Show S THE DAILY NEW YORK Financial Whirligig Written for The Telegram by JAMES rES McMULLIN NEW YORK YORK The The National Association Asso Asso- elation dation o of Manufacturers said little officially about wages at its recent New NewYork York convention Its platform recommended an end to federal in intervention intervention in- in in local labor affairs and registered emphatic disapproval of ot any wage and hour legislation legislation but but that was about all S But the pay question was one of ot the livest topics in private discus discus- The opinion was fr freely ely expressed ex cx- pressed that prevailing high wage costs are the tightest brake on the business expansion the president wants l If they want us to hire more people they'll have to let letl l us pay them less and use our own judgment as to how much that willbe will be Federal relief wa wages es came in for bitter criticism Relief Administrator tor Hopkins' Hopkins recent order reducing them to local rates for sim similar lar work was hailed as a move move in the tight right direction but not nearly drastic enough The government h has s put puta a lot of unreasonable Ideas in peoples people's peo pea pIes pIe's heads and business just cant can't stand for it it Labor should be subject subject rob rob- sub sub- to the law of supply and demand demand de de- de mand like everything else Keep your eye on this wage ques ques- tion No definite plan has yet been formulated to force pay scales back to a reasonable level but sentiment sent senti ment is strong enough to indicate that this thi argument may turn ou to be the biggest centipede in cooperation's co co- cooperation's co- co operations operation's cornflakes 9 00 Informed New Yorkers say that North American is one big utility group roup which fails to get ruffled about federal yardsticks and such Its average e sales per domestic consumer run around kilowatt hours a year The average for the rest of the industry is about This company's experience in Washing Washington Wash Wash- ing ington on and St. St Louis has proved to its satisfaction that cheap rates spur consumption It Il finds that women get accustomed to spending so much mucha a month for electricity Jf lf the bills run higher than the familiar amount they register firm displeasure But if the bills run lower they are arc likely to buy additional electrical gadgets and use current more freely Threats o of cheap federal power dont don't disturb North American because because because be be- cause its rates in populous centers already run as low as cents per kilowatt hour without taxes and 3 90 cents if it taxes are counted in The Thc government would have trouble trouble trouble trou trou- ble meeting these figures even with an investment of millions of or dollars The corporation is understood d to feel it has already set up a practical and satisfactory yardstick for the industry in in- but but has never said so publicly pub because that wouldn't be club club- by It If it remains serene while other concerns writhe under the government lash you OU can understand understand understand under under- stand why S 00 New Yorkers who have been In m touch with Railroad Coordinator Eastman say hes he's plenty bothered about trucks He feels strongly that they should be included in federal federal fed eral regulation of transportation but fears lears that federal control would be tougher to enforce than prohibition With thousands of lance free vehicles vehicles ve ye- hides at large ing would be hard to stop Hed He'd rather have no law at all aU than one that will become become become be be- come a jok joke Experts here recommend establishment of numerous local trucking authorities That way the truckers would police ponce each other This system tem tern has worked beautifully for coal o Railroad circles see a ray of hope for themselves in n J. J J. J Pelley's new Association of ot American Railways I For the first time the industry has hasan hasan hasan an organization which considers its problems from the viewpoint of the c common welfare instead of the advantage advantage ad ad- vantage or otherwise to some particular particular particular par par- road The group hasn't accomplished much yet et but this hasn't dimmed its pep and ambition Policy's Pelley's pol pol- I icy is to tackle the toughest problems problems S lems first first on on the theory that if it these can be solved the rest will b be easy S The problems rated toughest may surprise you In passenger traffic its it's the thc Pennsylvania Baltimore Ohio competition between New NewYork NewYork NewYork York and Washington It may sound simple to have each cach road run trains on alternate hours instead of every houf hour but but you you OU can take insiders insiders' word for it that it Isn't In fre freight cht its it's lake cargo coal coal coal- coal shipped to the Great Lakes port by rail and then transported by water wa va- va ter ter usually usually cast cast to to get cheaper rates This leads to absurd Sample A Pennsylvania coal company is located on a railroad railroad railroad rail rail- road with a direct spur to the Buffalo Buffalo But falo Edison plant But it ships its coal to a point across a narrow creek from the plant and has it hauled across by barge to get th the lake car cargo o rate The 1 I. I C. C C. C forbids forbids forbids for for- bids a lower price for rail all de dc- livery S 00 The clash between Frank Walsh of the New Ne York power authority and Milo MUo Maltbie of ot the state public pub pub- lie lic service commission has utility men nervous They never thought to sec see the day when Maltbie would be called their pal The power authority authority au au- au seems to have the upper hand in the fracas and that's the main mam cause awe of ot concern It has a much closer t ein with wilh the federal government than the comm commission and its attitude is much harsher New York wonders whether this development foreshadows a policy of ot federal intervention in utility matters in states where public service service ser sor- sor vice have appeared too lenient toward the companies they regulate Sir Charles Gordon of the Bank of ot Montreal recently remarked ina in inn a n superior manner that Canadian economic progress progress' has been achieved without experimentation Wall streeters call this downright ungrateful They ey ask what caused the thc boom in American gold mines but American devaluation and whether the flight o of timid American American Amer Arner- ican icon capital across the b harder border didn't help out the dominion They think Sir Charles might at least have tipped his hat in the direction of the new deal Copyright McClure Newspaper Syndicate |