The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-15 00:00:00

TIM WORKING CLASSES OF NEW I ORK.

The New York Times has an exhaustive article
on this subject, one daily rising in importance, as
thereis no city wherein "strikes" are more general or
likely to cause more mischief, as may be seen from
the following account from the Philadelphia Ledger :
"The German cabinetmakers of New York have
struck for an advance of wages. In that city there
are 107 shops, in which the cabinetmakers, num-
bering about 2,500, and belonging to an associa-
tion, are employed. The journeymen are now earn-
ing from eighteen to twenty dollars per week. The
strike is for a general advance of about 15 per cent.
The men employed in each shop, however, will de-
termine the price to be paid. The gas and steam
fitters of NewoYork, it is stated, will on March 22d
strike for an increase of fifty cents upon the pre-
sent rate of wages, $2 50c per day. The stone
rubbers' strike in New York still continues, the un-
employed men being supported by the hands who
have work. The printers' strike in New York is
not yet settled ; eight bosses decline acceding to
the demands of the men, and it is asserted that the
men must establish a co-operative printing estab-
lishment, in order to obtain the contracts now held
by the employers." The New York Times says :
" The rich are becoming richer, the poor poorer,'
is the graphic expression by which Commissioner
Wells, of the Internal Revenue Service, pictu, ed
the condition of the American people generally.
In no part of the country has wealth more rapidly
accumulated and concentrated in the hands of the
few, or poverty become so general and extended, as
in this city. Nowhere are the poor becoming more
rapidly poorer than in the wealthiest city of the
Union. This is, as some argue, undoubtedly due
to tLe fact that, against all reason and their own
interests, the labouring classes insist on adopting
mechanical rather than agricultural pursuits, and,
in search of occupation in these branches, crowd
into large cities, instead of remaining in the rural
districts, where, if wages are less, the cost of living
is also proportionately less. The labour market of
many mechanical branches in this city is often
glutted—there is no denying that ; and at this time
of numerous strikes in various branches of industry
this over-supply of labour is a principal source of
trouble and the cause of the non-success of many
strikes. But, aside from this fact, there are other
causes affecting the prosperity of the most skilful
labourers, who are in the greatest demand, and
which tend to keep all grades of the working
classes in poverty ; so that while the general
prosperity- of the country increases with the grati-
fying rapidity of past periods, the majority
of the mechanics are not so prosperous as
they were before the war. In a few of the
less crowded and most active trades workmen
are realizing profitable wages as compared with the
ante-war rates. For instance, a goodly number of
coopers are doing about as well at $24 per week as
they did in 1860 at $9 per week ; but there are
three times as many shoemakers as coopers in this
city, and these are half-starving on $l2 where they.
got $9 before the war. The plasterers and brick-
layers, in this time of active building operations
are making more money at $3O per week now titan
they did in 1860 at $lO and $l2, but ten times as
many tailors are losing money and living poorly at
$2O instead of the $l4 which they received before
the war. Our careful inquiries and observations
into this subject, while revealing that a few of the
trades requiring skilled workmen are paying profit-
able rates, aad a few others are affording what are
living, but barely living wages, the majority of the
trades, and those employing the vast majority of
working men, are conducted by employers at star-
vation wages to the workmen. From the elaborate
and valuable table which accompanies this article,
and which has been compiled with great care, ens-
bracing the comparative wages of all the principal
trades, computed in various articles of constant and
necessary domestic use, it will be seen that-1.
Bricklayers, carpenters, coopers, masons, plas-
terers, printers (daily), stair-builders, tin-roofers,
are receiving comparatively profitable wages—an
average of $26 10c. weekly. 2. Blacksmiths,
bookbinders, brassfounders, painters, printers,
(book), slate-roofers, tailors, are receiving barely
living wages—an average of $2O 57c. weekly. 3.
But the vast army of bakers, boiler-makers, cabinet-
makers, engineers, iron-moulders, labourers (com-
mon), machinists, paper-stainers, shoemakers, tin-
workers, are receiving starvation wages—an average
of $l6 10c. per week. Thus it will be seen that
while a few trades, giving employment to a few
workmen only, are prosperous, or, at least, well-
to-do, the majority employing large numbers of
mechanics, are unprofitable. That the cost of
living has advanced about 90 per cent., while the
advance in wages has been only about 60 per
cent., and that, as a consequence, the great majo-
rity of the poor are becoming poorer. The most
reliable statistics collected by individuals and asso-
ciations interested in the vital questions of work
and wages and the welfare of the working classes
fully corroborate the figures and sustain the theory
of Commissioner Wells. The secretary of the New
York Association for Improving the Condition of
the Poor, in a report of its operations of 1868, calls
attention to the evidence of increased destitution
among all classes of working men, including the
skilled labourers and some professional men. He
says :—" Notwithstanding the high wages for
labour, the seemingly ample remunerations of in-
dustry have failed to put the labouring class in so
favourable a position as they possessed before the
advance of wages in 1860. The present large
wages compared with those in ante-war times are
consumed by the exorbitant expenses of living,
leaving a smaller margin for accumulation than
when wages were lower. The purchasing power of
their earnings in many cases, even with full em-
ployment, is scarcely equal to their expenses, so
that they have little or nothing in advance. Hence,
when labour slacks or fails, they are brought to
suffering, and to dependence on charity. This
readily explains how it is that so many of the tem-
perate, the frugal, and industrious, are brought
into straits and need temporary aid, and
it shows, moreover, why large demands for
relief are acquired at a time when both the
capital and industry of the country are in a
broad view tending to resume their wonderful
career of progress and development. In looking
over the visitors' returns, among the recipients of
relief we find persons representing almost every
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Bible readers, and others of similar culture and
moral grade."

The death of a very well-known gentleman is
announced. Sir Edward Cunard, the head of the firm
which owns the celebrated steamship line, died suddenly
in New York of heart disease. His wife died two years
ago as suddenly. To the last ho regularly attended his
office, working as hard and keeping the same hours as his
clerks. He was still in middle life, and apparently in good
health, when he was thus suddenly cut off.