The Syracuse Journal, Volume 29, Number 9, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 25 June 1936 — Page 4

THURSDAY, JUNE 25,1936

Broad Economic Progress— The Way It Can Be Achieved

By HAROLD G. MOULTON fV««tdent, Tht Brooking* Institution, Washington, D. C.

JUTUCH carrent diacassion of economic problems is focused too intently on the depression to shed real light on our fundamental difficulties. Today's troubles obscure our flew of what happened yesterday and what is likely to happen tomorrow. Actually our economic structure was being undermined by grave maladjustment^Tong before the depression; in our "prosperity" years, millions of American families were poor. Farmers and people in the small towns scarcely need to be told this. In 1929 and before, agriculture was not prosperous. Farmers had to pay high prices for the things they bought, but got little for what they sold. They were in a depression even then—caught between what looked like irresistible forces and an immovable body. There are about 54 million farmers and people living in the small towns. In addition, professional men. domestic workers, small shopkeepers and others

PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY AND ACTUAL PRODUCTION. 1922-33

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Thia chart Illustrate* the extent to which we have failed to utilize our full productive capacity. The black area repre»ent* what we produced: the ahaded area, the additional amount that could have been turned out. Over mo.t of thi* period. ’th.t whole, could have produced about 20 per cent more than it did, but after 1929 thi* percentage of non-utilization became much larger. Productive capacity also ce**ed to expand at ita former rate, constituting one of the greateit cost* of th* depression. Much of thi* failure to utilize our entire productive capacity is due to monopolistic force* which have held up price, artificially. Reduction of prices under the force of trod competition, so that people can buy more. i* the way to production of mork good* and higher standard* of living for alt.

living In the cities were similarly affected. inasmuch as they could not utilise organised pressure to force upward the return on their services. These with their dependents total about 20 million. While their standards of living perhaps were not actually lowered, most of them realised little gain from the great advance in productive efficiency made in that period. The diminution in purchasing power of these groups, or its failure to rise. In turn, reacted on others. Business men sold- less goods, and workers everywhere found it harder to get jobs. The forces that were retarding the farmer's prosperity were by no means helping the man in the city. Progress—But Not Enough It is true that our economic system has brought us living standards higher than those existing anywhere else in the world. Between 1900 and 1930, as an example, per capita income, in terms of what it would buy. increased about 38 per cent, at the same time, working hours were reduced about 13 per cent. But the fact of idle plant capacity indicated that we could have produced more goods and thus raised living standards. Studies we have made at the Brookings Institution, aided by a grant from the Falk Foundation, of Pittsburgh, throw significant light on thia We made a detailed survey of productive capacity in manufacturing, mining, farming and all the other major divisions of industry, resulting in the findinc that our productive plant could have turned out about 20 per cent more than It did. If nobody had wanted to buy anything, the idle plant would have been easily explained. But. millions of families were not getting nearly enough income to satisfy their wants. Nearly 6 million farm and city families received incomes of less than 11.000; 16 millions received lees than 1,000; and 19 millions, or 71 per cent of the total, less than >2.500. More than 54 per cent of farm families got lees than >I,OOO. Os course, in considering farm income the lower living coats of rural areas should be kept in mind But. no matter where they lived, families trying to pay for food, clothing. medical service, education, etc., on >I,OOO were not prosperous. The extent of unfilled wants may be judged by the tact that nearly all fam- . ily income in the >2,000 class or lower is spent for ordinary consumption goods—food, shelter, clothes, education. etc. Fifteen million families got less than this figure. Purchasing Power Must Expand Our productive efficiency is increasing year by year in normal times That is. we are learning how to make things more cheaply. But if the people are to buy the added products thus made possible. their purchasing power must grow with production. Expanding purchasing power cannot be created simply by printing more money. That would just raise prices. And wo cannot accomplish much by •Sharing wealth or income.** Such a program would entail taking income from skilled workers, many farmers, ■mall shopkeepers, government clerks, TIPS Too many friends in need may keep a generous man broke. Amateur artists are not dangerous even if their designs are bad — Ever notice how polite the average man Is when be has something to well 1 ■ It some people have any common I non they evidently think It is too common to use. •What should a woman do when her hair begins to turn gray!" asks a writer. Keep it dark —Answers Magazine.

etc. It would not merely “soak the rich." Purchasing power can be increased only as we learn how to produce goods and services more efficiently and pass the benefits of that efficiency on to the masses. If we devise away to make two articles where we formerly made one, and we pass on this gain to the people, purchasing power is actually created—the extra article can be sold. Higher Wages and the Farmer Organized labor tor many years has tried to obtain the benefits of increased efficiency by pressure for higher wages. When Improvements in production methods in a given plant made It possible to turn out two articles at what one had previously cost, organized labor sought to direct the savings into higher wages. This gave certain groups of workers more purchasing power, but the effect on farmers has not been favorable. It has forced them to pay higher prices

for manufactured goods or has prevented them from obtaining lower ones. The same was true in large degree of the city dwellers mentioned above who do not work for wages, numbering 20 million. An economic disparity was created between two great segments of our population,.raising a serious barrier to economic progress. But if we permit the frutts of man’s inventive genius and technological advance to reach the people in the form of price reductions, no such barriers are raised. AU classes benefit alike to the extent that they are consumers; the chief gain is in the low income groups where It is most needed. To the farmer, it means better houses, tools, food, clothes, and in general a steady rise in his standards of living that be can get no other way. Price reductions, of course, must not come from wage cuts, if they are to increase purchasing power. But we must reduce prices as we learn to make things more cheaply. This Is the way we can expand consumption solidly, year after year, which in turn will call forth larger production. It is the way forward envisaged in the theory of our pyofit and loss system. Increased efficiency makes price reductions possible; competition insures that they actually take place. Price Stabilixation Tendencies Whereas the period of great technological advance between 1870 and 1890 brought notable price reductions, contributing much to raising living standards. there was little reduction of prices in the similar period of 1922-29. Productive efficiency in manufacturing in the latter era as measured by output per worker, increased about 25 per cent. But forces of price maintenance had become so strong that retail prices in the aggregate remained practically stationary. Os course, there was competition tn many lines, and prices declined accordingly. But this was not true of all producers. Artificial devices to maintain prices dammed up the stream of progress. Producers neglected to face the fact that in the long run they could prosper only as the masses could buy an expanding volume of their goods. This tact must be faced. We must remove the obstacles to price reductions which now exist, wherever they are. It is the only way that people who live in small towns or on farms, or otherwise do not work for wages, can fully participate in our economic progress. And, unless these do; participate, we can have no broad, continued prog ress. The failure of Industrial prices to decline la primarily responsible for the movement tn recent years to attempt an Improvement in the farm situation by artificial methods of restricting production. with a view to restoring “price parity" with industry. However helpful such policies may be temporarily, agriculture and industry combined obviously cannot expect to Increase the total production of goods and services for the American people as a whole by restricting output and raising prices. National cooperation in the expansion of output, giving to all the people the largest possible consumption, is the paramount necessity. SUPERSTITIOUS DO NTS Don't walk under a falling safe. It’s not “safe." Don't walk under a ladder if there is a man paintfog on top of it Don’t put your shirt on upside down. Few people can button a collar around | their waists. I *""* If a man owes you >l3 and wants to pay It back, don’t take it He might need it worse than you. If you break a mirror, don’t throw the pieces over your left shoulder. Xou might hit your husband.—Florida Tiroes Un'on.

IF AND WHEN Pity is akin to affection when it is the pity of one man for another. However the younger generation turns out, we are sure it will be Interesting. If one attends to his own business, he still has time to scold about the things that it is not his business to attend to. I SCIENCE NIBBLES Postal authorities in Germany are planning a television-telephone system between the larger cities. Experiments at the University of Minnesota point to cast iron as a cheap and practical paving material. A French engineer claims to have discovered a method of extracting a cheap substitute for gasoline from sea water. A series of tests at Yale university have revealed that apes react to sight and sound as quickly as human children. A German scientist has incorporated the light beam and the photo-electric cell and perfected a device for measuring the density of fog. An electrical device which travels at the rate of six miles per hour and marks all defective rails is now in use on several railroads. Russia is meeting with considerable success In efforts to utilize the sun’s rays for power and heat. Lenses and blackened boilers are used. Pottery fragments found in a one thousand-year-old refuse heap un earthed in Peiping give a clear picture of the progress of Chinese potterymaking down through the years.—Part; tinder Magazine. TAILSPINS There Is one blessing about scenery —one never grows too old to enjoy It To dress quietly and elegantly costs as much as to dress showily yet elegantly. — You have to like a man to listen bfr terestedly to the reminiscences of/nis youth. - After sixty a man usually needs a daytime nap of an hour or two insteadof exercise. A man who believes all he reads Is nearly as helpless as one who cannot read at all. We can all Justifiably call each other boobs, because at times that's what we may be. A man who is old and bald and homely may be the most popular member of his circle. Ancient Greeks had humor. Diogenes’ search with a lantern for an honest man was a good joke. v Attending Jo your own business Is exalted by all commentators; but one must attend to the country’s business part of the time.

YOUR LAKE FORD DEALER OFFERS SPEEDY SERVICE IN SALES, REPAIR AND DELIVERY, AND ASSURES SATISFACTION We Hate Sold Fords For 16 Years M. D. Chatten Motor Sales Milford, Indiana Phone 10

SEAL ED-IN MECHANISM PROTECTED UNTIL 1941 11| AGAINST SERVICE EXPE NS E • Fear of Costly Service Calls Banished by Westinghouse I 5-Year Protection! Year* of Carefree, Economical Refrigera- I Hon Aaeared. Sea Westinghouse Golden Jubilee Model* Today! In addition to mechanica/ ‘'Eject-v Cube" Trays, Moon- 1 superiority, Westinghouse stone Ware Accessories, Built- |K~ ~~~ sss*' wH offers you greater beauty, in Crisping Pan, and many convenience and capacity other features. Let us prove it for food and ice. See for your- will cost you lees to own the •elf. Sec the Adjusto-shelf, new best. No obligation. Come In! 4 ■ ’FIVE VERIS' PROTECTION ■ | With every Westinghouse you get the standard 1-year wairanty, plus four additional years’ protection HF \ I against service expense resulting from ■A any passible failure of the Westinghouse . ■ Qv, Hermetically-sealed Mechanism. The | ■ cost of this protection — only $5 —is I included in the original purchase price, Westinghouse I J BEFBISEBATORS EbMMHMMKB Syracuse Electric Co. PHONE 14 R- C. HOWARD

SYRACUSE JOURNAL

Ice Skating in Texas in June

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BELIEVE 11 OR NO'l — but there’s ice skating in Texas this summer; and here’s the proof of it It’s on the ice floor nf the Black Forest, many-featured Midway attraction of the $25,000,000 Texas Centennial Exposition which opened in Dal'as June 6.

Taxpayer’s Cash Goes to Dogs in Memphis Washington.—“ Homeless Hector” has found a home —thanks to the New Deal, whose PWA built It with $25,000 of the taxpayers’ money in Memphis, Tenn. The dog shelter, object of ndtlon-whle censure as the all-time high in Roosevelt boondoggling, occupies a conspicuous place in “The Roosevelt Record,” tabloid publication of the Democratic national committee’, glorifying the New Deal. The pound, with its Impressive entrance and columned portico, and looking not unlike the press wing of the White House, Is a haven of food and Indolent luxury for the Memphis mongrels. Its construction is defended by “The Roosevelt Record” on the grounds that the dogs of the southern city are poor dogs, not like “the dogs of the rich—thoroughbreds, well-petted, wellfed, clean, gentle, playful, affectionate, housebroken.” The flea bitten, lop eared mutts, it is said, heartily approve this new redistribution of dogdom wealth, as they 101 l under coot shower baths, administered by attendants. Name “Protect*" Baby The Swedish noble house of Oxenstlerna believed the name Gabriel to have saved their line from extinction, all the sons having died in the cradle, owing, it was thought, to Satan's stranding them, tin at length one was given the name of Gabriel, and thus obtained the protection of that guardian angel.

men tSuJie P HEEP JUST L « 9 SPEEPfWNI i jJAiNSrmj SHE LOST 20 POUNDSJF FAT Feel full of pep and possess the slender form you crave—you cant if you listen to gossipera. To-take off excess fat go light on fatty meats, butter, cream and sugary sweets — eat more fruit and vegetables and take a half teaspoonful of Kruschen Salts in a glass of hot water every morning to eliminate excess waste. Mrs. Elma Verille of Havre de Grace, Md., writes: "I took off 20 lbs. —my clothes fit me fine now.” No drastic cathartics—no constipation—but blissful daily bowel action when you take your little daily dose of Kruschen.

IN A HUDDLE Everything Is taxed, Including the taxpayers* patience. We ought always to think of others* welfare—and occasionally we do. All fool styles quickly pass away, and other fool styles succeed them. It is the first smaller crime that Is the beginner’s step into the quicksand. A squanderer wastes his money; a spendthrift wastes bls money and also his credit. Some nations are like that. Putting tablets on splendid trees is the greatest object lesson to the treeslaughterer. He can understand that. The best winter breakfast room is in the kitchen not more than three steps from the griddle on the cookstove. Suited to White* South Africa is suited to the life of white men more than Canada or Australia.

Mayme Wogoman Studio Presents For the First Time In. This Vicinity | ELLIDA SUTTON | Chicago Artist of PORTRAITS IN CHARCOAL INK AND COLOR | LANDSCAPES I | YOU ARE INVITED TO WATCH MISS SUTTON SKETCH j Her first appearance will be Saturday afternoon. I Phone 117

Wegmiller’s 5c to SI.OO Store We are closing out our complete stock of DRESSES —at—--79c each Regularly Priced SI.OO to $1.98 This is the biggest bargain we have ever offered

Now is the opportune time to upholster and refinish your Reed Furniture, at a low cost. Bring cheer and sunshine into your homes with bright, clean and rejuvenated household conveniences. FOR INFORMATION Phone 4 Syracuse, Indiana

SOLT’S Grocery and Market THE UP-TO-THE-DATE STORE SOUTH SIDE OF LAKE ADJOINING LOUIE’S GRILL The Popular Place to Eat Your Favorite Beer on Tap and in Bottles

Egypt Barred Transient* Ancient Rome knew the “modern" problem of indigent wanderers, and a proclamation by Emperor Caracalla, 215 A. D., ordered Egyptians of this type driven out of Alexandria, because they disturbed the city. Colorado** Mountain Peaks Colorado has 1,051 mountain peaks 10,000 or more feet high, 624 peaks 12,000 feet or mote, and 49 that are 14,000 or higher. Help Kidneys Don’t Take Drastic Druce Your Kidneys contain 9 million tiny tubes or filters which may be endangered by neglect or drastic, irritating drugs. Bo careful. If functional Kidney or Bladder disorders make you suffer from Getting up Nights, Nervousness, Loss of Pop. Leg Patna Rheumatic Pains, Dizxlness, Circles Under Eyes. Neuralgia. Acidity. Burning, Smarting or Itching, you don't need to take chances. All druggists now , .have the most modern advanced treatment for these trouble*—a Doctor's prescription called Cystex (Slss-Tex). Works fast—safe and sure. In 48 hours It must bring new vitality and is guaranteed to make you feel 10 years younger in one week or money back on return of empty package. Cystex costs only 3c a dose at druggists and the guarantee protects yon.