FFECT OF PRODUCTION ON LIVING COST

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 207, 27 May 1920, Page 5

FFECT OF PRODUCTION ON LIVING COST

' Under the caption, "Let's Go," the Chicago "Herald and Examiner" published the following editorial, August 22:— "Put one hundred men on an island where fisifo is the staple article of sustenance. Twenty-five of the men catch fish. Twenty-five others clean tho iisn. Twenty-five cook the fish. Twenty-five hunt fruit and vegetables. The entiro company eats what thus is gathered and prepared. "So longi as everybody works there is plenty. All hands are 'happy. "Ten, of tlie allotted fish catchers stop catching fish. "Teh more dry and hide part of the fish they catch. "Five continue to catch fish, but work only part of the day at it. "Fewer fish go into tlhe community kitchen* "But the same number of men insist upon having the same amount of fish to eat as they had before. "The fifty men wlho formerly cleaned and cooked the fish have less to do owing to the undersupply.'of fish'. But they continue to demand food. "Gradually greater burdens are laid upon the fruit and vegetable hunters. These insist upon a larger share of fish in return for their larger effort in gathering fruit and vegetables. It is denied them, and soon twenty of the twenty-five quit gathering fruit and vegetables. "But the entire one hundred men continue to insist upon their right to eat. "Tho daily food supply gradually shrinks. The man with, two fish demands three bananas in exchange for one of them. The man with two bananas refuses to part with one for fewer than three fish. "Finally, the ten men remaining at work quit in disgust. Everybody continues to eat.. The hidden fish are. brought to light and consumed. Comes a day when there is no food' of any kind. Everybody on the island blames somebody else. "What would seem to be the solution? "Exactly! We thought you would guess it.

"For we Tcpeat that you can't eat, buy, sell, steal* give away, hoard, wear, ' use, play with or esmble with what isn't."