Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-11-21 | Page 17 | 'Gougers' Hurt French Workers

'GOV MIT PREfyCH WORKERS Production Restricted That High Pric Way Be Mamtained Tv The A"--r ?'rd Pre-!.i PARIS, 'o 2" The nnmb.i of former vmWr nnwmAmployed in ''i"nr J25,00fi acwimS to off i-ei i-ei I -tafistiep. Th-1 tital Is increasing increas-ing lv da)? dlsmlsssls in the met-aMnriie met-aMnriie ndpatry, leather trade, textile tex-tile " nrl elothing msnufacfuring ln-flustrlee ln-flustrlee ; nd tle problem is attract: in:.- the atfehUpn of the ;'.ivernment. D'.Mlng the war the plea of manu-f;-c'tirers was that speedy delivery of goods was Impossible owlns; to the !ack of labor Now available labor i far exceeds the demand. There are nuniTotia reasons for this BUtplus. ptOTiirent nmont: which nre givin: Lack of raw material; rate of exchange against France n most lrnfcort;ns countries rind hieh rrelghl rales. It is believed how-e-er that there Id rnother re-ip-.n of purely internal order Speculators have hehl bark storks in order to be ible to release manufacture at pros-nt pros-nt Others are said to deliberately irstrict productiin in order that prices, may be kept to their present --bnomial level. The high prices have lessened consumption and the public limits Its purchases to articles of abio'ute necessity, with the result that mailers are not sending such large orders to wholesalers as form erlv. The leather industry is suffering most, nearly half the workers or dinarily emploed being out of wi Parisians ii general have refused i ' piy 120 francs for a tery ordinary-pair ordinary-pair of shoe?. At Limoges alone, '8.000 shoemakers are without cm plo ment The clothing industry is also reported re-ported to be In a bad way Forty per cent of the workers are idle at i a time when ordinarily the factories are at thfir busiest. The textile industry on which the ,tovns of Rouhaix and Toureolng depend, de-pend, la goinK through' a period of j the jn it, oifllculn and the fur1 industry Is also affected, owing to the excessive price of furs, especially especial-ly of ihe more ordinary kinds., such as rabbit and goat Thirty per cent of the automobile ' workers are Idle; some 18.000 or 110. j 000 skilled workmen Considerable numbers of men employed In the de vastated regions have also left their work, some voluntarily hesitating 1 to spend the winter In draught) shacks without comfort and amuse ments; others dismissed by contrac- l tors who have not vet been paid ! bv the state and who hesitate to re- tain workmen whose wages they may 1 be unable to pay.