LEARN FROM U.S.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 49, 28 February 1927, Page 4

LEARN FROM U.S.A.

ELIMINATION OF WASTE. HIGH WAGES AND LOW PRICES. SOME STRIKING FACTS. The combination of high wages and low prices has been looked upon as an economic law that could not be' avoided, but according to figures obtained from the Department of Labour in U.S.A., this view Trill need to be revised. The following table sets out a record which is claimed largely as a result of American specialisation in the elimination of waste:— MOVEMENT OP WAGES AND PRICES, 1020-1824. (1013 Equals 100.) Tear. Wage Rates. Prices.* ' 1920 199 226 1021 205 147' • 1922 193 149 1023 211 154 1024 22S 150 •Average wholesale prices of all commodities. _ Mr. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of the .department of Commerce for U.S.A., who has been the most prominent personage in the elimination of waste movement, comments on this table thus:— "While wages are higher than in 1920, wholesale prices are lower. We have thus the highest real wage in our history and we have had three years of remarkable price stability, which has reduced speculation in commodities to a minimum. We can hold that stability if we avoid speculation. A comparison with similar British indexes gives striking evidence that these results are peculiar to the United States." INDEX NUMBERS OP WAGES AND PRICES, GREAT BRITAIN, 1920-1024. (1913 Equals 100.) Year. Wage-Rates. Prices.* "20 230 283 1921 260 181 2 200 159 "23 170 162 . 1824 170 174 'Average wholesale prices of all commouities.