Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-11-14
EVENING STAR,
WAGES OF LABoRI1s MEN.

WAVES OF LABORI86 MEN.
At this period ofbank panics and note
shaving excitements, the following re-
marks, from the Boston Herald, are pecu-
liarly appropriate, and worthy the seri.
GUS attention of the employing and jou-.
neymen mechanics of this city:
Those who employ operatives for man.
ual labor are not sufficiently IMPRESSED
Win the Importance Of paying their wa.
ges when due, in money-and in money,
too' CT the value of which there is no
ques'lon. Laborers, as q class, whether
male or female, and by these we mean
particularly those who work with their
hands, perform the hardest services.
They earn every dollar which their em.
ployers stipulate to pay. There is SO
much competition among them, that they
work, and work hard, for barely enough
to procure them subsistence and clothing.
Let them be as economical as they may,
they can lay nothing up, especially ii
they have families to support. They
have to take the risk of sickness, which
often finds them without the means OF
procuring medical advice or medicine :
and in addition to their sufferings from
dlsease, they encounter, when they lose
tnelr health, the still severer sufferinps
OF penury.
One thing which tends to keep the la
borer In his depressed condition, is the
practice which some employers pursue,
Oh paying oil their operatives in orders
upon shopkecpers. These orders, upon
an average, are not worth seventy-fiye
per cent. of the amount for which they
are drawn. Besides losing twenty five
per cent Of his wages in this manner. the
operative is frequently obliged to take up
goods which he does not want, because
the storekeeper upon whom the order is
drawn has not the articles they wish.
This whole system should be abandoned.
and laborlng men should be paid their
wages in gold and silver. They are not
judges of bank bills, and though they
may receive of their employers money
which is current, they are liable. in
making change, to be imposed upon by
sncurrent money. If they could always
pay gold and silver they could demand
change of the same sort, and then they
would be protected from the losses which
the working classes sustain from uneur.
rent money.
There are but very few laboring men
IN our city VINO are fools enough to work
tor an employer who pays his hands. in
whole or IN part, IN orders. Those who
take store pay, do their work according.
ly, AID # they find their orders do not
net them more than from fifty to seventy.
I've per cent. will soon learn to slight
their work to that extent, so that the en-
Sloyer gains nothing by the operation
Those who have the best workmen, are
the employers who pay the highest
wages, promptly when due, and in mo-
ney on which there is no discount: while
those who get of bank bills on which
there is from two to i've per cent. dis
count, lose more than twice that amount
IN the quantity and quality of the work
which their operatives perform.
There is nothing gained by an unfair
ness OF niggardliness towards laborer,.
A liberal compensation and fair estimate
OF time towards this class, pays better
than the opposite course and every pet.
~ advantage which is taken of the ne
cessities of the laborer, in the end iniures
the employer.
Employers of manual laborers should
pay their hands literally and in specie.
Then they will get the best operatives and
their work will be we'll and promptly
none. The class which does the most
and hardest work for the least money,
should have the whole amount. when
due, In specie. This is but an act of ius.
tice. Most laborers are poor, and many
of theia quite ignorant, but because they
are SO. fasir small earnings should not
be Abridged by any mean practices of
employers. We hope we have said
enough to correct such practices where
ever they exist, and employers may rest
assured that they will make more money
by paying their operatives literally than
by practising any meanness in the pay.
ment of wages,