"Washington, Jan. 25.
President Roosevelt declared here to-day that American industrialists were "killing the goose that laid the golden eggs" when they kept prices up at the expense of employment and national purchasing power and when they cut wages thereby reducing purchasing power, Attacking current lay-offs and wage slashes in many major industries, the President said. mass producers needed volume consumption in order to make profit.
"The only way to get volume up," the President said, "is to produce goods at a price the public is able to pay. However, this does not mean that such price reductions can come out of the workers' pay..... Those who get the profits when business is good, must bear the losses when business is temporarily slack."
More "Pump-Priming" Likely The President avoided inquiries as to what he intended to do if large corporations continue to pare workers salaries. Tt was believed, ho ever, that further "pump priming" might be resorted to in an attempt to boost national purchasing power, thereby stimulating consumption and production, He pointed out that wage reductions thus far had not been widespread, but indicated he feared they might spread unless action were taken, "Asked whether he agreed with Mr. Benjamin Fairless, steel corporation executive, that steel prices could not be reduced without cutting wages, Mr, Roosevelt sad: "I am afraid it will not help to answer that que non again. I have d so freque.itly and do not know how to say it more clearly or unequivocally than I have already said—that I am opposed to wage reductions because the markets of American industry depend on the purchasing power of the working population. If we want to restore prosperity, we must increase, not decrease, that purchasing power."
"Moral Bankruptcy"
"Those in charge of a well-managed and solvent industry," the President said, "must no more consider casting the burden of temporary business recession upon the workers than upon the bond holders, To cast such a burden on the bond holders is financial bankruptcy. To cast the burden on the workers is not only moral bankruptcy, but bankruptcy of sound business judgment, "If the major industries reduce wages.... They will be deliberately encouraging the withholding of buying—they will be fostering the downward spiral and make it necessary for their Government to consider other means for creating purchasing power.
The President said he intended to confer with ten or twelve small business leaders next Monday following current discussions with industrial leaders. The Secretary, of Commerce, Mr, Daniel C, Roper, will confer with 500 small businessmen this week, the President revealed.—United Press,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.