THE CADUCEUS
DOORS NOT CLOSED
LABOR STILL OPEN FOR MEN
FROM RANKS
The wish and purpose to maintain
the wages of labor at the highest
standard compatible with continued
industrial activity was never more
general and sincere among employers
than at the present moment. High
wages are the natural accompaniment
of prosperity; there is a perfectly
obvious reason, therefore, why em
ployers are content to pay them. At
the present moment capital is seek
ing not less earnestly than labor to
fmd means whereby the wage level
may he kept as high as the conditions
of trade will permit. In great indus
trial concerns serious study has been
given to the problem in the hope of
devising ways through economies in
other directions or through efficiency
methods to avert, or at least postpone
as long as possible, the necessity of
wage reduction. American shipown
ers are trying in good faith to work
out methods of operating their ships
under the high wage schedules and
other crew conditions of the seamen’s
law which put them at'a serious dis
advantage in comparison with the
merchant marine of other countries.
The great mass of the employers of
labor are not open to the charge of
hard-heartedness which agitators
recklessly bring against them. They
take account of the present high cost
of living, they would gladly continue
the present scales of wages, they will
consider reductions only as a last re
sort, as the only alternative to the
closing of shops.
Good-will and generous purpose,
however, can have no absolute control
over the wage situation in the future.
The price of labor is somewhat less
subject to the control of economic
law than other prices, but it is not and
can never be, as some false guides of
labor would have it, quite Independent
of the laws that governn trade. If
the excessive or unreasonable de-
rrands of labor close the shops, then
the law begins to work with a good
deal of sternness. For. that reason it
is as unwise for leaders of labor to in
sist now that there should be no re
duction of wages below the war stand
ard as it would be for employers to
order sharp and arbitrary reductions..
One labor paper has insisted that if
demobilization creates a great surplus
of labor, hours must be shortened to
the end that all may find employment
di the wages paid during the war. It
is unnecessary to point out that the
business of production cannot be car
ried on in that manner. The problems
of re construction are as yet unsolved.
We cannot clearly foresee future con
ditions. It is, therefore, highly desir
able that calmness and reason guide
the counsels of both labor and capital,
which in the end have a common In
terest.
Secretary Wilson said upon this oc
casion that “there is a shortage of
,S,2000,000 laborers and there is not
only a possibility of a shortage of
labor but a possibility of an Increased
demand for labor.” These figures are
surprising, since the newspapers of
Jan. 26, which published a report of
Mr. Wilson’s remarks, published also
an official report or announcement of
the Department of Labor, of which he
is the head, in which it was declared
that conditions of unemployment in
many parts of the country were
"rapidly becoming serious.” We quote
one paragraph from the department’s
statement:
Subsequent local reports indicate an
plain that instead of a “shortage of
increase in unemployment, making it
.3,200,000 laborers’’ in the country
there is in many localities and in
many trades a surplusage, indicating
that men are seeking Jobs, not jobs
seeking men. Plainly, this is not a
condition which warrants anything
like an unqualified demand that
wages be maintained at the war
. standard. Demobilization of the na
tion’s army lately in service abroad or
in training at home would ordinarily
mean serious conditions of unemploy
ment, when the country’s concern
would he not so much about wages as
about relief measures. It is too soon
to conclude, however, that there will
hr a great surplusage of labor. That
depends upon several conditions. One
is whether the country’s industries are
to be continuously active, as Secretary
Wilson expects, or whether there is
to be a slackening of trade. Another
condition is that respecting immigra-
' tion. A measure is pending in Con
gress to exclude foreign immigrants,
’rhe enactment of that measure would
obviously have an influence upon the
SURGEON GENERAL
CITED FOR SERVICE
The Distinguished Service Medal,
accompanied by a citation for his
splendid executive service overseas,
has come to Major General iMerritte
W. Ireland, Surgeon General ; of the
Army. Major General Ireland was
called from France to assume con
trol of the medical forces of tlfe army
and his honored rank is due to effi
cient services in this and other mil
itary campaigns. ...
The citation, which has . been made
public by the War Department,
reads:
“Major General Merritte W. Ireland:
As Chief Surgeon of the American
Expeditionary Forces he supervised
and perfected the organization of the
medical department in France, and to
his excellent judgment, untiring ef
forts and high professional attain-
tainments are largely due the splen
did efficiency with which the sick
and wounded of the American Army
have been cared for.”
market of common labor. On the
other hand, there is from this port and
doubtless from other ports a notable
current of emigration; the natives of
several countries lately engaged In
the war are returning to their old
homes in increasing numbers. All
these are factors in the wage question,
and some of them are not yet deter-
jninable. Plainly, it is not the time
tor dogmatism about the future wage
situation. It is not less true that
strikes against a reasonable lowering
c f wages or to enforce shorter hours
would be the sure way to destroy the
hope of continued prosperity,, to close
factories and make unemployment a
serious condition,
(N. Y. Times.)
The Seymour skirt is out of style.
The new one will be longer.
It-will come to the shoetops, while
The price will be much stronger.
A fashion journal just from France
Brings this news o’er the sea.
But may we ask a word, perchance?
Where will the shoetops be?
It makes all the difference in the
world whether it is your Commanding
Officer or your civilian boss who sa'ys,
“You’re discharged.”
Graver’s "R R
( ) A 1) WA"V
WEEK FEB. lOtb to 15tb
Music to the Theme of the Picture on $10,000 Pipe Organ.
Monday and Tuesday—
WILLIAM FARNUM
in Zane Grey’s Dramati.. Masterpiece
“TLe Rainbow Tail*'
A stirring stquel to the great screen
success, “Riders of the Purple Sage”
Also latest ‘ Gaumont News Weekly”
Wednesday and Thursday—
FRANK MeINTIRE
\ in Kex B.-ach Drama of War Work
“Too Fat to Figbt”
Also Fox “Sunshine Comedy”
Friday and Saturday—
GLADYS BROGKWELL
. in the greatest stage hit in 25 years
“Tbe Strange Woman”
Record runs:—1 year in New York,
I jyear in London, 5 months in Chicago.
Author, William J Hurlbut Also
latest "Gaumont News Weekly” and
“Mutt and Jeff”.