Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 46, Number 1, Decatur, Adams County, 2 January 1948 — Page 2

PAGE TWO

SHOULD WAGES GO UPAND DOWN—WITH PROFITS? I Has this been tried? Did it work? a.* 1 I Would it be fair to you —if it could work? I <<> <s> I .. vitiX 7a g cfet/Pf'ajsSF •®r lSmsl®'’ i? ' Xp>v 1 The idea that wages in a given company should go up-and the company’s profits has been re-born many times. It has had to be dis- ** carded just as often. With each rebirth it gets a new name in the hope that By the spring of 1947 the machinery for suddenly creating a "national In both cases the 60 million people in the nation’s work force got extra its previous failure will be forgotten. pattern" was so well oiled that action by just three or four companies in dollars for the same old production. But when they went to buy each As recently as the winter of 1945-46 this old theory was brought out one industry, under attack for their seemingly large profits, was sufficient other’s production for use by themselves, they found they had to pay with another brand new and attractive name—"ability to pay.” Henry to set off a round of similar increases all over the country. As a result, those same extra dollars. Too often they had to pay even more than Wallace, who was then running the Department of Commerce, backed his employers in every community were again forced to give practically the ‘heir extra dollars, because all the arguments about these increases and economists an other experts in their claim that some companies could same wage i ocreaseSj no matter whether they were operating at a profit tlie accompanying work stoppages cut production and raised costs further. • o^ eS, j Stl ™ e a P r ° 1 the next year without raising or at a loss. It was demonstrated all over again that a raise in the wage level Also, too many workers were fooled into thinking they now had bigger Board in an Mtimat^T^Rl’ °? n FdCt R ° most aQy sever£d leading companies could widely influence basic real incomes and could stay away from work and be less careful about ( biggest year’s profits. States. A wage raise by any leading company inevitably sets a new value And what happened this time? locally on the skill, care, and effort for each particular job there. " Icn?e| fBJIIC 'T.— MfZaLl I" I itFfOßli \ W ~si rfj F< LTjri -Tl /s\ jß FhanTTril iH I (“HI m —**-J—ILI UH 11 11 (MiIIIIII I 1 I Personal performance should set pay Sober judgment bowed to pressure —and Two companies in the same community may not have the same ability to a "national pattern" was born " “T ,hese . hi ? he ‘ ’ ros “- «* maki "« « The K ” »vrn other may be just keeping its head above water. But to hold its employees, The steel maker and the automobile maker had to meet this 18i/ 2 c wage Hiah orfces Washed nut the tT CO “ pany must meet rate set by the other company, demand because of the public pressure which followed such high blessing 9 P Wa *ne<* OU* the I The same situation might arise in a large company between its own from Washington. They reluctantly gave in after strikes despite their Wage "gains' P antS m cities, or between its two plants in the same town, or expressed conviction that prices would certainly have to go up-which b«ween two different departments in the same plant. One plant or departthey rapidly did. , J be cases of both the 1946 and 1947 flat wage increases, the immediate meat might be selling its product at a profit due to efficiency or due even* The action of these two single companies actually resulted in set- result of evef ybody having more pay was more inflation-more take-home tO f ° fCeS be yond its control. The other plant or department might be ting a new national pattern of wage increases-a new level of wages for money but no more take-home from the grocery. The pleasant illusion of operating at a loss due to poor efficiency or to bad luck. Quite obviously, the entire country. Why? Because employees and labor leaders quite big pay in dollars was short-lived, as rising prices soon cancelled out at * ach locati on should be paid what is right in the circumnaturally demanded immediately, and soon |bt, similar increases from almost completely what had been misrepresented to the worker as his f they accom P !lsh wit hin the area under their control. They companies in hundreds of cities and towns all over the United States. ’’gain” in pay. As is usual when everybody gets a pay increase at once - nOt rewarded P enall2 ed for conditions beyond their control. After the first important company in a community gave a raise, then with no more production - then everybody has to hand over the bigger ‘ f neighbors to get diff erent pay in the all the other employers there also had to do practically the same-regard- income for the same old production The t er nf T” 6 S3me W ° fk Undef the Same conditions “ just because less of whether they were making a profit or operating at a loss. simply be« cheZed > 8 management where one worked was able or lucky enough to make a g°o d profit while the other management was barely breaking even, • I effort b"’" 1 ‘° a ” y f 7°®” ’ <randCT h ” <Uin ß of ,hese eibie for things under his eontroi, Jhe wants Tbe pL wZ7e’ ' manaßemen ‘ “ C<>nil>ared *“* a “°‘ her - accomplishes m this area under his control. He does not think it desirable or fair for him to be subjected to the uneerjudgrnemTt'o'wW pXduct Tmlt Xl’erisk” hLk of rZaXh" or e OOr bey<>nd T area ( Under COn,Pr ° L Work " the P . aiß b a dluc k .ntbepartofmana g eme nt .U k GENERAL ® ELECTRIC — —• X

THE DECATUR .DAILY DEMOCRAT, DECATUR, INDIANA

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 1948