Montana labor news., 1948-01-01

IT'S A LIE

By MARTY SOLOW
The Scripps-Howard papers don't
like it.
TT being labor's current drive for
substantial wage increases to cope
with the high cost of living.
In an editorial December 4 this
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. newspaper chain
dashed out at the CLIO for announcing
g new wage drive. Admitting that
the cost of living had gone up. the edi-
torial declared that most of the CLOS
members aren't among those who are
%unbearably burdened."
Then it added: 1.-The average week
ly factory wage. is now S50.97. In
1899 it was only $23.62. The increase
is more than 115G."
While it's true hat on the surface
wages went up that much. there's
one important qualification tn
Scripps- Howard editorial forgot to
add. To show how impartial we are,
we'll let the Guaranty Trust chats
a banking outfit, butt Survey on
Prices & Wage Trends for November
provide that qualification.
Says the bankers survey: During
the entire period from 1889 to Sep
TENDER of this year, money wages
more than doubled: but four-fifths Of
the increase was offset by the rise
in the cost of living, leaving an ad-
vance of POO in real wages or pur-
chasing. power
Translated for the benefit Of
Scripps-Howard editors, that means
the average American worker Is earn
ing only s4.72 more today than he
did in 1899.
This past month, American news.
papers readers we're afflicted with
g flood of h~alf-page and full-page ads
explaining and offering a cure for in
flation.
The ads, placed by the National
Association Of Manufacturers, said
that initiation comes when the flow
OF money into the markets is far
greater than the flow Of goods into
the markets."
And so, to cure this situation, the
NAM went on to recommend in the
same ad, ian immediate and substan'
tial reduction" of income taxes =
meaning that the flow of dollars into
the markets should become even
greater.
Obvious explanation for these NAM
antics are the large-sized headaches
NAM-ites tote around every time they
think of the tidy sums Uncle Sam
lops off their king-sized salary checks
The Hearst press split a gut from
coast to coast in the past week when
news of currency changes in the
Soviet Union were announced. Shrek
ing headlines and garish picture dis
plays depicted the "worsening" lot Of
tho average Soviet citizen.
However, a more sober and honest
picture was painted by Alexander
Kendrick, Chicago Sun correspondent
in Moscow, who wrote:
THE Soviet working man or gov
eminent employee was jubilant t0da,
at the best news he has had since
We day--news Of complete Iteration
ing and drastic price reductions fol
food and all manufactured goods.
only those who have a champagne
and caviar taste are not benefited"
Maybe that's strictly the taste cult
waited by Hearst editors.
Those political commentators anC
columnists who've been sneering a.
eX-Vice Pres. Henry Wallace as a pc
litical has-been a get owe the sheer
ing and crawl back into the wOOt
work.
Wallace is so much Of a has-beer
that on December 8 Sen. ]. Howard
, McGrath, national Democratic chair
man. said in an interview that thu
Democratic party would welcome Wal
lace back. The New York Times
~headlined the story: McGRATH -.
BIDS FOR WALLACE AID. 70,
I don't handle a has-been that way.
C,1rn1uC M Reason fO1