Show w r Released by Western Newspaper r Union MOUNTING PRICES ARE RESULT OF CUMULATIVE WAGE BOOSTS DOLLARS ARE WORTH only what they will w ll buy Ever cheap ap- ap ening dollars do not make for a high hIgh- higher er standard of living Labor and management are playing at cross purposes and the American people are paying the penalty Enforcement of ceiling prices was practical only so long a of af ceilings covered cost of production production production tion which means wages as aswell a aswell well as covering prices of what was produced It was not a question as to how the wages Vage were secured whether as an in in- increase increase crease per hour or by shorten shorten- shortening shortening shortening ing the hours and increasing the priced high-priced overtime Wages are a major part of pro pro- production production production cost When they are pushed i upward without a proportionate in in- increase increase increase crease in volume of production prices rices of commodities must go up or r industry stops Capital and man man- management management management refuse to operate at a loss Capital will continue to meet the wage vage and hour demands of labor so soong long ong as those increasing ever-increasing de de- demands demands de- de demands mands may be offset by high high- higher er prices for commodities That means inflation spelled in capital letters etters That is what we have today We are facing an increasing ever-increasing amount of such inflation for which we the American people are pay pay- paying paying ing and which will break us as a nation and as individuals BUYERS' BUYERS STRIKE ONLY WAY There is one way by which we the American people could stop that deadly process We could quit buying We faced much the same situation following the close of World War I. I In 1921 the people went on a buyers' buyers strike priced High-priced merchandise could not be sold People would not buy When sales stopped in In- industry Industry industry stopped producing Work Work- Workers ers lost their priced high-priced jobs A short lived depression fol fol- lowed That was bitter medicine but it effected a cure It brought us back backo to o a somewhere near normal con con- With less wages paid in dollars that would buy more indus- indus industry industry try ry could produce at a price the people eople could pay and the standard vf of f living was not affected The wild and senseless race between wages and nd prices had been stopped For the farmer who had speculated in priced high-priced land on the basis of if the soaring prices of farm products prod prod- products products it meant disaster The lower prices would not pay payoff off the mort- mort mortgage mortgage gage jage on the priced high-priced acres he had purchased During World War II the farmer armer did not speculate in land landas as he did in World War I. I A buyers buyers' buy buy- buyers buyers' buyers buyers' ers' ers strike will affect him by reducing reducing reducing ing his take from his farm products but ut he does not have the mortgage to o worry about In the end he will profit Tofit as will all America from low low- lowr lower er r prices on the things he buys In n the meantime the farm will pro pro- provide vide ade the necessities of living Rather than have the race of wages and nd prices continue to a point of runaway inflation we had better choose as the lesser of two evils a temporary dep depression We can pro pro- produce produce duce that that by a buyers buyers' strike CONSUMER PAYS AND PAYS MORE THAN A YEAR AGO I 1 or or- ordered ordered ordered dered a new automobile It has not been delivered and I do not know when it will wilI be If it were delivered today the price I would pay is just more than the price at the date of my order That difference is in in- increased increased in- in increased creased wages It not only is the increase in wages to the men on the assembly lines in automobile plants but also includes thousands who have only an indirect part in the building of that car Among these are themen the themen themen men who mine the iron ore those who transport it by rail and boat to the mills and those who trans trans- transform transform transform form the ore into the iron ingots and steel plate Then those who mine and transport the coal and limestone needed in the manufacture manufacture manufacture ture of steel indirectly help to raise the price of automobiles Out of that is paid an ail increased wage to those who transport the steel and other materials to the car ca building plants to those who transport the completed cars from the plant to the agency with which I placed my order and to the employees of that agency All AU of these and more take a bite or nibble out of the that I the consumer must pay Little or none of it remains with the con con- concerns concerns concerns cerns that directly or indirectly pro pro- produced produced produced the car What is true of auto auto- automobiles automobiles mobiles is also true of other things Wages go up and prices go up It Itis Itis Itis is you and I and the other fellow ellow the consumer who pay p y the wages THE TIlE LENGTHENING DAYS each minute they add to the day day- daylight daylight daylight light hours adds to our vitality and hopes The brightness of spring is coming and the glori glori- glorious glorious ous days of summer are not far away Such is the meaning to those who have passed all their allotted birthdays THERE are ar radios in the Ih homes born of oj o f more mor than ban American families end and each family tries to 10 out ones the lb tb e Joneses in n the b matter malter of oj noise nos ar Q Ii |