Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1948-04-23
Whats
New?
By
EdVdrd ].
Duck,
Assistant
Director,
National
Auto>Lite
DiUsion
By

Amo>Lite
Division
Do you remember when you
dreamed of someday having a
new home and new auto
mobile? Do you recall hoping
for the day when a creditor
wouldn't be insistently push
ing your doorbell?
You pictured that day as
being a postwar day, didn't
you? You figured the war
would take care of everything.
You looked for a rainbow
after the summer shower.
The war has been over for a
long time, and now talk of an
other one is common. There
was no rainbow at the end of
the last one, and there's no
promise of rainbow for as
far ahead as you can see.
There is no new home and
there is no automobile unless
you have twice the price to
pay for one.
Something is wrong Com
munists think they have the
answer, but they haven't. You
have, but you don't know it.
Wage increases are not the
answer. You have expressed
the answer dozens of times in
ordinary conversation. You
complained about high prices.
There's the answer.
All the economists and all
the long-haired theorists in the
world haven't the solution to
the problem as completely and
as clearly as you have. But
you don't follow through, do
you?
WAGE HIKE
Surely, we need a wage in
crease to keep pace with the
increased cost of living The
refusal of big business to bring
prices back to a sane figure
has made it mandatory that we
demand a substantial raise.
But that's not the whole story,
by no means. What if prices
continue soaring?
Wages must go up, to be
sure. But prices must come
down, so that wages will
mean something to each of us
in terms of purchasing power
You and / and the next fellow
are entitled to own new cars,
new homes, new radios and
refrigerators, and to enjoy the
better cuts of meat and the
choice dishes, just as much
as the guy who runs the plant
or who owns stock in it.
The avenue is open. In
Detroit, Pontiac and Flint the
UAW has led the way. So
should we. We should estab-
lish cooperative distributing
centers, where we could pur-
chase our groceries and staples
at reduced prices, and share
in the profits. Through these
savings we could better sup
port our families, and soon af-
ford the luxuries which now
only the higher bracket people
can have,
YOU CAN'T
Oh yes, you can buy home
or a new car if you had three
or four in the family working
during the war, and very little
responsibilities to meet. But
can the average person do it?
He can not!
Until monopoly control of
necessities is abolished, and
until the wage Garner takes
steps to safeguard his own
pocketbook, we will be on the
everlasting treadmill W h ere
wages constantly seek to keep
pace with prices, an impossible
task when nearly absolute
control is vested in the mon
opolists.
The entire program of con-
sumer cooperatiVes is so fas-
cinating, so promising, that il
is a wonder more of us do not
take up this d m o cratic
method of improving living
standards and preventing de-
pressions. 1t is ours for the
time and energy involved, 1t
is at least as important as the
wage program, Let's get into
it.
Until wages, prices and
profits are considered as a
whole, we shall continue to
founder in hopeless confusion.
The initiative must be taken,
not only by a selected few,
but by all of us.
First the editor of the New
York Daily Workers and now
the editor of the London DailV