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weapon of the strike to force the high–
est possible wage.
Competing With Other Nations
American unionism has lacked the
vision to sec that in actual fact it is
competing
with foreign labor. It has
not foreseen that thc development of
instantaneous communication and rapid
transportation worldwide is now throw–
ing it into direct competition with
workers in other countries \villing to
give a Joya!, honest day's work for half
or less than half the American wagc
standards.
Other countries have now gone to
mech,111ized
MAS$
PRODUCTION. Thcy
are competing now for MASS MARKETS.
They are looking with compctitive eycs
at thc lush AMERICAN markets whcre
they can undersell American manu–
facturers. For they, too, now utilize
the machine for mass production; and
their workers are willing to work loyally
for half, and less, of the wage thc
Unitcd States manufacturer must pay.
Thc Common Market in Europe has
resulted in provid ing mass markc ts for
European mass production. Volkswagcn
has not only found a Europcan mass
market, but has reaped a bounteous har–
vest on the American market. So has
Toyota of Japan.
I.et me givc you a comparison. Let me
show you what the American laborer -
demanding higher and higher wages
with constantly increased othcr beneíits,
while giving as little as he can get away
with - is actually cornpeting against.
Yoshiaki Matsuura, age 49, is an
assembly linc foreman at Toyota Motor
Company. He makes it a rule to come to
work half an hour early every day. He
gets no extra pay for this extra donated
time. He asks for nonc. He does not
threaten to strike. His superior in the
company cons iders him no different
from the average of Toyota's 37,000
workers.
It
is bccause of this typical Japancsc–
type
loyalty to employer - they con–
sider it a national patriotisrn, because it
helps the nation compete with other
countries - that Toyota is becoming
the fastcst growing automobi le manu–
facturer in the world. They produccd
1,47 1,2 11 cars last year. They are now
number 5 in the world, and may soon
pass Chrysler and Volkswagen.
Wages in the United States are twice
that of Europe, four times as high as
Japan. However, the Japanese worker
receives Eringe beneíits - such as low–
cost housing and others.
And what about comparative cost of
1 iving? I do not have cxact statistics at
hand, but in England living costs do
not seem to be much different from
those in the United States. How do the
English, then, live on half the wage?
Their living standard is rnuch lower.
The average English living room is
ha rdly half as large as the average
American. The average English home
has no "fridge" as they call it. Dairies
advertise a mcthod for kceping milk
COOL. They drive smaller cars, and a far
smaller percentage of the population
own cars.
National Loyalty Lacking
How about company loyalty in the
United States? The question sounds like
a joke. Wben even the company union
had agreed to a temporary 20-week
1
O%
pay cut in order to savc thci r jobs
by keeping the Hami lton Watch Com–
pany in business, sorne 250 dissident
emplorees hi red a lawyer to block the
par cut
by
court action. Even though it
thrcatened to put their company out of
business!
When President Nixon and Secretary
Shultz suggested that unions should
moderate their demands , to prevent
pr icing their employers out of business,
a nationally known labor tender retorted
that no union leader would scale down
bis demands - even in the nationai
intercst. The attitude in America seems
to be: "What! Me act in the national
interest ?"
But in Japan Yoshiaki Matsuura
says: "We Japanese have beco brought
up in the concept that our own needs
are secondary to scrving others."
Do not mistake. Do not rnisunder–
stand me. I am completely in favor of
what is BEST in the interest of the
American worker. But 1 want my read–
ers to stop and think. Because our
fellow American workmen are NOT
working in their own best interests!
Look where these trends a re leading.
When American workers a re trying
to get all thcy can get - and at the
same time giving as little as they can get
away with - even to giving NOTHING
(as the railroad firemen) - and Japa–
nese and German workers, in
their
nati onal intcrest, are working for half
the wages or less, and working with the
fervor of loyalty and patriotism, it means
we are headcd one of two ways:
Either we start raising high tariff bar–
riers against other countries, starting a
TRADE WAR which in time will trigger
the nuclear war that will DESTROY us
- or, American workers are going to
have to MEET the competition of the
workers in other countries, by lowe ring
living standards. Obviously American
workers are not going to choose to do
the latter .
And if they don't - well, THE
HANDWRlTING IS ON OUR NATIONAL
WALL.
Prime Minister Sato suggested to me
that both his country and ours would do
well to learn the lesson of history. Mr.
Sato has been friendly to the United
States. He was friendly to me person–
ally. For six years he has built a reputa–
tion for mainta ining smooth relations
with the United States. Japan is the
chief trading partner and ally of the
United States in the Pacific.
Japan today has no military estab–
lishment. Some United States forces are
still there. But we should not lose sight
of the fact that Japan has become
SO
POWERFUL ECONOMICALLY that it
could
bui ld a military force of very
great power very rapidly.
Prime Minister Sato has said he has
no intention of revivi ng militarism in
Japan. But Mr. Sato's political future
may be riding on what happens in the
textile dispute. And Representative Wil–
bur Milis (D-Ark.), Chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee in
Washington, said flatly on January 20,
"We sti ll mean business!" in regard
to shoving through a textile-footwear
import quota bi ll in Congress.
Jf
American tariff barriers should
result in throwing many thousands of
Japanese out of work, would some
future Japanese Prime Minister decide
to put them to work in a Japanese
MILI·
TARY ESTABLISHMENT?
Let's hopc it doesn't happen. But THE
PROBL EM IS EXCEEDINGL
Y
GRAVE!
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