Compensations,

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 184, 30 April 1919, Page 8

Compensations,

Thero is no reason, however, to regard the future in Canada with excessive apprehension.. The construction programme of the DominioiuGovernment will employ much labour ana much material. It is proposed to expend .£12,000,000 on Government railways, je4,COO,OOI> on public works, .£12,000,000 for shipbuilding, and lH'obahly from ',£20,000,000 .to ,£40,000,000 for demobilisation and general post-war objects. I'flr housing the Dominion and Provincial Governments will also provide _ between =t*G,OOO,OOO and .£7,000,000. Pensions will aggregate ' ,£8,000,000, and war gratuities <£15,0001000,000. There will /,so be heavy appropriations for land settlement, for road building, and for many municipal projects. The general disposition among manufacturers is to hold wages at the highest practicable level. Indeed, between organised Labour and the manufacturers there is a 'better understanding than has ever before existed in Canada. As never before the unwisdom oi> conflict and the advantages of conference and co-opera-tion are recognised. . 'It is admitted that until tho cost of living declines wages cannot be greatly reduced. The action of the United States in guaranteeing the price of wheat has materially aifected the situation in Canada._ Wheat and Hour prices aro determining factors in (lis cost of living. Wages in tho Dominion havo a direct relation to wages in American industrial centrcs. With Canadian, and American unionists under a common international organisation wages in Canada must approximate to wages across the border.

Thus with wheat prices guaranteed in the United States the cost of living-will remain high and wages fall slowly. It may be, too, that wheat prices will yet be guaranteed by. the Canadian Government. Tho Legislature of Sxskatchewan clemands that Ottawa shall follow the example of Washington. But among tho leaders even of the Western grain growers thero are serious differences of opinion as to whether or not prices should bo fixed.