The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-07-07
What Governs the Mate or
Wages
From the London Workingmau.l

There is no question: presented by The
condition Of the working classes q So .isfac-
tory solution Of which Is more urgenay re-
quired, than the wages question and there
Is none, perhaps, about which a greater con-
tiict OF opinion exists. On the very TIRES
hold OF the subject q most fofmidAb.e diff
Guilty awaits us. One section Of those who
speculate upen il maintain that the rate Of
wages is determined by causes oEel which
neither the laborers themselves as a class
nor society az large, can exercise the small
est control; while directly opposite view
is taken by another section, who INSIST that
the Influences which govern the rate of wages
can, to q very great extent, be- modified In
their action BY legislation, by public opinion,
BY usa Ee, and by combination, on the part
either Of employers or employed. It is quite
evident that in the wages problem this Is q
fun amental question. Til 1t has betn
disposed Of, we cannot with safety advance
q step. II il be true Chat the iahorer's re-
Enumeration is fixed by which admits
OF no deviation, ard resulting from causes
altogether beyond the reach Of human con-
troll, then the whole matter 10 at an end, and
the labouug classes, aad those who are anxi-
Gus for their welfare, had better desist at
once from Ruthless attempts to effect their
purpose bg sctiEg on the rate Of wages, and
direct heir efforts TO some less barren field
q cxertion.
Now, IN order to decide this preliminary
tOint, let Us endcayoT 10 exhibit the argu-
n ent Of those who take this view in the
hight in which they present themselves For
this purpose, it viii be convenient to refer
our readers g sn. article that appeared IN
our first number, at page II, iinaeer me title
Of "a Saturday Sermon" and which was ex-
tracted from lhe Nsto York journal Of Cseig-
isatioR. The object of the writer, apparently,
was 70 disauade the working classes from
making any attempt 20 induce the Legisla
ture Of the United States to hmit the hours
Of labor by law To this end, he endeagors
10 prove that the conditions under which
labor j. hired are determined by influences
entirely beyond the reach Of Legislative con
troll. As ms argumen may be taken as a
fan specimen OF that employed by the
school to which BE- belongs, we shall take it
as the basis Of our present investigation.
twill be seen, by turning to the article
referred to, mat the line Of argument pur-
sued by the writer Is as follows The laws
OF political economy, like those Of physics,
are absolutely inHexible. There Is no evad-
ing OF resisting them. The value Of every
commodity II determined by demand and
supply Labor is commodity; its value,
therefore --or, ia other words, the rate OF
wages and tie conditions generally Of the
contract betw een the workman and his em-
ployer-must obey this law. To endeayor,
therefore, by Legislative or other interference
to alter the rate Of wages, or the conditions
under which the laborer )rks, would be as
vain as il, the words Of The preacher Of the
Saturday Sermon"--'to legislate against
the attraction OF gravitation or cohesion, or
to attempt TO redlstribute the oxygea ard
nitrogen Of the atmosphere"
Our readers Will perceive that the founda
Ion upon which the whole Of IT, above ar
gHment rests, is the iDiiexibility Of the laws
Of political economy. Now we deny that
these so-cs,led laws" or the so-called laws
Of the phys aai sciences, or Of any class 81
sciences WhaI yer, are indexible 10 the senA '
which the arglU 1T implies. The word
''inlexible,' ,'roughout that argument, is
used ia the sense of Irresistible II is re-
presented that all opposition to the laws Of
polit al economy must inevitably fail In
fact, ii any other meaning were attached 10
the. word, the Argument would fail to the
ground. Now, we repeat, the sc-called laws
Of political economy, and Of all other sciences,
are of a wholly different charact II rom that
here attributed TO them lDsteaa OF being
mvioiable, they are constantly broken. Take,
FOR example, the law Of gravitation, so o.ten
employed as an illustration cf the infexi-
billty Of economic laws. Is 1t Irresistible
10 be sure, 1t would be as silly 10 seek to
overcome it by legislation, as il would have
been for Eing Canute, had be been 10 earn
es., to order the advancing tide TO refrain
from wetting hrs royal feet. Bot had his
Danish majesty set his idle ccurtiers 70
throw up an eInbankment round his chair,
he might have sat where he was, high and
cry, despite of all the water in the German
Oceam You cannot, BY k.ngly sdict or Act
OF Parliament, preEeut uhe tide washing over
your feet or your fields, If they are On the
sea, shore, and below high water mark but
if you want TO keep them dry, you have
only to build stout rampant and the thing
is done. Suit is with ANY OF these ssinHex-
ible' laws Of nature -gravitation, cohesion,
and the rest Within certain limits sibsy
may, most Of them, be successfully resisted,
il DULY the pIoper means be taken for the
purpose; in fact, every step in the progress
OF eigslisation Is little more than an additional
triumph over these very laws, by whica they
aresslsarn Of -4ome of their power fer evil,
without being ribbed of any Of their power
for good Fosreinrn to the law Of gfavita-
ton, In obedience to 1t, objects have ten
dency TO fail TO the ground but do they, Is
a.. ter Offact, Inevitably do so I Certainly
not. This law ii daily, hourly, nomeptarily
traassEessed BY everything that has lin, and
bF many things that have not 4ou cannot