The Seattle Star Newspaper, February 21, 1921, Page 10

THE SEATTLE STAR The Future is what we make It T a time when the public mind is pessimistic, when industry and the men of industry are idle, and the consumer refuses to consume, a tonic of facts should produce a practical understanding of problems involved, and to that extent shorten the period of readjustment, and restore optimism. The Pacific Northwest is immensely'rich in fundamen- tal resources, which with an senrere economic situation, should restore business to health. Of all our fundamental resources, lumber is the great- est. Normally, it pays sixty per cent. of all wages in the States of Oregon and Washington. What, then, is the matter with lumber? Why, so many, idle mills? Why such great unemployment? Primarily, it is the economic readjustment through which this nation is successfully passing after its free spend- ing, post-war financial, commercial and industrial inebria- tion. Another cause of depression is the handicap placed on Pacific Northwest products by the freight advance of 1920, under which commodities produced at a distance from con- suming markets were prohibitively penalized in the trans- portation: cost to those markets. Under existing freight rates, the West Coast manus facturers of lumber cannot compete with more favorably, located producing regions, which not only have the advan- tage of from $94 to $327.75 per car in freight rates to the most desirable lumber markets, but also are operating on a lower wage scale and on longer hours. In the face of such competition, the West Coast pro- ducer > a ship. If he cannot ship, he cannot finance a payroll. Lumber was the first of the great basic commodities to take its deflation. It is now down to the pre-war level. Government statistics show a decided downward trend in the cost of all other commodities. However, delay in the deflation of other building materials is having a retarding influence on construction now. It is not for the general good that any commodity, remain at peak prices, or anywhere near peak prices. That equally applies to labor. The idea that labor can escape a readjustment of wages is folly. The sooner the scaling down in excessive wage cost, the better it will be for the public, the worker and business. Especially is this true of ‘railroad labor, the inflated cost of which is largely responsible for freight rates that have strangled commerce. | __ i Statistics for 1914 show that 1,700,000 railroad em- ployes were paid wages totaling $1,337,000,000. In 1920, the ane room hay Peo than gsi og eco in- crease of perhaps 15% — were compelled to wages amounting to $3,600,000,000 — an increase i 27 % This tremendous increase in wages is said to have been due to wage agreements signed by the United States Rail- way Administration all within a few months, and, in one instance, within a few days before the end of federal control. The Pere Marquette Railway was compelled, recent- ly, to pay $9,364 in back pay to four employes because their titles, under federal control, were changed by de- cision of the Director General. : _ Acar repairer on another railway was paid $1,000 for work he never did. He was laid off, with other em- ployes, because there was no work for him to do, When Seattle Tacoma under his “seniority” rights he became entitled to ré-em- ployment he received back pay and overtime. : Four carmen on the Santa Fe were sent out on the line to do a piece of work which took four hours and thir- three minutes. The company was compelled to pay these men for 112 hours’ work. Five machinists, on the Norfolk & Western, were sent to an outlying point, where they actually worked eight hours per day for three days. ch of them had to be paid straight time for the 24 hours he did work and time and a alt for 72 hours he did not work. With labor in other industries taking its deflation, it is manifestly unfair that railroad labor should continue to en- joy special privileges in the way of inflated compensation, when such inflation tends to deprive the labor of the Pacific Northwest lumber indystry and all other lines, of the right to steady, remunerative employment. . It is possible that if freight rates from the Pacific Coast to the large lumber consuming markets of the East are soon readjusted, the Pacific Northwest lumber industry will be enabled to compete when any revival of construction ac- tivity occurs. However, to permit such successful competi- _ tion, West Coast lumber rates to the large eastern markets must be restored to the parities which were so utterly dis- rupted by the parcomage plan of freight rate increase, ef- fective August 26, 1920. ' Predictions that a moderate yg | movement is to occur later in 1921 may be realized the latter part of the ear, but the deadening influence of general depression has as so great that any large building program in 1921 seems hardly probable. The likelihood of 1922 being a year of active building is much better. The future is largely what we make it. The financial structure of the nation is basically sound, and the immense wealth of the fundamental resources in the Pacific North- west still remains, : But that future depends on eternal vigilance; and the success of the people of the Northwest in protecting their interests in the matter of transportation service in order that their products may reach markets where the demand is ample and constant; that frequent periods of unemployment in the Northwest may be avoided and an adequate payroll main- + tained, In subsequent copy, West Coast Lumbermen’s Asso- citation hopes to discuss, with the public, its campaign for keeping mills cohstantly in successful operation. Normal conditions in the lumber industry depend prim- arily on active building. operations within the United States. Government reports indicate that, after reconstruction, 3,400,000 new dwellings must be built in a period of five years to meet ‘the requirements of an estimated 27,900,000 families. That would mean the building’of 680,000 new homes per year. ¢ average number built in any one yéar since 1890 was 334,808. ¢ greatest number ever built in any one year was 409,534, Housing requirements alone, eliminating from consid- eration the demand for lumber in industrial requirements and the requirements of railroads, forecast coming years of Prosperity for the.Pacific Northwest if the Pacific North- west lumber industry is successful in its campaign for se- curing a fair-share of the business to be developed. is is largely a problem of transportation service and non-discriminatory rates, which problem will be dis: cussed in more detail at an early date, : West Coast Lumbermen’s Association. New York Portland