The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-14

inferentially commits the federal government
to interference In the delicate relations be-
tween labor and capital In the United States
The measure merely provides for the appoint
ment of commission to investigate those
relations in their various forms; and If the
effect Of 1t were to stop there it's influence
would probably be beneficial rather than hurt
full But 1t is to be feared that, the impulse being
once given, the laboring classes will see in it
another concession to their already extrava-
giant demands and that political demagogues
will be only too ready to avail themselves of
this new element and to keep alive an agita-
ton which can only prove detrimental to all
the interests of the country. This is view
of the subject which ought to have had full
consideration before the measure was
launched on Congress and which may still
have its influence on the Senate when the bill
comes up in that body.
| The measure, however, has not even the
merit Of originality-the English government
having already gathered in and published the
fruits of a similar investigation-not con-
fined, however, to its own dominions, but ex-
tending to all civilized countries. In 1869
Lord Clarendon, then Minister of Foreign
Affairs, directed all the British consuls abroad
to fur nish reports as to the condition of the
working classes in the various countries where
they exercised their functions and the re-
ports thus received have been recently pub
lished by the government under the title Of
reports from Her Majesty's Diplomatic and
| Consular Agents Respecting the Condition Of
| the Industrial Glasses and the Purchase Power
of Money in Foreign Countries. A
copy of this most important public docu-
ment will probably have been received
by the State Department at Washington,
or, perhaps, it may be found in the Congress
sonal Library, in either of which places it
will be accessible to our legislators and to the
commissioners who may be appointed under
the act now pending in the Senate. The in
| formation contained in it will be found ex-
| ceedlngly valuable in the discussion Of the
! subject, and, if it could reach the working
classes of this country, it would teach them
that, when compared with the like classes in
other countries, their condition in life is very
| enviable one, and that instead of evincing dis
content with their lot surrendering their free
dom of aston to trade unions and indulging
In perio dcal strikes, regard for their own
best interests suggests their cultivating the
most friendly relations with their employers
and stimulating, rather than discouraging, the
use of capital in industrial enterprises. We
have not yet received copy of the ''British
Parliamentary Report" but we find an inter-
esting abstract Of it in a late number of the
Regue DIES Deur M0ndes
The information thus obtained by the
British government shows the condition of the
laboring classes in regard to wages, cost of
living and sanitary and social condition in
thir ty lone countries of the globe. The alb
stract before us is limited to FIVE or six
countries, presenting SO many different
degrees of civilization and prosperity, from
those Of Asiatic Turkey to those of tne United
States. These two countries present
the extreme types-the one the maxi
mum Of wretchedness for the work.
ing classes; the other the maximum
of comfort. Between these two extremes,
and in the order of Improvement as we
60 from east to west, come in Russia, Ger
many, Belgium and Holland. The COMPARE
sons are naturally made with England, 80 that
the report gives us incidentally the condition
of the industrial classes in that country also.
The first province of Asiatic Turkey in
regard to which we have detailed information
is that of Kurdestan, or Armenia, of. which
Erzeronm and Van are the principal cities.
This extensive province contains 1900, 900
inhabitants, Of whom about three hundred
and fifty thousand reside in the cities and
large towns, about one million two hundred
thousand are employed in agriculture and
700, 900 lead pastoral life. The English
Consul at Erzeroum gives q most lamentable
account of the condition of these people, and
attributes the poverty of this once fourishing
industrial pursuits in consequence of political
and social insecurity. The farms are almost
all in the hands of small proprietors, and are
generally limited to eight acres in extent.
The on ly employment for capital is in lending
on usury; and that, of course. only aggra-
Yates the evil. The average earnings of a
field hand are forty dollars, and Of weavers-
the principal branch of industry-from sixty
dollars to one hundr ed and twenty dollars q
year. The wages of artisans, however, are
relatively much higher those Of masons,
carpenters and smiths going up to seventy five
cents day. And yet, with such miserable
remuneration, workmen in those countries
can attain competency if they only defer
marriage until they can have laid aside their
savings for few years; but the Asiatic
Turk is proverbially improvident, and thinks
| nothing of amending in q puaiisl a.lah-a4ia.