The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY. MARCH 6. 1920. WAGES AND SUSTENANCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12017, 6 March 1920, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY. MARCH 6. 1920. WAGES AND SUSTENANCE.

THE Typographical Society is composed of men whose occupation compels them to have at least superficial acquaintance with the politics and problems of the day, and it also necessitates possession of something more than the average amount of intelligence. Wo might therefore reasonably expect that the followers of “the art preservative of all the arts’’ would give a fair amount of attention to economic subjects. Like all others they have become perplexed by the fact that though wages are nominally raised, the cost of living increases’ in greater ratio, and year by year the sovereigns they earn purchase less and less. That this fact has puzzled them,was shown by the remarks of the President of the Association in opening the recent conference, when he said;—“What is the remedy for a rise in the cost of living more rapid than the rise in wages?” “At the risk of uttering a thread-worn platitude, I say the eternal chasing of upward prices by increases in wages does not solve the problem, because wages are always a length or two behind in the race. The true remedy I would suggest io you is the fact that capital will have to be content with a less rate per cent, than it has hitherto demanded and got, and the bringing about of this can only be done by legislative action. Alternatively—-and better in my opinion—the ideal to strive for will be production for use and not for profit. ” It is indeed likely to prove an “eternal chase” unless some other effect results from increases of wages, but we doubt whether improvement can be brought about by legislative action, nor do wo consider that the ideal should be that stated by the President. Hia remarks are of value, however, as indicating that the members of the Association are beginning to give earnest thought to a moat important subject. It seems to us that one of the chief reasons why increased wages cause th® rise in the cost of living to be more rapid is nooause tiie results of work do not increase correspondingly, and because the

hours of labour being usually made shorter the output is also thereby lessened. The wages fund can only be created by the results of labour, and the cost of living bears an exact relation to it. When an increase of wages in any industryis accompanied by shorter hours* a go-slow method, or a policy of “making the work go round,” of course the whole com-' munity has to bear the increased cost. Considering the intelligence of the great majority of the typographers, and the fact that by no possibility can the protective or rather restrictive system of Customs duties be applied to benefit their dustry, it has frequently surprised us that they have not demanded its abolition. Strange to say, in some instances they have oven shown sympathy with those who are plundering them. It ought to be clear to them that if a large proportion of their wages is taken to pay the artificially increased prices of supplies they require they cannot possibly get full valne in exchange for the money they earn. When they begin to study this question they may detect a very potent cause of the increase in the cost of living.