
the subject about which the Amer
lean people want to know is what
has happened during the period
since VI day and since June, 1916,
when price control was abolished.
Those are the pertinent figures and
those are the figures to which the
American people should pay atten-
ton"
Words Deserve Debate.
II any one else besides a cabinet
officer had made the foregoing
statement it would have been passed
up as just piece of political dema-
goguery but Mr.. Schwellenbach is q
man who has sat on the Federal
bench and he is one of the best
liked men in Washington, SO when
he makes mistake in the appraisal
Of facts his statement deserves to
be debated.
Now 1t isn't clear just what the
attitude Of employers in agreeing to
wage increases during the war has
to do with the statistical truth that
either wages were or were not in
creased during the war. The mo-
tive for granting the increases is as
irrelevant as the argument of en-
ployers that to avoid strikes and in |
terruptions in wartime they yielded
regularly to the demands of unions.
The real point is that wages in
creased very substantially during
the war period and it is just arbi-
trary to ask the American people
to forget what happened since 1889
and to focus attention only on what |
happened either in wage increases
or price rises since VI day. The
war period saw a rise in wages but
not commensurate rise in prices.
To ignore the raises in pay given
from 1889 to 1945 and to focus only !
on the price readjustments made
since 1945 is to select part of the
story and ignore the rest At least !
it is fair to tell both sets of figures
in public speeches and let the public
be the judge.
Figures in Control Era.
From April. 1912, to January, 1916,
the period of price control, living
costs rose 1923 per cent while aver
age hourly earnings of factory
workers gained % per cent and
average weekly earnings rose 17.2
per cent. During the entire World
War II period and postwar period
from 1899 to August, 1947-increases
in wages and earnings far outran
the rise in living costs. Thus aver
age hourly earnings rose 95.6 per
cent and average weekly earnings
increased 1865 per cent while the
cost OF living rose only 81 per cent
The average price of manufactured
goods rose only 81 per cent.
In the period of price decontrol
alone, selected by Mr.. Schwellen-
bach, prices rose faster than unit
wage and material costs. But prices
had been held down during the con-
troll era and merely resumed a level
approximating the normal relation
ship with unit costs when price con-
trolls were removed.
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