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AVoice Cries Out:
WHY
The Am.erican
Living Standard
Is GoingDown!
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'
h'!I ea1v to bK-ome 10 engroued in the
day-to-d�v activitie-t that we overtook
underlying
.
u11.pending dis.a1ten. Ifs no time
to tiddle while Amtr\ca ,u,d the world are
burning!
Look rww ta one sen:ow: contributing
factor-the 20th-century rtse and now
impe,ndin1 f,ll of the American �tandard of
livin,_ No n,:ti.:Jn eYer Hcended to the hi,rh
livin1 stand•rd this nation Ms enjoyed!
But wtrv
?
How did we come bv lt� What
have we done with it� What 'bulc c.-..usu
threaun to bring ut low now�
There wu an unrealized. underlyin1 rea
wn far Amer1ca'1 ri5e to unpr�Mented
wealth end t1,rftuence. But let me now men
tion a �P"('1fic �ublid\ary ceUM.
On ,Jan . 6. 1914. ( waa wnt at an editorial
rt-preHnt.&tiV* of • nationaJ magazine to
Detroit to inttorview Henry Ford •bout his
!ienu,t\ona, SS-a--d•'.f wqe scale s.nnrn.Jnced
the d�y befon. J M:w Mr. Ford et lhe then
Hi1hl•nd Avenue plant. But for detail• I
allo uw ,John R. l....e-e. head of the Sociologi
cal Departl"l'lent. It had hffn �r Lee·s
bralnchild and he admini1Ured it
··1 underttand." I l:Mogan. "yoo are now
pa�'ln& the highnt wage �ca� in the 11uto
mobile industry."
"On the contrary." came the surpri1in1
rtply, '"we ate payln1 the- loweflt. ··
As.tonll:h�. l ukM. "Are voo not now
payin1 S5 per da:., for an ei(ht-hour day,
while 1he union .cale at other plant.I is s:l'75
for a nine-hour da_,.,
.,
..
·-corre-rt." Mr. LN replied. ··but we don't
evaluatewhat we pav in terms nfdollars per
man-hour. llut whit WI!' grt for what we
Pl"-'"
Then he uplalned th.at Ford alone had
production large enough to !h1ft lo the
a!!&iiPmhl-.·-lin• �ystiPm. This enabled the
cnm-p,i,n-.i to �t lke pace of worliter produc
tu>n.
Mr. Ltt continued: · ·We now ge-- t more
than t,....ice the production per eight-hour
day than ocher1 per rtine-hot.1r da�·. We pay
$5 tabor cost (or the !IAme production oth,n
receive for S7 labor c011t�and our em
plovtt! make Sl, 25 more per day for ont
hour Jeu work.··
The Ford company waa the-n non
union. but later be-came unionized. It was
notmany yeaf'until 0th.en in th• 1'1'\0torc•t
induatry were able to go on the paembly
line !lyttem. Soon it became the o·stem in
moet U.S. industry-all lines.
This nation provided. a mau m,rkiPt for
mau machine production not then pt.)Uibte
in Europe and Japan.
This mau machine productiol"I soared
industrial protita. But labor le,aden w�"
not coihg to aUow caplt.a, and nuinaw.e,ment
to reap all the luKious henefit.a. Labor wat1
en!lued. �o lon,t:iPr was a sinl(le industrv a
unitN:I team of iPmployer and employee. Of
course capital and managupent wa• out to
··i;IT" all it could by e11pandt>d profits from
mass machine production. But tabor . to,o,
........ t)ut to "Gr:r" all it could..
Thi!' "r,n" inciPntive led to competition
too often to ,trife and violence-Ml wHn
the two di..·isioru1 of the M� cornpanv or
industrv
I t i� enormouslv sil(niticant that in thou
yean American �aaa production enjoyed
JowiPr actual production cost.s bt!,cau&e uf
maa11. machine product1ot1. Other nation,
could not compete. With labor getting its
full shue of the enlar,ttd pr�perity pie. TH!
AM!Pll('"N STANDARD o, Ll\.'JNC. SOARED TO A
HtC',K NE\'�R A.nA.tN�O B� A.NY p�OP1..1: IN
WORLD HI.STORY
(
A huti:e middle and upper•
middle clu1 emer-g� in the United States
But Europe-ans. u1 due time, provided for
themsth-'N a masa market by the European
Economic Community. th.e "Cammon Mar-
k.et." Soon Europe wu competin1 in mesa
production by the aaaembly.Jine syatem
but with low-coel \abor. Po,1twat ,h ,pan
follow@d suit. America no11v faced a new
International cornpet1tion-&uropean and
-Japane,e assembly-line mau machi.ne pro
duction with \ow-cost labor. against U.S
production with hirh-coet labor.
When I openotd a new libt-r•J art.a college
in Engla.nd in t960. lhe av,nqe American
w,ge ""al!I still three times ll1at of Britain
and Europe! and four timN that of J.apan
Two decad� have considerably upped wage
!oC&.ltt 1n th0&e countrin . 'fhe Japanese
today are the lu.1:ur-y buyet1 of thiP world
tht \ea.ders in world travel-and. wonder o(
w<mder"!I, ,Japanese automobile production
hs.s overtaken that of the United Sta.tH�
Living -1tandard1 in other industrial
n1tions have be-en rising. Oun ls on the way
dnu·n.
lt is a competitive world. The way of
"(,ET . . is the impelling motive
1
And "r.ET" is
the overall C1'USI of alJ world troubleti and
e\o · ils!
Abraham Lincoln knew, and said, we
Ameriun1 did not come to our unprec.e
dtnted. prO!!.J)if'rity and atfluence of our own
efforts. The Great God b,e,ltowed it on
u1-a.nd is holding u• 1'CCOVNT.-.at.2! W�
hs.ve not used this unearned rnat.erial birlh
ri11ht according to God's basic spiritual LAW
of LOii£ ( "C',l\"t."\. lT IS "'i(),w B�\HG T�KW.M
YflOM lJS!
It's time we �"Kl UP-and THINK! Thia ii
no impractical or superst it ious maudlin
religious iltatement. I t is the hard co)d fact,
ttiat st.are u.t in the face!
We arr going to be made to pay for our
transgr-e!mons of the has1c !p1ritual LA.w of
life .,,et in Just as re1ent1eS$ motion as the
powiPr of ji!tavit)·'
Then, not �csuH we-deserve it. that !'fU�r
�trnn" "t'nse,en Hand from �eplac�" 1s
going to int1Prven1P. and �vt this belove-d,
countr..--and the world-from ounelve,s� It
will
not
be done Oy us. but lo us-ushtring in
the I.H.np\an WOlll.O \Ol,&01\1\()'ft-lNOfld �11..1:e.
happin�s. universal well-bieln«, et,rnal YI·
\'Blinn fot an who wlW
The time h.u come,
1
A voice criH out
1
Ym.J
have been told! \'our acceptanu or rtittt1on
,,. , ill not alter what 1� about to happen!
�
H!RBERT W.
ARMSTROJorK.
Pastor Gl!-r,eta\
Worldwide, Church of (;(,d
I would like to utftr �-ou a subscription to ThP
Plain
Trr..Hh. a mawazine nt
under,otandin1t l'tterly unique-no adnrtisin�--no 'luhsct1p11on prict'. The
maa-azine that �ives you the meanine: behind world news w·
irh a fore-cast of
the future. Address Herbil!'rt W .\rrnstrnna-. Pasadena. Calif. 91 t:n. '" call
1011 fret. IMll(H �:.!:'-44-H In California rail eollert 1:21·
11 .- 177- .
'12'.2:'i
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