The evening world. Newspaper, March 19, 1920, Page 34

‘xetantisifeD BY JOsEPA PULITZER. by the Press Publishing ik Ro’ 63 Pi New Presid: Park Row, C8 SHAW, Treamur Park Row. PULITZER, Jr.. Secre' 63 Park Row. ; PRESS, Bho Asiociated Prem is exclusively ed to the use for republication ewe deapatches credited to ft or not otherwise credited in this paper ‘sibo the loca) news published herein, _ PILLORY THE PROFITEERS. ULGARIANS have rude and crude ways of deai- and. charges all the traffic will bear, the simple ed villagers place him in a pillory where all 9 pass may express their opinions, spit upon him slap fim. - We suspect that it is a rather effective in, but it is scarcely likely to be adopted here. " It is possible, however, to pillory the profiteers. The World has been rather successful in its efforts do fils very thing. The effectiveness of its cam- iaign is proved by two things: - “Readers of The Evening World are writing letters serving its course. Profitéers are beginning to remonstrate. f may be pilloried by publicity as well as §),Thié Evening World honestly believes that if one Ri Aida, it lent. newspaper in each commu- y in the United States would print a daily directory OF og mm on the series which has appeared dn The hw ‘orld, a public revulsion would set in “Which would be more effective than any law. psi ‘Chiett, Peab@ly & Co., the Woollen Trust, the Tnitea “i@f- thé profiteers were held up to public condemnation "Severywhere, a sentiment would develop which would the profiteer in his only sensitive spot—the pocket- The public would cease to buy. Profits would cul as The Evening World has printed in the ering are readily available. Any one d can, find these facts. They appear in public OF the’ companies, in dividend announce- nts, in manuals of corporation statistics, in the fal columns; which the average reader of the r skips or fails to understand. ‘Bvening World's articles have been merely an Sis and simplification of THE PROFITEERS’ yN PUBLIC STATEMENTS. very fact increases their effectiveness: The have no “come-back.” They have damned 1 their own gouging and greed, 1S areal public service which the press can per- “Phe Evening World series on profiteering is . Our ‘contemporaries are. entirely ‘make use of the analyses this newspaper “> ‘Stéwart McMuilin, the revenue agent 4 tified as a former convict, who killed a map during @ raid and has been indicted for mau in the first degree, is not an ef- friend of prohibition, Neither is the blatant Anderson:—The Tribune. ‘Tribune begins to appraise the Prohibi- at his true value, 5 igbeny] Tribune will help urge him to ran, on the platform The Evening World has had built for him: se “and S$: Bigotry, Bullying, Blackguardism. a + The Rack, The Thumbscrew and 9 The Black Cap, t LABOR AND THE LEGION. 1UGH the ‘American Legion has more than members and is easily the most influ- organization, there is no denying the hat it has failed to enlist the support of more ma mihority of the members of the A. F. of L. who to membership. feason is clear? A considerable number of law- and thoroughly reprehensible activities of indi- of the Legion were advertised as ac- the Legion, The Legion suffered. Labor ts were suspicious. D'Olier, ‘National Commander of the eg is convinced Samuel Gompers that the fion’s repudiation of such policies is sincere. Mr. Mess sees no reason why members of the A. F. of ~&, should not join the Legion and admits the fairness * of Mr, -D’Olier’s statement that lawless acts of Legion members bear no more relation to the Legion’s policy thag lawless acts of' individual unionists reflect A..F. of L, policy. As a matter of good policy, no class of veterans should stay out of the Legion. It is and will continue to be the voice of the veteran. If labor has any linger- ing suspicion that the policy of the Legion is not all that it should be, the best and only remedy is to get into the organization and change the policy from within. ae * ys 8 a mg » pe Speaker Sweet, it seems, continues to clierish . gubernatorial aspirations, even though the bal- joon is punctured and has collapsed. This would account for his reported jealousy in re- gard to the authorship of the Rent Bulls, ' ) ing with profiteers. When a merchant boosts’ Fruit Coypatiy, the Leather Trust and the rest|* ; THE EV itself. the price to the farmers and the price to the con sumers, > the farmers, , will be watched, WHAT IS CONGRESS FOR? I laws. “At present,” Secretary Houston declares, “the tax- payer never knows when he is through.” Retroactive tilings and interpretations are continually involving Uncertainties as to future tax- ation weigh upon his business plans and discourage his him in new difficulties, enterprise, “Complexity in tax laws violates the most fundamental canen of taxation, that the Habil- ity shall be certain and definite.” “It is not merely a source of irritation, labor and expense to the tuxpayers; but when con- Joined, as it is in the present law, with the heavy rates of taxation which war exigency has forced upon us, it becames a major menace, threatening enterprise with heavy but inde- finable future obligations, generatitig a cloud of old claims and potential back taxes which fill thé taxpayer with dread, creating, to be sure, an attractive source of additional revenue, but clogging the administmtive machinery and threatening, indeed, its possible breakdown.” Wilson urged simplification of the income and profits taxes as “an immediate necessity.” The President said “There is a point at which in peace times high rates of income and profits taxes discour- age energy, gemove the incentive to new enter- prise, encourage extravagant expenditures and produce industrial stagnation, with consequent unemployment and other attendant evils.” What the, President said nearly four months ago industry and business had been saying before and have been saying ever since. 3 Moreover, the country has just gone through the mental anguish of another Federal income tax return, made under the most needlessly complicated law that ever harassed an intelligent people, Is there no way of convincing Congress that Federal tax revision is an imperative national need—not mere- ly another pet project of a President whose every ex- pressed wish a Republican majority in Cgngress must feel itself bound to defeat? Here is a great industrial Nation struggling to get ahead with post-war reconstruction. It needs every help and encouragement enlightened government can give it. ernment spending. It needs a budget syStem for its Federal finances. alizing of its tax methods. More than sixteen months haye passed since the has been met or even seriously considered by the body which alone can originate legislation essential to the country’s welfare, What, in the name of the Constitution, is Congress for? Junker revolutionists have made“ Amerongen safer for the exiled Wilhelm. Few care where the War Lord may be quartered if the German people prove that he cannot “come back.” A TRIUMPH OF LEGALISM. STRIKING example of the absurdity of pure legalism and the extremes to Which lawyer ratification of the Anthony amendment! ie MAKE IT “VERY SUBSTANTIAL.” PS OLLOWING hard on the heels of the reyelations of a 54% per cent. profit which the Sheffield ) Farms Company extorted in 1918 comes the an- Mouncement of a “very substantial’ price-cut on BY: Any réduction in the price of milk will be welcome indeed, but New York will pay particular attention to this particular cut, It comes at a time when the price i milk-produoing farmers is to be decreased. oe ieee Pie te exten 2 the dstributing % » SRE ty 4 is in the home.” Children need at least one guardian, But a man and his wife are one, says the Judge. Arguing from experience in the divorce courts, this Judge would have had a more logical ground of ob- jection had he decided that such procedure would be bad public. policy, since it would inevitably lead to “hung” juries because of marital disagreement in the jury 8 | 4 company to maintain its margin when prices were re- duced. When prices were increased it added the in- creased price to the farmer’ and something moré for This has been the system by which the distributers from year to year have increased the “spread” between The action of ‘the company is worth watching, and N a letter to Chairman Fordney of the House Ways and Means Committee, Secretary of the Treasury Houston does his best to fmpress upon Congress the country’s urgent need of a revision of the Federal tax In his message to Congress last December, President It needs a prompt return to peace economies in Gov- It needs a lightening of its tax burdens and a ration- signing of the Armistice, and not one of these needs logic may be carried is presented by the ruling of a Michigan Judge who decided that a husband and wife | could not serve on the same jury because, under the ol English Common Law, a mar. and his wife are one. This in the month which probably will witness the It would not be hard to find any number of per- | foctly good reasons why a man and his wife should not sit on the same jury. When a wife is in the jury box it seems perfectly evident that “a husband’s place 4 ENING WORLD, FRIDAY, MARCH 19, pZopetas: AL In view of exorbitant profits, New York believes that the Sheffield Company is in position to reduce the spread. This means that the April 4 drop in milk Prices should be greater than the decrease in price to By J. H. Ap ae FROM EVENING WORLD READERS The Sub-Contractor'’s Part. ‘To the Baitor of The ening World: Your editorial “100 Per Cent. Work” im regard to the buildin, programme is all wrong and reflects on the hon- esty of the mechanic. Prove where any building trade struck for more money on any un- finished contracts before the war was over and they were forced by living conditions. Poor quality of work rests wih the sub-contractor, who is an incum? brance and should be eliminated from the building craft. His slogan in re- gard to plastering is “thin and even with speed,” regardless how he gets jt done, causing conilict with the union, whose siogan is “all work to be done in a workmanlike, manner. A fair day's work for a fair day's pay.” Workmen are not Meet the working man after five o'clock and find out how many are ing to a dance. Sernfvould suggest to eliminate the sub-contractor, who carries a foun- tain pen, emokes good cigars, rides in autos’ at the expense of the me- chante, Find out why wood lath cost three cents a piece and why brick and other materials cost three times their worth, Here is the only solution to lower- the cost of building. bead ¥, J. McAULIFFE, New York, Maren 15, 1920. #100 Per cent, Work.” To the Edttor of The Brening World I must draw your attention to sev- eral misleading statements in your +100 Per Cent. Work” editorial. Where some people get their information about bricklayers is beyond me, and I've followed the trade ‘or twenty years, In the first place, the contractor's statements quoted are false and mis- leading and he knows it, or he is no contractor. In 1914 our wages ‘were $6 per day. Let me draw his attention to the fact that we have not had 100 per cent, in- crease in twenty-two years. We lose more time with weather conditions than any other trade. Pay in some trades has increased 100 per cent, in ten years, Bricks in 1906 sad for $4.75 per 1,000, Now they bring $28 at the wharf. Cement gnuch the same. Any contractor who gets 900 bricks @ day is getting a fair honest day’s work, and one getting 1,700 or 2,000 per man is practically ¢ ding the owner of the building he is erecting, by not liv- ing up to the specifications, His pricklayers are not laying bricks in a wal, but throwing them in any old way. His boss sees he is fired if he ont. 4g myseif have worked on a job in New York where we did not lay 100 | bricks a day, and were all but totd direct that we were doing too much. This job was done by a master builder of New York City, but It was done on a percentage basis. ‘The owners of the building were de- frauding the Government in tax mat- ters, and their books were under Washington officials at the time. They were only two or three millioas short in their returns, a mere trifle nowa- days. iesat fall after seven weeks’ pixike laying down. for $10 we went back to work for $8.50 on the understanding we would} Ket a substantial increase on Jan, 1 from the master builders, In Janu- ary they offered us the magnificent increase of 50 cents a day. Since then We have been out on strike for $10.) It may interest.those who are always knocking bricklayers, that the aver- | age bricklayer loses one and one-half days a week the year round and, all in all, he does not average $32 a week. I hope you will publish this and throw Some light on the subject. i ROBERT HORNSBY, Member No. 34, B. M. & P. L. U. of America and Canada. 494 Lexington av., March 16, 1920. Quantity id Quality. ‘Vo the Haitor of ‘ie vening World : Why is it you always pick on the bricklayer? In your “100 Per Cent. Work” editorial March 13 you are wrong again. In the first place, bricklayers are paid by the hour, At present their salary is $1.06 1-4 per hour ($8.50 for an eight-hour day). , Bricklayers have been striking since Jan, 2 for $1.50 an hour, Some con- tractors are paying $1.50 an hour; they»are few, and they are known as “slashers,” Where you must lay 2,000 brick or more. The pay in 1914 was 70 cents an hour, $5.60 a day, and the work |s no easier to-day than what it was then. You are correct in your statement regarding the wretched construction cf buildings to-day. In 1914 there were contractors who believed in “quality, not quantity,” but to-day the demand is quantity not quality, so your informer is all wrong in stating that the bricklayers are laying dow; on the job, for if a foreman seés yo! are not moving fast enough, he hands you your money up to the minute. | know of cases where bricklayers have een discharged because of cleaning trowels a minute or two before quit- ting time, Why not investigate bricklaying conditions before writing any further editorials or articles on the $10-a-day salary? MY. Brooklyn, March 16, 1920, The Plasterer’s Side, ‘To the Editor of The Evening World: “Essential to the Process” in The tvening World of March 16 is well put together, but I think a more thorough investigation of facts would tend to create a more lenient attitude on your part toward the worker. Last year labor troubles reached a serious point in'New York, The plas- terers’ agreement with the employing plasterers ran out, Conditions under that agreement were felt to be detri- mental to the best interests of the yourneyman plasterers, The question was not so much of money as of arbitration. The union demanded a more reasonable power in controlling the actions of its members. The em- ploying plasterers, backed by master builders, gave the plasterers’ union a | hard ght, lasting over seven months ‘The money question at the beginning involved & raise per day of a very small athount, which employers were willing to grant, providing we gave in gnd settled upon their conditions, This we could not do in justice to ourselves and so the fight went on. Ip retaliation and also due to the ine cout of vlog we raleed ous UNCOMMON SENSE 7 By John Blake (Copyright, 1920.) DON'T BE SENSITIVE TO CRITICISM & Jolts get people out of ruts. To most men cri jolt. Their first reaction is one of astonishment. that they are not perfect startles them. Next they get indignant. How can any one have Presumption to question their ability After that they either think it over and decide to better, or get sulky and cease to.try. sm is a The idea the do Those who let criticism help them usually get along. Those who permit it to hinder them stay where they are. It is very seldom that criticism is personal. It is often made brutally and with little consideration for the feelings of the c helpful, ‘would be helpful if accepted intelligently. Most of us are so constituted it is difficult to see own faults, or the faults of our work, igs: but nine times out of ten it is meant to be our It is fortunate that they are as often pointed out,to us as they are. If we keep on thinking that we are doing good w ork when our work is indifferent or actually bad we soon lose the power of doing good work. Ability is a matter of habit. Bad working habits soon destroy it even if it exists in the first place. The sensitive man does well to overcome his sensitive- ness from the start. He has no right to be angry at the employer who shows him his shortcomings and insists that he correct them. That kind of thing is education. Few authors ever escape rejections, Many of them suffer rejection after rejection before they ever get any- thing printed. . Yet they keep on. It is the same way with any business or profession. If your bad work is taken you are in a danger- ous state, You need jolts or you will get in a rut. And criticism, harsh or kindly, is the very best jolt that aman can get. If he is the right sort it wakes him up and makes him a critic of himself, And if he is a harsh enough critic of himself he will never turn out work that is bad, APP PPP PPP PPP PP APPEAR APPAR PRPRPRIAPPPDOPDPDADAAAAAN > demand for more wages and the/ Once his strike was finally settled on a basis of! go $8.50 per day from Jan. 1, 1920, and an| increase in June to §9 if cost of living | has not decreased. through losing time, to the finish part is completed they can without Impartial investigation of the iron | | League's diMculties would, 1 ain sure Reduce thePrice!. Gas Gempanies Try Again for British Thermal, Unit, But Offer No Cut in Rate, as in Chicago. By Sophie Irene Loeb. eH Re Fork bneio onde EW-YORK CITY consumers are ‘again threatened with an effort oh the part of the gas com- panies t change the system of mak- ing gas, And thus raise the price. Recent hearings before the Public Service Commission have revealed the fact that besides attempting Federal Court action to annul the 80-cent gas }law the gas corporations are also at | the same time attempting to change | the method of making gas. This same ‘effort was made two years ago, but as a result of The | Evening World’s investigation, whieh showed up the contrasting values of the present twenty-two candle-power ' requirements, as against the proposed British Thermal Unit System (B. I. U.), all efforts to raise the price | failed. At the time of The Everfing World's expose Commissioner Oscar Straus, head of the Public Service Commis- sion, gave the gas corporations ar opportunity to change the system, providing the public secured an equiv alent in reduced rates, since the new system of B, T. U.'s costs less to produce than the candle-power meth- od, because of the gas oll costs which are required in the candle-power method and which the corporations ,are now pleading cost them more money. In the gas corporations’ continued efforts to change rates fixed by law | they refuse to recognize the court's decisions that public utilities must spread their profits over a period of years, taking the lean years with the fat. But they run to the Public Service Commission at tho first sign | Of an increased material for making gas, such as is now the case with gas oil; due to the war. The past enormous profits of the gas corporations will bear out the continued profits, For example, with a 7 per cent. dividend declared in 1917 by the Consolidated Gas Com- pany on $100,000,000, to say nothing of investments in 1919 to the amount of $91,625,390.22, with an additional fixed capital of more than $54,000,000, | the consumers of New York have, assured the company annual divi- dends, also a corporate surplus of | nearly $22,000,000, amounting to more than $26,000,000. ‘The proposed scheme of changing |from candle power would lower the costs appreciably and raise the profits | of the company. The same system of candle power in Chicago was changed from candle power to B. T. U. but the City of Chicago received | a greatly reduced rate in the | change. | ‘The attempt here, however, is to get | the change, the gas corporations to secure the benefits thereof, but ére ‘consumers would be the losers, t | According to the present law, the | people of New York are ggtting gas ‘at a cost of 80 cents per 1,000 fee | which requires a standard of twenty- | two candle power, and in serving the | twenty-two candle power toe consum- ers the companies produce on an average of 670 B, T. U. i In. October, 1917, the commission issued gn optional order to the tom- panies, which in substance was this: If they wished to furnish gas on the British Thermal Unit basia they could reduce the B. T. U., provided that in the same proportion they re- duce the rate, and the dommisston set 650 B, T. U.'s as the standard equal to twenty-two candle power approximately, but the gas compantes tried to get a lower heat unit stand ard of 528 B. T. U.'s. Not satisfie? with changing the standard and thus obtaining the op- portunity to lower the cost of making gas, the gas interests, however, soughi to increase the rates before th: change come. They went to the Lag- islature toward that end. But as the 80-cent gas rate hasbeen upheld byall the courts, and the com. panies still have recourse to the courts in case the rates are comfisca- tory, it was impossible to muster enough votes to bring the bill on the oun coon Af'the time the Public Service mission issued the order, making ft optional for the corporations to change the standard the folowing conditions were to be imposed upon | the company: First, that if the quality were reduced below 650 B. T. U.'s a The contractors whose work was] show organized labor's demands to be| discount upon the consumers’ tied up Cit fled new pulaings Bat MSreRsODARIC in view of the fact| bills proprotionate thereto should had no kick coming, as they knew the | that the master builders have practic date upon which the agreement was| cally promised the open shop wera] 2@ Ades and, second, that free to terminate and they should, as| be dispensed with in New Youx mantles should be furmished to business men, have put themselves in| So much for labor's end of the| those consumers who heretofore a position to be on the right side of| question. It could be settled casily | used open flame burners. any fluctuation caused by a new! by calm, broad minded people who|..Daily experiments carried on agreement. As regards the bricklayer: He is one of the most abused in the build- ing trades, perhaps net so much by the employers as by inclement weather. He performs a necessary work and Now, to get to the real root trouble which, I believe, is ma and now: 1917 Brick, per M. se fio should be put in a position that will | Plaser of Yaris per ton at enable him to live on a decent plane. | Lathe (Wood), per At 7 His work should pay him enougi: to | Steel (rected), per tou $105 get him by the rainy days, of which) would be willing to yield to justice. f the erial, Here are prices three years ugo 1 am sure productton costs and in- there are a great many in the course creases do not justify these prices of the year. Keep up your good work, Evening ‘The other building trades with but) World, which is to get at the truth, few exceptions ure sheltered from tHe |_ PLAST E) bed Weather by te Bricklayers woilk, New York, March 16, 1020, ¢ KER. throughout the year 1917 showed that ‘the actual average thermal content, of the gas furnished by all companies’ of the City of New York was 670 BT, Ulm As approximately 80 per cent. of the gas is used primarily for its heat value, it will be appreciated that a! reduction to a Maximum of 523 B. T. U.'s wauld be a very substantial reduction in the quality of gas now furnished in the City of New York and therefore would to a correspond- ing extent affect consumers’ bill, ‘The sathe old offorts for am tuo xeass aro now senewed, ‘Cut 'Gas Quality;