At the moment, this looked like but one of the fantasies of that mad era. In retrospect it takes on definite form. We who had created a vital industry were put on the defensive as profiteers by leaders of a publicly supported labor monopoly, itself bent on profiteering. Whatever profit we might be allowed was a matter of law. As suppliers to the government, we were responsible to the people for keeping costs down. The workers, largely unskilled, were being urged by their leaders to slow down, while the same leaders blackjacked the public for higher wages for less work. All this, in the task of making the tools for the public’s defense.
The situation, largely chargeable to the Nye investigation and similar episodes, could have been avoided under leadership of a different character. A clear statement of the fundamentals, accompanied by an appeal to industry, labor, and the public, could have resolved the internal conflict into an all-out cooperative effort, but none was forthcoming. The political atmosphere of the time resembled that described by C. W. C. Oman in his book, The Seven Roman Statesmen, first published by Edward Arnold & Co., London, 1902. In Rome, the politicians from Tiberius Gracchus to Pompey, who paved the way for the Emperor Julius Caesar, bought the votes of the proletariat with money created by enterprising men and, while they gained fame for themselves, deprived the people of freedom.
The formal meeting took place in an ornate conference room on the fifth floor of the new Social Security Building. We manufacturers, after proving our identities, were shown the entrance to an escalator which we discovered went only as far as the fourth floor. That word “escalator” had been borrowed in war contracts as a means of partial protection against unforeseen wage hikes.
To a large gathering round the council table, Sidney Hillman pointed out that, since collective bargaining in Southern California had broken down, Washington had been forced to settle wages, working conditions, and similar matters—for the entire industry. The decision, it appeared, had already been taken at a high level and we might just as well relax and enjoy it.
Our position was stated by a spokesman who pointed out that if labor would step up its output and reduce costs, the employer could meet the demands out of savings in cost. If, however, government increased labor rates without correspondingly modifying sales-prices, it would bankrupt manufacturers.
Sidney Hillman listened to our point of view with amused tolerance and then played his ace.
“Of course,” he remarked, “you are protected by the escalator clause.”
Reuben Fleet, of Consolidated, twisted in his chair and swallowed an aspirin tablet.
“When we came up to this fifth floor this morning,” he said, “they showed us the escalator. But,” he added, wagging a finger in Sidney Hillman’s face, “the escalator stopped at the fourth floor.”
At this pat retort the contractors gave vent to a whoop that broke up the meeting.