RISING PRICES AND THE PUBLIC 567 



land, have apparently not shared in the unearned profits which rising 

 prices have brought to other industries. From the workingmen's 

 standpoint, the need for advances in wages is obvious enough. But 

 from the employers' standpoint such advances will probably mean 

 marked reduction in profits. 



The public press has pointed to the large profits of the mills and 

 to the fact that the stock of some of the companies is selling at ten 

 times the par value. But these facts signify little; profits were large 

 fifteen years ago and the value of the stock has been high accordingly. 

 The point is, the mills have not made such additional gains in recent 

 years as have other industries ; they have been pressed by the increasing 

 cost of production; and have relatively fallen behind in prosperity. 

 Advances in wages will probably mean cut profits and consequently 

 lower stock values. The writer is not defending the mill owners nor 

 yet the operatives ; he is merely pointing out a serious mal-adjustment, 

 for which neither side is fundamentally responsible, but from which 

 both are suffering. 



3. As in the case of prices, so the wages of different classes of work- 

 men have not advanced proportionally. Those affected pretty directly 

 by the changed conditions of supply and demand advanced first, and 

 those affected remotely, last. Then, if we distinguish broadly between 

 wages and salaries, we find that the latter particularly have responded 

 but little to the shifting exchange level. 



Salaries even more than wages are controlled by custom and rigid 

 social standards. Moreover, when they change they do so by jumps, 

 not gradually, as wages. Thus the salary of a clerk is $800 a year, 

 or $1,000, $1,200 or $1,500; an intermediate sum is unlikely; the 

 passage from one to the other is difficult and is painfully resisted by 

 the employer. « 



So, while wages have advanced gradually about 40 per cent. — not 

 enough to counterbalance the rise in prices — salaries have remained 

 almost unchanged. Again, however, conditions have varied a great 

 deal between different classes; in few cases there have been large 

 advances, in others moderate ones, but in the majority practically none 

 at all. Unfortunately we lack definite statistical data as to salary 

 standards. But, if we can rely upon observation by students of social 

 affairs, we are warranted in holding to the general conclusion stated. 



Salaries, then, perhaps more than any other class of incomes have 

 lost through rising prices. In fact, only recently have they clearly 

 begun to move upward. Eventually when a final high level of exchange 

 has been reached, especially if a downward swing sets in, equitable 

 adjustments will undoubtedly be reestablished, or gradually persons 



