LOW PRICES, HIGH WAGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 126, 29 May 1937, Page 8

LOW PRICES, HIGH WAGES.

(®v FRANK A. GARBUTT.)

Average people think high wages accompany high prices, and they are right as far as they go, but they do not go far enough. The average business man thinks increased profits go hand in hand with high prices, and he is right, too. as far as he can see. but, having limited vision, he cannot see around the corner. Jt was natural that our reformers, being verv ordinary men. made the same mistake with their doctrine of scarcity, which would l>c a fallacy in anybody's emmtrv. Tlw trouble willi this kind of profits is that they are artificial and never Fa-sting. For a man to earn high wanes continuously he must produce much. For business men to make large profits they must reduce their profits. With big profits they must, of necessity, be limited markets which are maintained only by necessity. With small profits there is a constantly expanding market that grows with desire. Seeking large profits, business overreaches itself. Smart business men get rich by reducing their profits. Lo*- prices better our scale of living and tend toward high wages. We are in a rising market, commodities are all going up, and poor people are hard put to make ends meet. We are, therefore, in an era of danger.—(N.A.N.A.)