COST OF LIVING

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 88, 11 October 1919, Page 10

COST OF LIVING

- POSITION IN AMERICA "ALL OF US TO BLAME." J. President Wilson, before he was taken "ill,"was giving "deep and very thoughtful consideration" to the high cost of living, according to an announcement made at ; the. White .House, and ' all branches'o'l the Government that might aid in solving the' problem were at work. The, President was understood to have •beßn by the statement -presented "to- him by Warren &. Stone, chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, describing the unrest over the country because of the decreased purchasing power of 'the dollar In this connection, it became known that the Brotherhood of Bailway Trainmen had „ presented . to the Railroad ■' Administration - a statement similar-to that of'the engineer*, setting "forth," that the trainmen must\.have increased' wages,, unless -immediate steps were taken' to reduce living costs. RAILWAYMEN'S DEMANDS. ; William G. Lee; .president of the •Brotherhood of-Railway Trainmen,' ari"nounce'd '■ that' ' unless tho Railroad Administration had taken action by Ist October, on the demands qf tho brotherhood that wages of tha trainmen either be-increased or the cost of living reduced, steps looking to tho enforcement of the demands would be taken. Mr. Lee said a resolution containing this declaration, whiph had been adopted by thi special committee of sixteen appointed at the recent convention.'of the'trainmen-at Oqlumbus, 0,, would' be" "sent to "-the " "Railroad Administration. The resolution, pro*" vided that in the absence of action by Ist," October'the.' committee would reconvene to consicter "the necessity for using the protective features of the brotherhood." Mr. Lee made public an abstract of the re.porfc of hearings recently held ,by the r board of railroad wages on the trainmen's demands, at which, he declared, an "upheaval" was. nearer in this ", country; +q-day than eyer before, due to the linrsst' arising from mounting living cosfs. Tho railroad and GqverjjmemV departments had better be assisting ''"to crush profiteering " by the "packeis and other industries," he said, than "shouting acioss the table at each other "- at hearings- to ■ consider stall further iflcreas.es. .". , )'. " I. ;\r PLAYINQ 'POLITICS, "All of us are to blame," he said, " because we sre exerting every effort to get more -money for ourselves and better conditions. Every. day we must realise that the. profiteers, are taking dpuble from the working men that is given them ; and the trouble with the people on^Jthe hill, (Capitol), with iis and with every corporation and" with everybody, is that we are exerting ourselves to get tho dollar, while the working man is merely existing and while the profiteer is piling up millions. "I will admit to you gentlemen that we are going the wrong way.' I admit to you that it is time, to call a halt, and I admit to you [that' until we get together, until we commence together to stop this, there will; be hel) in this country—arid it is neSreiv to-day than T ever" knew it in my'years'of experience. Just let somebody drop a match in this country of ours and it will be a sorry day for all of us. " Unless' my vision is most terribly obscured, then there is. something coming to us pretty soon in this country that we had better take notice of. We. had .spmething Pf'peace in this, country prior to the • war conditions. We 'were getting along fairly >.*all until profiteering became so noticeable everywhere and "until the commodities that working people are compelled to pay for were permitted to be increased, doubled and trebled, without any'question and often seemingly with the approval of tho Government. "We are nearer war, in this world to-day, I believe, than when the Kaiser threw down the gauntlet, Our_ lawmakers' aro' to -blame,- in my opinion, because the masses of the people v.ould.. be^ behind, them if they^ would attempt to correct it, and eurely there ••is-power- to- correct ..it; but, instead, they aro playing politics, as some of these labour organisations are playing politics, and it. is tho samo all down tho line."