The labour basis for national economy, favoured by the totalitarian states, has been the subject of an interesting survey made public by the American Association of Manufacturers as a result of researches in Europe land the United States by an unnamed economist, This survey shows that workers living lurider a democratic form of government cara more in real wages than those in similar posi tions in totalitarian states, and. deduces that the purchasing power of wages in the United States. and foreign countries follows very Jelosely the degree of freedom allowed individuals and business." The comparisons made in this survey are so illuminating that they de~ serve careful study. For example, a factory worker in the United States' con buy four times as much food and clothing with an hour's wage as a German worker, nine times fas much as an Italian Worker, and nearly twelve times as much as a Russian worker. 0 terms of bread, an hour's wage will buy in the United States 7.5 1b; in Britain 6.2 Ib. Italy 28 Ib; in Germany 25 Ib; and in Russi 19 "1b. While the cost of a pair' of shoes, in hours and minutes of work, is in the United [States 3 hours and 20 minutes; in Germany 8 hours and 9 minutes; in Britain 9 hours and 3 minutes; In. France 12 hours and 34 minutes; and in italy 24 hours and 22 rainutes. On the ace of it, therefore, it would seem' that the deduction ' mentioned previously, that the freer the worker the belter time he has, is justified. But the comparison would appear to be weak in one point: workers in the {totalitarian states are not supposed to be work= ing for themselves, but their whole energies are supposed to be absorbed for the benet of the state, Thus comparisons with individual worke Jers of the democratic countries are not altogether true, "A worker in a totalitarian state may well be quite willing to labour for Jess Individual gain than his confrere in the de-Imocratic state, and may welcome the incon-Hveniences he may have to put up with in cone sideration of the good he believes he is doing {for the whole community. This is the ideal Iwhich is being inculcated in Soviet Russia and Germany. It must qualify to a considerable Jextent the commercial value of the comparisons made, especially as these comparisons do not {take into consideration the direct taxation each Jworker is called upon to pay.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.