The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-12-01

During the convention of the
American Federation Of Labor held
in st. Paul, MINI. in October, there
was a meeting Of Americas Wage
Farmers Protective Conference
which President Duffy attended
representing the National Broth
erhood of Operative Potters along
with representatives of various
other organizations affiliated with
the conference. In the business
transacted, a very important reso-
luton was adopted which we re-
produce as follows:
Whereas the national debt in the
United States is in excess of 25C
billion dollars, requiring 5 billion
dollars in payment of annual inter-
est thereon;
Whereas benefit payments and
other assistance to veterans re-
Iquire annual appropriations of ap-
proximately 5 additional billion
dollars, with little probability of
reduction i'm the near future;
grants to foreign governments for
rehabilitation and recovery call for
still another 5 or 6 billion dollars
per year, and national defense ap-
preparations demand some 15 bill
ion dollars annually; while the
costs Of the civil government, in
cluding price support of agricul-
tural products and higher pay of
public employees, consume an ad-
dtional fund of IL to Is billion
dollars;
Whereas the annual national
budget thus exceeds 40 billion dol
lars, great part of which is fixed
and recurrent in character, thus
offering scant hope Of material re-
duction;
Whereas a national income of
more than 200 billion dollars per
year is necessary to sustain bud
get of this magnitude without an
increase in federal taxation which
to sustain a budget Of this magni-
tude without an increase in federal
taxation which already absorbs ap-
proximately 20G6 of national in
come;
Whereas such a level of national
income can be sustained only by a
combination of CD high wages,
(2) high level of employment,
(3) high degree of production,
and (4) high level of prices;
Whereas the dollar shortages of
numerous foreign countries, caused
in great degree by the financing of
two world wars, has created de-
mand for much greater volume
of imports by the United States as
a means of restoring trade balances
and has led recently to a devalua-
tion of foreign currencies as a step
toward that goal;
Whereas the high plateau upon
which the economy of the United
States now rests makes it highly
vulnerable to the deflationary and
undermining effects of imports if
these can be offered in our markets
at prices below those offered by
our own producers;
Whereas the condition of short
ages which prevailed during the
postwar period in this country has
disappeared in nearly all lines of
goods and commodities, and given
way to the threat of surpluses,
thus marking the shift from sell
er's to a buyers market;
Whereas a moderate decline in
the general price level may be de
sirable but a marked decline or a
return to the pre-war price Level
would be disastrous;
Whereas the competitive effects
of imports, priced, after payment
of duty, below the level at which
our own products can profitably be
sold in our home market, are to
depress wages and curtail employ
ment in a buyers market as dis
from a sellers market;
Therefore, be it resolved that
Wage Farmers Protec-
tive Conference, a non-profit organ
ization, composed exclusively of
national and international unions
affiliated with the American Fed