Va

r increases. The fo

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| MUtuel 1-6338 - 6339

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

_ Knowles Provides Evidence
That Wage Increases
Do Not Cause Inflation

lowing is

an ‘argument to end all arguments to de-
fo

The fou
termine whether wage increases
‘ollowi

‘or pri

sah aa ‘excerpts from an address 3 given by

and wage-rates 12.7.

ing ies of Canada. Ii
d by the ae are of s
unionists to be kept on file for
with the enoivers os iat

ible for pushin:

“I know ‘es no Eris that wage increases have in fact | te™
i

CLC, bef

t is suggested Het the shins as as

ufficient vi

e for active 4
reference chan en Yy are faced
wages have been solely respons:

n inflatio

108

in Can:

mn i

first post-war gptlations just after the ee pended

The
came from the long pen

ada since World War
and

pi But from 1948 to 1949,
consumer > pric es went up 0.7 per

56 far, ea tacit ger tecortee!

Wi the UNICEF-
in Kabul.

to veterans, plus return Dea
reductions, plus low crests
mone;

nae Saaaieh at the timé of are

orean war, came from
scramble for raw materials tout
ed off by that war and the fear

a bigger ae
he third, just before the cur-
Pent recession, was“an investment-

“yy

d, plu
mpulsory ee ie

-rates, in other words a

concerting to those Mee cept
or peddle the ponelat

ag t, and
that they cause a

price-increase.
“From 1951 to 1952, consumer

wholesale prices

1949 to 1950,
per cent, wage-rates

rose 11.2

onk Se,
“From 1950 to Ae oleae

priees rose 8.9 per cei

ime wage-rates ro:
wages were only just catching

mot Bt invest than there pes

and I Believe

Pr Pe iaesics Preceded
“First, the price increases often
came before the wage incre:

up. with wholesale p
quite at that, Bere tants yi
years, 1946- i981, wholesale prices
e 69.1 per cent and wage-rates
only 56.9.

“From 1951 to ae guolesate
pte

aren 1953 to ay wholesale

ree fell 28 per cent, while
ge-rates ro:

1985, wholesale prices rose 2.7 p

and were greater. att i age usual | per cent, and wage-rates 4.9,

for the effect to come first, and sazrom ea SOE arareiA
the cause afterwards! Let us look fail 09 “Pe z ete
at the changes in wages an center
wholesale prices, from 1946 t

year, since
vee the wage-rate index is cal-
ted.

ae er: y
e Hee ‘ine, scl Prices were
58.

netfan nae

ne
106.2 per cent. From “949. re 198,

e 3.2, roi 1934 ie Wage

, while wage-
rose 7.2, which is even more
me to 1953,

6 per cent,

rates
Cee Fro:
es Tosi

Tose more

per cent above 1946, and real

cee product rose just barely
less than real wage-rates. It was
not until ‘1952 that the index of
real wage-rates (October eee
100) rose above the index of pi
dui uctivity (1946=1

“By 1955, productivity was 23,18

.96 per cent.
In other wor ae ees in-
thi

e
‘wage-rati
70. That is the story for
the private business economy as a
whole.”

comune
prices rose 2.5 per cent, and wai
rates 4.9.

anion 1956 to ees consumer
cel

to 1957, the increase in consumer
prices was 22.7 per cent, and the
increase in Soe 56.5.

“It is not easy to fit that into
the eae pattern, either!
Vages did lag behind con-
sumer price: ges kept goil
up every year, while consumer
prices fell one year of tl
en, and remained almo:
tionary from 1951 to 1955, inclus-
ive. In O r, 1955, in fact, the
‘ nsumer Bee eid was actual-
02 per fs tober,
151, tough: a ne up,

in the same Pe cod eed 19.0
per ane Con: r pri ices ought

a the increase ee wholesale
“iitom 1946 to 1947, wholesale | \.4, 137 pi nt, and the i fac ease
prices rose 23.2 per cent, wage-|in were
rates 11.9. From 1947 a ea “Tr is not easy to fit that puto)
‘ the neat, popular, editorial patt
and wage-rate the piaze price spiral. Wage:
‘From 1948 e oor ught go up first. But the:
prices actually fell by iy oa ‘cent tia “they teaged pea and
while wage-rates rose 4.5. From me r five
Mass ee eae uj
very a so prices ought to

Printers

The B.C.
LUMBER WORKER

s
evidence of the post-war paper:
Consumer Erie ric

Avhat abou

All right; Tes. ‘Took at

i
s. From 1947

ity ros
mer | v

But they didn’t.

far less.
Gross National Product

age-Rates

“From 1946 10 sod, productivity

rose 1.45 per and real wage-

as fell O08. “Fron cm = 1948,

se er coat

They went up

rose ae ae cent, and real
rates 3.7

“From Far to 1950, productiv-
ity rose ent, and real
w

wage-

2.09.
1952, product
per cent, and real w:

gates

e 3.87 p

5 obligation ic oi
e | Progre:

xamine "te social ee econ-

omic splat sof i

“And we have che aa Ee the

ue nae social
‘omati

that the ea by viteclt

tees nothing but a method

dui tion!

“When automation and the new

introduced, we

an
vara
of pi

a] a
|
+ They sa =
@e@e =
a
a
2 =
Albert Whitehouse William O. Douglas
Die ies zal Union Aces Justice, Supreme Court
ans o> abor has mar Jon;

eee labor does nut fight] way down the corridors of his-
fecEnClori Droerer but weltory. In this country it had no
ave a ae pana a ty to ques- thrown off the chains of a

Hes th of the “ana and it

by the ne  itons of two
generations.

ig! ty Momentum
“From the days of Byron and
a

at last
eae Franlelin FRowerele it gath-

SORE, were ered a mighty momentum and

were greeted wi omises that) swept away the remaining threats
atmatoal — if left to the cor-!o¢ an industrial serfdom
porations ould bring about a1 «Collective ibesarytiathy

and proble lems

tablished and became the ascened
practi ice and tradition. A h

oul) be resolved. vi a ae
breison of an

ee Predicted
“The experts predicted that aut-
omati woulda create more jobs
than it eliminated. Not too long

‘itl ertoreatieally create higher
ising standards.

cations would be very tempor

and unimportant.

‘They told us that automation
would create skilled jobs by the
fens of thousands and that the
new technology would bring
{higher wages those it dis-|
eee

Tai hat the future

jeor pue 4uoo sed ggg asox 4y1|T

to 1948, consumer prices went up

wage-rates 2.67. In four of the

Hd

LIMITED
PRINTERS AND
LITHOGRAPHERS

An Employee Owned Co.
944 RICHARDS

24” L.E.L, $17.35; os LE.L.
24” McC Bas

90;

BOX No. 66

SAW CHAIN 257 DISCOUNT

oo EZ $19.9!
Write for details

JAY'S MAIL

ORDER
BURLINGTON, ONTARIO

$20.15; 32” 1.E.L. $24.00

tl
called fo fusing in the aoa and
they ee prsnictes an
utine drudgery i iets

employment, t

30” ae -44 $23.10

to better tiving sda ‘for a ll.
“Anybody offer a
rd of caution

who would destroy the m:

teur
chines and as a ae Bee on the

ose things

ref
e were told ite any ae

er were written on the books.
Life, liberty and ee pursuit of
f t

piness became a part o}
philosophy of fact r oe
nent. Human rights — not prop-
erty rights alon eee itand-
ards of industrial ju

The Nation’s a
“yy noe

Leanna che. whole body core
tic We: sae itious food in the
blo

‘the Fee se d_th

argaining, a wholesome and
friendly abnogshece for workers.”
had just completed a ne
ce sentence

aueata i to. ana “about,”

ically
romised so blithely.”

he said, “I’m four.”