EQUAL SACRIFICE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4534, 22 November 1930, Page 3

EQUAL SACRIFICE.

'Tiie greater part of the address deiiivered iby the president of the Employers’ Pederation at Wellington oil Wednesday, comments the I'ost, was a reply to the Labour arguments submitted in objection to the request that the Arbitration Court shohld be empowered to reduce wages by general order. As the Government declined to give that authority' last session, the subject is not immediately controversial; but it should be considered in’ all its bearings. Even a Government which is anxious to give no offence to Labour may yet be compelled by circumstances to lake action on such lines. Mr. Weston’s answer to the Labour arguments was reasoned and reasonable. It rested chiefly on two points; that it is impossible to maintain nominal wages ait an aiv lilicinlly high level and that equality of sacrifice is essential to tiie recovery of the country. The lirsl point we have many times emphasised. It is wholly fallacious lo argue, as Labour does, that the primary producers can be helped by maintaining or even increasing wages. In America, where the high wages aid to prosperity has been most strongly supported, the conditions are much more favourable lo its success than in New Zealand. Yet even in America, this theory is being abandoned. It is realised that costs must be reduced, and that, if they are not, employment cannot be maintained. The second point submitted by Mr. Weston, equality of sacrifice, is one which calls for the attention he -gave to it. There is much misunderstanding in Labour circles concerning the. sacrifice that the woilkers arc asked to make. The leaders of the workers have told tl. mn that employers are using the depression as cover for an attack on wages. “At the first sign of trouble (say the leaders) the cry is raised: ‘Wages must come down,’ when this being dinned into their ears the workers eanuot he blamed if they join in a demand •for sacrifice by capital, and management. Mr. Weston did well to emphasise, therefore, that capital lms already made very substantial ■sacrifices. Shares of the most solid companies have fallen heavily in value. Many shareholders, if I hey were forced to sell now, would lose a considerable part of their investment. Land values have receded sharply, and house property is probably, at a lower level than it has been for ‘many years. The demand for reduction in wages, indeed, has not been made first, ibut after reductions have been made in many other directions. it Js made now only because it is seen that, without further relief in costs, production cannot be maintained. If production falls, unemployment will extend. An artificial rate of money wages will then be of little value to workers who, find themselves unable to obtain employment at that rate.