, 1854-11-25
Labor and its Rewards.

There is this great difference in the re-
lation which capital bears to labor in this
country and in Europe; in Europe capital
is the master of labor; in this country labor
is master ofcapital, The law ofsupply and
demand regulates all things; capital, labor,
even the increase and decrease of popula-
ton itself The National Era lately pub
lished the following interesting facts rela-
tive to the wages of labor:
The average wages of agricultural labor
ers in England last year, were forty cents
day. The wages Of journeymen carpen-
ters now, in Waterford ireland, are SO
cents day eo -i4H --rfi
In Central India the wages of a field Ia,
borer are now six cents day, he finding
his own food; women receive cents, and
boys 8 cents. House servants are better
paid, and they are compelled to wear bet
ter clothes. -.,.'-.-.. .,.......t. ...,..,
Thirty years ago field laborer cost his
owner in the Southern States, less Chan o
dollar week (interest on his price and
cost Of keeping) now the costais twice as
much. Tr.5 L ......s.
1851, average wages Of Lowell, Mass.
in the factories for females, thirty-three cts.
a day; for males, eighty cents, clear Of
board ;or hfty-iwo cents for females; and
one dollar, twelve cents for males without
board. The wages in ls4O, were precisely
the same there a., - ~,
The wages Of labor at Greenwich Hos
pital, Eng. for carpenters, brick-layers and
masons, doubled from 1875 to 1928 from
1875 to 1898, (from 2s Cd to 5s per day.)
The weekly " es of husbandry labor in
England, in 100, were equal to the price
Of lifty-four pints of wheat in I790, to
eighty-two pints; in 1882, to ninety pints.
(Sixty-four pints make bushel) 3'lf iq99
From Wm. PENIS cash book, it appears
that in 1899, it required 1871 days of ,un-
skilled labor to earn o ton of iiour-cash
wages 33 cents day. In 1884, such a Ia
borer at Philadelphia could earn a ton 0f
-four in n days-cash wages, rs cents per
day. Flour was al, the former period $45,-
"a; at the latter, IS, ,92 per ton. "a,
Thus, in 1872 years in England, the wages
Of nnskilled labor had nearly doubled when
estimated in wheat, in cash they had quite
doubled, and in nearly all other c0mmodi-
ties they had many times multiplied their
nominal value. Even in the year 1913,
cottager's Sunday hat cost 20s, nov. Is;
shirt los I'D, now 3s; calico 2s Cd, now Cd;
brown sagar ,l0d. now I'D. In IA years,
from 1920 to '34, cotton cloth fellfrom
l2fd to 3d. In these years the price Of
cloth diminished 81 per cent wages remain
ing in money price the same. But what is
more remarkable, the money Of all the Brit
ish and Irish productions and manufactures
exported from England had fallen in these
IA years full forty per cent. This reduc-
ton continued steady till 1850. $4l. SO
would purchase as much Of these Articles
which make up the multlforin exports of
Great Britain, S04 would have purchased
80 years before The money wages re-
manned the same, the real wages had more
than doubled within 30 years in everything
but wheat and house rent.
The wages Of women in the United States
measured IN the same way, have trebIed
since the year lSlsAthe period of the gen
eral ntroductionOEmaehincry9into amanu-
factories, aiar sialmio.hri hsi crew sssd'
. The wages Of husbandry in France have
in like manner trebled in lS0 years, While
the process Of doubling the wages Of labor
was going on in England, the population
rose to fourteonudllionaT sGI 1osmdo