PRICES AND WAGES
SIR,—Seldom do I disagree with " Janus," but surely his remarks on E.P.T. might be stronger. The claim that the rise in the cost of living justifies higher wages is largely fallacious. The ration for butcher meat, sugar, butter, &c., is fixed ; potatoes, milk and bread are heavily subsidised. If workers' wages were raised zoo per cent, tomorrow the extra money could only be spent on more beer, tobacco, " pictures," the " dogs," &c. This is evidenced by the ever-increasing sales of Savings Certificates, which savings are made, I believe, by a small proportion of wage-earners. The interest and repayment of these savings will be a burden on the whole body of tax-payers for years to come. Not a thought is given to those who have saved enough, as they imagined, to support them in their old age, nor to those with fixed incomes, such as clergymen (these, I believe, have this year received an addition of perhaps 7 per cent.) who now see their actual income cut in half. If we are to call a halt to inflation, the Government should announce that no further increase of wages will be allowed.—Yours faithfully, J. G. Goxinusr.
Kerse, Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire.
[" Janus " writes: I did not suggest for a moment that the rise in the cost of living justified an increase in wages—except possibly in the case of the lowest-paid workers.]
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