The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-08-21

When low prices are paid for labor, the
prices Of products are proportioDally low.
II is, therefore, generally supposed that the
laborer can as readily procure all DeedfuI
supplies when labor is low price, as
when i. is at high one. But the articles
whose price is diminished by the lowering
! of labor, are the predictions Of labor and
the producing classes suffer great injury
from this depression of both their labor and
products.
The following illustration will exhibit the
advantage Of high prices for labor A man
raises hundred bales Of cotton, sends them
to market, and receives three and half
cents per round. A laboTer in New York
receives fifty cents a day for bis labor with
days work be can purchase fourteen
pounds Of cotton. II labor be at a dollar
per day, and cotton at seven cents per pound,
with a days labor be can purchase the same
quantity. If labor rise to q dollar and fifty
cents day, and cotton to ten and half
cents per pound, a days labor will still pur-
chase fourteen pounds of cotton. Thus far
we do not observe the difference Of price to
have any influence upon the ability Of the
labOrer to purchase but We have yet to mo-
tice the condition Of that class Of producers
who raise the cotton at the first price, three
and half cents per pound. After paying
for the use or rent Of the plantation one
half the price at which q loan Of money can
be obtained, say three or four Fer cent. in
teTest on the cost Of the plantation, they do
not earn fifty cents q day, but, in fact, re-
ceive little or no compensation for their 10.
Dor. The same labor and land are required
to produce cotton when it brings three and
a half cents, as when il brings fourteen
centp per pound. Suppose . workman 10
New York to buy cotton at fourteen cents
per pound barrel Of -four at s. wheat
at ST. 80 per bushel potatoes at 40 cents
corn and rye at 80 cents brown sugar at
10 cents coffee at IL cents boots at IS q
pair ehoes at 81 fur bat at % brown
sheeting at 10 cents Per yaId and good
calico at IL cents per yard. II labor fail 60
so cents per day, and be have full employ
ment, to be ss we'll of As when labor was ut
50 per day, be must buy -four at 81 per bar
rel wheat at 374 cents per bushel; potatoes
al 10 cents corn and rye st 20 cents !;
brown sugar at p cents per pound coffee
at 3 cents; boots at IS cents pc pair shoes
at Is cents /; a hat at rs cents brown sheet
ing at q cents per yard; good calico at 8
cents ; and everything in proportion. Trav-
elllng expenses, rents and taxes, must be d.
miDisbed three-quarters. All the necessa-
ries Of life must be reduced in price three
quarters, or the laborer who 10 out of debt
will not be as well off when labor is at City
cents Per day, as when it lie at two dollars
per day.
But suppose One class Of the laborers to
buy at these low prices, what will the pro-
ducers Of wheat, rye, corn, etc., receive for
their labor? The reason that the lAborer
can buy as much cotton when labor is at If
~ cents per day, as when j. is at two dollars,
/ lie, that be buys a fellow abOrer's products
at a price which will not pay a cent day
for the toll Of producing them. So when
the prices OF labor are reduced in this ratio,
laborers, as body, are unable to provide
themselves with the nscessaries of life. The
reduction Of the prices OF labor and pro-
ducts, consequent upon a scarcity of money
and rise of interest, forces producers and
merchants to suffer great losses, because the
dimiDutlon Of the prices Of products does not
diminish the amount Of their debts, hOr
their legal obligations to pay them while
the capitalists who own these debts will
compel laborers and owners Of land and
products to sell double, treble, and qusdru-
pie the quantity Of these,tO obtain money to
satisfy the debts. Thus wealth passes with
great rapidity into the hands of q few CAPT
talists. If the merchant has bought goods
at as low price as they can be afforded by
inc manUfactnrer,it is no safe guard against
loss oy the fall Of goods in the market, be-
cause me market price Of the goods does
NOV depend upon the labor necessary to their
PfoIuCnon' but upon the ever. varying value
OF the dollar. Our laws make the dollar
the real value, and producers and all kinds