Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-08-16
4 Ch.nrs i currener and waEea.

A Change in Currency and wages
For a long time the wages of:mechLnics
were maintained in California, by the IN
fiuence of the placer mines. When man
could make his SO per day with q sluice
anywhere between Mariposa and Downie-
vile, carpenters could not be hired IN san
Francisco for S5. But the placer mines
are almost exhausted. The solitary miner
without capital has now no career open
before him. The placers of the Sierra
Nevada and of Fraser River, the argentfer
Gus deposits of Washoe and Reese River,
and prospecting for gold, silver, copper
and coal. have been successfully "playea
out" as "spheres for poor men gener--
ally, and now their chief reliance IS In
work for wages at fixed price.
Our labor market has downward ten
dency. During the last sixteen years this
tendency has been strongly marked, and
it must continue for years to come, until
at last we shall have reached the same
rates which prevail in the Northern States.
When our land titles get settled, when our
population becomes permanent, when our
StateS is filed with railroads, when our
home manufactures become extensive, and
when regular employment is certain to the
laborer, then poor people from abroad Will
come and offer to work for less than we
now pay. AS the wages Of the mechanic
fell from $l6 per day in 40 to IS in 81,
and to Sc in SO, and to 81 in '56, so they
will go on falling hereafter. There may
be no decrease this year or next, but no
combinations can defy the laws Of trade.
The laborer has no hope TO obtain an
increase of his present wages. His am
bition is to preserve the present rates. 1t
would be unwise in him to attempt to get
more. 1t is his policy to avoid any agita-
ton or change, for he has more to lose
than to gain by departures from the pres
emit standard. He foresees the decrease
and aspires only to postpone it.
The decrease will occur in any event,
but change in the currency may hasten
it. When the tendency is downward,
every shock is injurious. As the adoption
of greenbacks would break all the present
contracts for labor, and compel the torma-
ton of new agreements, so it would lead
the employers to look for new men, and
give new men an opportunity of pressing
in; and with the change of men, it would
be more easy for the employers to gain
reduction OF price. The present rates of
wages in the principal mechanical trades
are maintained by combinations, the men,
bers of which are pledged to work for not
less than certain sum fixed. There are
always men in these combinations who
would be glad to work for less than the
price if they could do so without violating
the express letter of their obligation, and
thus losing their rights as members.
Now, if we adopt currency of uncertain
value, it will be difficult for the Trades
Unions to establish any precise sum for a
days work and when they lose precision
they lose protection.
In the East, the change of currency has
caused a relative reduction of the price of
labor. While the nominal rate of wages
has risen considerably, the comparative in
crease has been greater by from 10 to 80
per cent. in the price of most of the neces-
saries of life; and thus the laborer now
saves less at the end of the month than he
did four years ago. This remark does not
apply universally. In some branches of
mechanical labor there is very little en-
ployment now; in others there is more
than ever. The book-printing business
has fallen off greatly, while the manufac-
ture Of arms has increased. But the gen.
eral rule holds good that flour, beef, pork,
butter, cheese, sugar, coffee, tea, leather,
iron, hats and shoes, have risen more in
proportion than the price of labor. 1t
would not be fair TO reckon cotton and
woollen goods in this list, because their
high price has been caused by influences
independent of the currency. tits true
that an increase in the price of the articles
quoted above would naturally result from
higher taxation; but if labor had kept
pace with the necessaries of life, its price
would have risen so as to compensate for
the expense incurred by taxation.
From these considerations, it is plain
that the laboring class would lose by the
overthrow of our gold currency Ala, Of
Wednesday. 4a e ~ s