TRADE DEPRESSION

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 62, 14 March 1921, Page 2

TRADE DEPRESSION

MILLS AND MINES CLOSING

REDUCTION OF WAGES

BIRMINGHAM WAREHOUSES

CRAMMED,

(PROM OUR OWN CORMIPOKDBNI.)

LONDON, 20th January.

Birmingham is hard hit by the present conditions in oversea market*. This city lives largely on her export trade. She exports, for instance, in normal times ss vast amount of jewellery of a kind for which there is no great sale in this country. She traded -largely with Australia, South America, and the Continent of Europe. Australian banks in London are unable to discount bills or give credit, and Birmingham's trade with Australia has ceased for the time. The South American market is depressed in sympathy with world conditions, and again she suffers. The state of the European customs is still more serious. Birmingham did a mighty trade with Russia, which has wholly disappeared, and her exports to most other oountries of Europe are also deeply affected by the state o"? the exchanges. The local warehouses are crammed from floor to ceiling with articles intended mainly for export. And this particular "slump differs from previous ones, in that all the various induf tries are simultaneously in low water. In former periods of adversity some in dustries were depressed, while other* prospered. According to latest officia. figures, there are 34,000 actually unem ployed persons, of whom 10,000 are exService men, but on the top of these are 12,000 on short time. THOUSANDS IDLE IN WALES. Trade depression continues to sweU the ranks of the unemployed in South Wales. Messrs. Guest, Keen, and .Nettlefoli hav<i given one month's notice to all their workmen at the Dowlai* Steelworks, about 3000 men being affect"cd. More collieries have become idle in, the Swansea district, and many thou" sands of miners are now unemployed in South Wales. Copper workers in Swan eea, Llanellv, and Port Talbot have »c cepted a reduction of 5 per cent in wages to avert n stoppage of the works. Ova*--1000 Glamorganshire miners, at Gwaun-'Cae'-Grurwen, who were on strike without notice, on wishing to resume work have been told that the owners cannot restart the pits at present because they have lost valuable foreign contracts At several North -East Coaet collieries miners have received notices owing to slackness of trad?. Hundreds of shipbuilding workers are also being paid off LONDON'S UNEMPLOYED. The latest returns of ■unemployment for the County of London show that 83,768^men are out of work, 31,096 women, 7127 boys, and 6632 girls, making a total of 128.823. A great increase is shown on the figures of the previous week., when a total of 99,271 were unemployed REDUCED WAGES ACCEPTED. In a fe-v industries the workers have recently accepted reduction* in wages in order to enable price- to be brought down to a level at which business could be done. In certain other oases they have foregone increases to which they were entitled under agreements. The hematite iron ore miners in the Furness district have adopted the second method of assisting their industry, and have agreed to continue working for rates of wages based on current selling prices, instead of on the higher prices that ruled last November and December. There is a hope that this decision will enable some miaes that have closed to be reopened. There has, as yet, been no instance of the adoption of either of these courses in any* of the large industries, but important conversations are about to take place between the iron and eteel trade employers and the workmen. J.4AILWAYMEN AND THE SLIDING SCALE. A real test of the loyalty of railwaymen to their union's wages agreement with tjie Government is at hand It is provided in the agreement that wages shall rise ot fall in sympathy with move inents in the cost of living. The concordat was adopted after prolonged discussion in. January of last yeay. There was a bitter fight over the sliding-scale, and the scheme was only carried bj a | majority of one. The scale so far has operated all,in favour of the men. They j have received a shilling per week addi tion to their pay for each rise of 5 per cent in thn cost of living. Now the cost-of-living curve is downward. The Ministry of Labour figures show that the decline is 10 per cent. The railwaymen, therefore, are liable shortly to receive two shillings a week less. IRONWOBKERS' £16 A WEEK. An illuminating passage at a meeting in Sheffield of member* of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation gives some indication of the wages which manufacturers have to pay to-day Some exception was taken to the salary of Mr. John Hodge, M.P., the secretary, which is nominally £1000, but fluctuates in sympathy with the wages pf the members of the union according to the sliding scale, and ia now apparently £2880. Mr. Hodge, in Teply to the critics, said, that when his income was raised to JSIS a week, ? good many of the men in the works were making £16 a week. 'It ought not (he added) to be less than that of any man in the trade. You have men in the iron and steel trade earning more money than I am." , WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES. With over 2,000,000 men out of work, or temporarily paid off, American industry is restarting work this, week on a reduced wage scale. The most notable reduction* arc thoto effected on the textile industries, where wages have been cut 22i per cent. On the whole, the men are accepting" work under the new conditions with good grace, recognising that these condition* are (he only alternative to thf closing down of the mills; but in places there are vociferous protests. In the trades where wage cuts are most pronounced the public is already beginning to benefit by th«> consequent reduction in price*, and it L» now I possible to buy two suits of clothe*, two pairs of boots, or three shirts for the prire demanded last year for oiu> The loaf oi bread, which at one time last, year sold for 6d, has now come down to 3d. | But in such matters as fuel, light, and rent the public is still paying exorbitant and excessive prices. During the last six weeks, in the effort to overcomn the public aversion from buying, wholesalers have been sending their agent, with motor-cars into the more crowded streets of New York and other towns, where they Have hawked their goods after the manner of Cheap Jacks at. country fairs in England. In many case*, notably in j Massachusetts, millhands have converted themselves into salesmen, taking up their own products, at cost price and hawking them over the countryside. Nearly everywhere employers, in "spite of the clamour of extremist elements, are praising the spirit of co-operation which the pressure of haxd times has produced; this spirit, they say, points the -way to better time*.

SIR G. PAISH'S GLOOMY Vm\i. A serious view of the present industrial depression was taken by Sir George Paish in his lecture on "World Finance" before a meeting organised by the Industrial League and Council. He described the world's financial situation as extremely seriouß In all countries, of production, wherever situated, produce and goodg had accumulated, and were continuing to accumulate, notwithstanding the urgent need for them in other' coiiotries. The fall in prices, especially of raw products, was so great that, instead •of profits, there were heavy" losses. In many cases prices had fallen far below the actual co«t of production. The extent and duration of the trade depression could not be gauged until everyone realised that the existing grave situation demanded the active co-operation in the work of reconstruction on the part of all nations and all classes. Until the necessary security could be given to investors, inducing them to make advance* for the reconstruction of Europe, in anticipatioD of the receipt of reparation payments from Germany, the cmlit sys; tern was likely to become woi-se, ar;' stocks of goods were likely to accumulate in all .countries rather than diminish, while unemployment would probably.become stiU greater. The answer to the question of how long the trade depression would last, and how deep it wrfuld go, depended upon how soor the nations would be prepared to pledge their joint credit through the League of Nation* for the reconstructions of Europe. COURAGE NEEDEI). " Sir Peter Rylands (President of the Faderation of British Industries),- speaking on "Foreign Exchanges," declared that having regard to the fact that this country had been pursuing a policy of deflation, rather than inflation, he might cay with confidence that for the past twelve month* Great Britain had not been consuming more than she produced, and consequently for some time past there had been a fairly steady parity of the exchange with the United States. They might, look forward in the future with some confidence that th« exchange would not move against this country to a greater extent than it had done up to the present. At all events, they need not view with apprehension any further decline in the value of the pound sterling in relation-to the dollar. He believed that if the exchanges were stabilised thsy would become comparatively stationary. If anyone thought the German mark would bi> worth a shilling again he would be grievously disappointed. They might be satisfied that when the Germans, could pay their way. whatever the mark value was, they would stabilise that figure. The next three months would be critical in industry, and courage would be reeded to face them. Wages paid in Belgium and in Germany measured in English money were less than half those paid in thig country/ and. yet the standard of living enjoyed by. the men was not •übstantially different. Before the war wages in Germany were substantially the same as in Great Britain. In Belgium they were slightly leas, and even then we competed with difficulty in many of our important industries with Germany and Beipiura. To-day they were offering commodities in which they competed with us at about half the cost to British manufacturer. EVILS OF DOLES AND SUBSIDIES. In recognition of his services to the cause 6f economy, Mr. George Lambert, .M.P., was entertained to luncheon yesterday, when he declared the financial situation had been entirely misjudged. "We have," he said, "been living in an orgy of artificial., prosperity, brought about by spending borrowed money. We have got to shatter that pleasing and procrastinating complacency. I have great faith in the country, and I believe that Englishmen, \i they are told thw truth, will face the difficulty. But we want to tell them the truth. The truth is that all this system of doles and subsidies' really injure* rather than cure* ' Seventeen months after the armistice, Mr. Chamberlain put on 20C millions of extra taxation. It was monstrous. Thi* savage taxation was hindering the development of tfie country. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was actually destroying the very revenue on which he relied for his Budget. If there wore no capital there could be no development of industry, and if there were no development there would be no employment. If the consumer had to pay more in taxa tion, there .was less to be spent in tie ordinary affairs of life, and, personally, he, preferred to spend his own money rather than that Mr. Austen Chamberlain should spend it for him. All the wild, windy rhetoric in the world would not alter the fact that we must import food or starve, and that we could only get that food by sending Jo the foreign farmers something h* wanted—and h« did not want "Fishera" or "Bradburys." SUGGESTION TO BOYCOT IMPORTS. A piotMfc was made yesterday. at th« general meeting of the Machine Tool Trades Association in London against dealing in German machine tools. Sir Alfred Herbert, who presided, moved: "That no member of the association shall be permitted to deal in German machine tools." The resolution was negatived by a large majority. Even if carried, said Sir Alfred, they could not prevent German machine tools coming into this coantry. With the exchange in its present condition, it was impossible for British manufacturers to compete with German machine tools. ■-. • Remarking that a similar embargo should be placed on American tools, Mr. J. H. Barker added : "The Bodies cannot supply: all we need, but they can give us sufficient to put the fear of God into the Trade Unio- leaders, and the working man who, gives us two-thirdg of what he ought to give us."