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Show PRESENT DEPRESSION IS DUE TO UNBALANCED STATE DF INDUSTRY NOT A QUESTION OP MONEY. A GREAT PORTION POR-TION OF THE POPULATION HAS (SUDDENLY LOST A PORTION OF ITS PURCHASING POWER AND IS NOT ABLE TO BUY THE PRODUCTS OF THE OTHER INDUSTRIES. TRADE WILL RE VIVE AND CONDITIONS! BE BETTER WHEN THE "HIGH PLACES ARE MADE LOW AND THE LOW PLACES ARE MADE HIGH." In analyzing the present disturbed condition of Industry the question of money always comes up, nnd tho stock phiase "thei'o.is Just ns much money In tho country ns there ever was," Is alwajs In order. Of course i that istrue, but tho question U "where Is tho money?" Tho Comptroller of-the Currency sajd "that 'the proportTo'rf 'of money In circulation to the total resources of the banks is now considerably eii'.aller than before tho European war," and that out of the total cir culation some 3,344 millions of dol-lais dol-lais 1b In cash drawers of merchants, Individual pockets, hoarded In safe deposit boxes, stockings, etc., all of which makes It hard for tho banks to satisfy the demands of the people. Tho National City bank of New York declares that tho condition is duo to the unbalanced stnto of Industry. Indus-try. W quote from that source as follows; M "It Is evident on every hand that the depression which exists Is due to tho unbalanced state of Industry a regards tho compensation received by Important bodies of people. A great portion of the population suddeuly has lost a large part of Its purchasing purchas-ing power and no longer is able to buy tho pioducts of tho other industries in-dustries us it has been nccuatoined to do. Tho people in other Industries, emplojes and emplojers alike, seem to have no definite idea about what has happened to them, but aro Bitting Bit-ting around, trying to cheer each other up, and watching the skies for better weather. They say that this 1b a country of wondeiful lesources, that It is bound to go ahead, that anybody who Is a bear on tho United Unit-ed States will go broke, etc., etc. They are sure it will go ahead, because be-cause It nlwayB has and In this they aro undoubtedly right but If wo will understand tho conditions which must exist before It goes ahead w may help to bring them about. 'Tho first thing Is to consider thu position of the farmer not as a mat-'ter mat-'ter of sympathetic Interest but to see jhow it relates to tha general situation. situa-tion. To be specific wo might take the case of the cotton grower who r now getting about the same price for his cotton that he did before tho war His cotton Is shipped away upon a rnllroad whose charges aro more than SO per cent higher than before tho war and whose employes aro getting 'more than 100 per cent higher wages I than l that time to a mill whose 'employs, notwithstanding iccent reductions. re-ductions. na cotting tOO per cent 'higher wages than btfoie tho war; the coal consumed m transportation 'nnd In the manufacture of cloth costs twice as much as before tho war, because be-cause wages and other mining ex-'penseti ex-'penseti are twlco as high as then; the cloth is made Into, clothing ' l?tior which receives twice as much aB before the war, and finally, with n . various other expenses nnd piofits added with a like percentage of Inflation, In-flation, the cotton garment comes back over the railroad, and Is oifvr-cd oifvr-cd for. sale to the cotton growui Tho rest, ot Hid farming community is la tho same mi nation as to Income, as the cotton gonet. Is it ail) wonder that the nmiki-t for cotton .goods has fallen oft, vi Jhat thp decline Is principally prin-cipally In the rurnl trade? "Crimpaic the price that a fanner gets for the hide of an' animal," with Ithe price Ik must pay forNa pair ot shoes and contemplate the statement on page one nom Mr. Johnson, ot the Kndlcoti Johnson Shoe Compan), relative to wages In the1 shoe Indus-try. Indus-try. - "When" will trade revive? What 'does "trade"men? "Tbcro has been no such dislocation disloca-tion of exchange relations, either between be-tween countries, or between Indus-trls Indus-trls wlthln-this country. In nil the past. That dislocation mint bo corrected cor-rected before trade can be restored to normal proportions. Either farm products and raw materials must ns to tho level of manufactures and tho common basis of wages, or the luttor must come down to the level of tur farmei, or they must meet on some intermediate level. Tho fundamental requisite Is that they got together. "Kami piductb and raw materials aro related to world markets, ana there is no leaton to believe that they will recover former levels. Alt .tho probabilities are against the restoration re-storation of war prices In time of peace." I The statement from Mr. Johnson above mentioned Is as follows: I "The shoo Industry has made some Improvement but Ia 8l"l B'w. The Kndicott-Johnson Compan, of Blng- i hampton, has announced a general reduction of wages of 20 per cent, from lowest to highest, effective May 1. In maklnffthe announcement tho president, George F. Johnson, said that since 1314 the wages of tho employes em-ployes had been incieased 140 per cent, not Including the bonuses, .which amount to 87 per cent more. .Therefore, with tho wage nduction effective, thpomployes are. still receiving re-ceiving an Increase of more than 100 per cent over 1914, while tho cost of ll urg is steadily decreasing. "Brondly speaking, wages and tho cost of living should and do come down together, but how long will it take under this deliberate method, with cvor body doing tho Alphonse and Gaston act, to get Industry bark Into balance, nnd provide everybody with woik?" Tho recital of tho chorus and glee clubs or tne .New Jersey Academy will bo given at tho Presbyterian church this evening at S 1C. Tomorrow Tomor-row evening tho play by tho New Joi soy students, "Steadfast Princess" will bo given nt tho tame place anu itlnnj. |
