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AVoice Cries Out:
WHY
The Am.erican
Living Standard
Is GoingDown!
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We are in or close to world chaos!
One factor is the rise and fall of the
American standard of living. Why?
I
T's TIME
we awaken to
CAUSES!
Human surviv
al has become the world's
No. 1 problem.
What brought the world
to this frightening brink of
human extinction
?
What
brought on the myriad problems.
upheavals and evils that engulf
the world
?
And. paradoxically,
amid awesome progress
?
It's easy to hecome so en1,trosse-d in the
day-to day activiti4"s that we o-..·erlook
underlyingimpendinR disasters It ' s no time
to Oddi� while Amer�u and the world arf'
hurning'
Look now lo one serious contrihuting
factor-the 2.0th-century ri� and now
impendinR fall of the American standard of
living. No nation ever ascended to the h\gh
living standard this nation has enjo'.)•ed�
But WHY? H1,w did we come by it? What
have we done with it? What basic O,Ui!IS
threaten to bring us low now')
There was an unrt>ali:zed, underlvin� rea
son for America'!! rise to unprecedented
wt>alth and atfluence. Rut let mf' now mf'n
tion a sp,eclfic subsidiary cause
On ,Jan. 6, 1914, I
was sent
a!I
an editorial
reprPsentativP or a national magazine to
Detroit to interview Henry Ford ahout his
sensational S5·a·day wage scale announced
the day before. 1 s.aw Mr. Fmd at the then
Highland Avenoe plant. But for details I
also saw ,Juhn R. Lee. head of the Sociul11gi
cal Department It had been Mr. Lf'e·.,
hrainchild and he edmini!ltered it
··1 understand . " l began, "you are now
paying the highest wag.- scale in the auto
mobile industrv."
"On the co�trar-y . " came th.e surprisinli!:
reply, .. we are paying the 11,west '
Astonished . l asked, . . Are vou not now
payini;: $5 per day for an eig
-
ht-hour day,
while the union scale at other plants is $:I 7:'i
for a nine.hour dav" . .
·'Correct," Mr. 1:ee replied. "hut we don't
evaluate what we pay in terrns of dollars per
man-h{lur, but what we get for y.•hat y.·p
pa_v ..
Then he explained that Ford alone had
production large enough to shift to the
assembly.line system. This enabled the
company to set the pace of worke•prod.uc·
tion
Mr. Le-e continued: · 'We now get more
H�RIIEfH W ARM:.TkONl,
than twice the pr,.duction per eiti::ht-hour
Jav than others rw,r nine-hour day. We pay
$.') lahur co<;t for the same production nthns
recel..:l:'" fnr $7 labor t()st-and our em
plo_\·ees make $1 :!:'"i more pt>r da . v for one
h1)UT le,:
, � work '
The Ford cumpan,, wa!'. then r,.1in
union . hut latf'f hecame unionized. It was
0(1! rnanv \·ears until other..; in the motorcar
1ndu,.;tr\· were able
\[j
go on the as..-.embly .
line ;:,ystem Soun it became the ,;;vstem in
rnosl l' � 1ndustrv--all lines
This nation pro\·idf"d a ma . ss market for
mass ma('hine production nut then poss1hle
in Eornp' and ,Japan
Thi� rnass m.:1d1ine prorlueti11n ,,.nared
indu,-.tnal pr11ht!'< Hu\ l.'lbor leaders v.:ne
nu\ .i,:oing to .illow rnpital and management
tu r�ap all the lu�o:ious ht'netits. Lahur ,.,,ars
e-nsuf'd �r1 lont,l.er y.·as a sinl(le industt\' a.
united team of e-mpliJ;l> ' et and employee. Of
course rnpital and manaiement was out to
"c.n'' all it could bv expanded prohts from
mas.s machine production. Rut lahnr, too,
was uul tn "(;F.T" all it could
The "(.E:T" incenti\·e led tn Mmpetition
t11,� ,1Ht ' n lij strife and '"·11,lence -hetween
the two d1\"isl
1
,n;. nf the same rompanv or
1ndu�trv
It
i"
enormrnlsl..: -...i11:niti\·ant that in thn,
..e
year,; : \mern:an �1a..;s prodLKtion Pny,yed
h1....,er adual production cr1sts hiecause c.f
mass machine produl"lion. Other natiuns
rrnlld nut n,mpt>te With lahor !(:eltin� its
f111l ..,hare nf the enlar);'edprospnih· pif'. THF.
A'-H:RJ<·A."o ST1,�0ARll elf tl\.l.'<1(; SOI\Rl':D TO I\
Hll;H ',jF:\r-
:R ATT,,INED BY I,!',;\ PF.OPLF. 1 ...
WORLD 1-
11 . ...T(IRY' A hul{E' middle and upper
middle class eml:"rgPd · in the l'nited States
Rut E.urnpi!"an�. in due time, provided for
thf'mselves a mess market by the Europ,Pan
Economic C'omn,unlty, the "Common Mar-
kt-t" �oon Europe-
was u,mpetint,: in ma�s.
pr,.dtH"fi(,n h..,. the <h<.tamhlv-llfle svstf'm -
hut with lm1. co-.t labor P,1s(w:1r .lapan
f;)ll(,Wt'd . ;ui,. AmPriea nl•W fan:•d a new
inlernatiqnf\l n1mµt>titi11n F.uropf'a.n and
lapane..;p as<..e-mhlv-lLne ma..;s mavhint' pru
dltl"linn 1,1,·ith lm1,,· Ct•'.--1 lahnr, aiain:-., l " �
prodmtion with hiih co:.t labnr
Wht-n [ "5wned a nt'w htw·ra\ art... n,lki;:e
in Fflgland in 19�\\ . the awraJ:::lc' ..\mprican
WAl{e Y..as s1dl thrn times that nl Hntalfl
and Eur<ipe and fc,ur times that ,,r .[apan
l'wo decadf's havf' r1,n...iderahly uppt:>d waj;e
�rales in those n,untrie'I The .lapanese
tPt1av are the haurv buvers of 1he w,ir\d
the- leaders 1n 1,1,.urld lravt ' I and, w11nder oi
W(>nders, .lapane-se alllomuhile pri>d1id1i1n
has o'..-nlakt>n that of the l'mted State�/
Li'.in11: s.!andatds in other indu.;trial
nations have heen rising. Ours is on the way
dwi ri'
It is. a c ompetili,..P world The-
way nf
. . ,.FT·· is the impelling motiv.:>
1
,\rid "c;n" is
lhe ovnall '"l: . ;;F. of all world troubles and
evils�
Ahraham Lincoln knew, and "aid. we
:\mericans did not come to our unprece
t\ented proo�rity and atttuenre of 11ur ii""'"
eHorts The Creitl i ;od hestowed it 1m
us- and is h...llding us A.f'\Ot:NTABU:' We
have not used this unearnf'd material birth
ri�hl aC'{'lltding to Ci){f,_ ba'i\C 'ip1ritua} l.Ailo
of LOH: l"c;l\f. . . )_ IT IS .",iOW BEIN(; TAKEl'o
PROM I s'
It's time we- WAKF. l'P-- and THlNK� This\,;,.
nn impradini! t1r !iupe,r�titious maudlin
reli�iuus �tatement. It is the hard CDld facts
that stare us in the face
1
Vie are KOinl{ lo he made to pay for our
transgres'\iom, of the hasie spiritual LA.... - of
life wt in ju�\ a:. relentless mot1nn a� the
power of l("ra\·ity
1
Then. not because we deserve it. that super
stron� ··l'nseen Hand from Someplace" is
gqin.,; lo inter\·ene. and save this btloved
country-- and the !4'orld -from ourselves'. It
..._.i11 not he done b_\ us, hut to us-usherinK in
the ut,,ptan 1•.0RlO TOM()RRO.. --W(1rld peace,
happlne'-S. uni'lersal we[].being, eternal sal
1·a1inn fur all who .,.,.-di'
The time has eome' A voice nies 01..11'. Ynu
have heen told
1
Your acreptanre (Ir rejf'ction
wtll not alter what is. ahout to happen'
�
Pastor General
WorldYiide Church of God
Page 3