1918 - Commerce

Commerce

The anti-Bolshevist government in North Russia establishes a National Emission Caisse, or currency board, which issues rubles backed by British pounds sterling and can be exchanged for sterling at a fixed rate.

Inflation begins in Germany. The mark will decline in value by 99 percent in terms of gold over the course of the next few years (see 1922).

British income taxes rise to 30 percent, up from 15 percent in 1915, as the national debt climbs to an unprecedented £8 billion.

National City Bank chairman James Stillman dies of heart disease at New York March 15 at age 67, leaving a fortune estimated at more than $50 million.

Forbes magazine publishes a list of the 30 richest Americans (see communications, 1917). Their combined wealth is $3.7 billion.

A Third Liberty Loan bill signed into law by President Wilson April 4 provides for 10-year bonds paying 4.5 percent interest to raise an additional $3 billion for the war effort; a Fourth Liberty Loan drive launched September 28 offers $6 million in bonds at 4.25 percent.

British Columbia becomes the first Canadian province to pass a law guaranteeing that women will not be paid less than a living wage. By 1922 all provinces except New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island will have women's minimum wage laws.

The Owen-Keating Child Labor Law of 1916 is an unconstitutional encroachment on states' rights, the Supreme Court rules 5 to 4 June 3 in the case of Hammer v. Dagenhart. Justice Holmes writes a dissent in which Justices Brandeis, Clarke, and McKenna concur (see Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938).

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union begins striking against open shops, sweatshops, and piece-work pay (see 1914). The union will stage at least 534 strikes in the next 6 years and claim victory in 333 (see 1937).

A Chicago jury finds IWW leaders guilty of conspiring against the prosecution of the war (see 1917). The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will sustain the heavy fines, and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis will hand down prison sentences to some 100 leaders (see Butte massacre, 1920).

Wives of 43 Japanese fishermen gather on the beach at Namekawa in Toyama Prefecture July 23 to complain about the high price of rice. They go into town and demand that rice shops sell to them at lower prices, and their efforts begin a nationwide movement. Police arrest 7,813 protesters.

Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average closes December 31 at 82.20, up from 74.38 at the end of 1917.