EUROPE EXPLOITED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 132, 5 June 1926, Page 11

EUROPE EXPLOITED.

NEW YORK LEVIES TRIBUTE

While American statesmen and economists are busy about the work of hatching means for extracting the last ounce of tribute from the war-torn countries of Europe, it is significant to note that in the city of New York a three-year contract has been drawn under which 10,000 bricklayers are conceded a twodollar rise in wages, which brings the rate for this craft up to 14 dollars a day. In the presence of such wages it is not surprsiing to note that the contract also fixes the working week at five and a half days. This is the highest wage for mechanics ever conceded in the building trade of the United States. It is not recorded, however, how many bricks these workmen are supposed to lay for their 14 dollars. The peculiar implications of this contract do not lie in the demands of the men; they would be very foolish if they did not take all they could get. The big thing about such wages is that the master builder can afford to pay them and still make huge sums of money from the results of such overpaid work. It also means that the people who use and pay for the buildings are making still large sums of In order that the city of New York may do this it is absolutely necessary (comments a Canadian journal) that the city of New York shall soak the great mass of the American people for the money. But the great mass of the American people does not seem to mind being soaked for the aggrandisement of that city. It never rises up and complains against its own exploiters. But curiously enough it does take up the political cries of its statesmen and demand payment in full from impoverished European peoples whose Bufferings have made its prosperity possible. Perhaps that is natural.