The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-06-22


ceive high wages, and an unlimited depand
for thar labor exists wAersi6re.s sss t.
Opponents of Labor Reform. tAeir d.
content with the existing ordsr 4 thing.
and Why do they insist thai capital Is
oppressive and in autagonism TO their in
terests Ii capital furnishes unsupplied
demands for Labor and pays high wages.
why al this clamor Of the workingmen
these strikes political organization of
theirs, which Purposes radical chang in
the policy If the government T.
To vast masses III tbs Amerlcan peaple
these questions seem Unanswerable in any
sense which implies intelligence and love of
order in the w"rkingAen. They have
never considered the questions funda-
mentally have never considered these
seemingly high wages in combination with
the conditions SURF runding workingmen,
and which show that these wages, high as
they are. are inadequate Ia their reasonable
support.
That a mason, a carpenter, a shlpwright,
OF any other class of mechanics, receives
more in this country for days work than
in Europe, is true; and if this one fact is
all that is to he considered, the pretensions
of the workingmen might seem unjust.
But when the further fact is considered
that when the American workingmen com
pare the balances Of their weekly Or yearly
earnings--which they have been able to
save with the greatest economy in living
with the balances the workingmen of
Europe have been able to save, it will be
found that the labor Of Europe Is no more
''pauper" than labor in this country. Take
away the public domain, in which home
steads were possible " most industrious
men before corrupt Congress had given
it away to rings of spectators out
of consideration our cheaper lands and the
conditions Of labor III this country, in hard
ship, are not distinghiahable from those of
Europe. 1t has been over and over de-
monstrated that the legal accumulations of
the same amount Of capital III Europe will
pay for less labor there than here, and that
labor in Europe Is more favorable to the
workngmen there than i'll this country
and that, therefore, when the greater de
mand for labor and the cheaper lands
which now exist in = gradually decreasing
scale, shall become ike the demand for
labor and the price Of land in Europe, the
workingmen Of this country will have
harder conditions If life imposed upon
them than those from which so many fee
to the United States
No mere consideration Of the rate Of
wages or the number al hours Of daily labor
viii aid in solving the questions which are
at the bottom Of the strikes, disturbances
and dissatisfactiOns OF workingmen. If We
are ever to find q solution for these ques-
tions, we must examine the causes which,
notwithstanding comparatively high wages,
leave the workingman with no money at
the end of his years work. 1t 10 usual
for silly minded men, who can zee no lust
ice in the demands Of the industrial classes,
to attribute to extravaganza and improvi-
dence the inability of the industrial classes
to save any money, while it is patent to
every observer that if these classes, as a
general thing, do not absolutely suffer pri-
vation, they have to practice the greatest
economy. Extravagance in clothing, in
food, in the methods Of living, is not
charge that any reasonable man can make
against workinemen.
There is some improvideRce. hut not
more than might reasonably be expected
from condition with which the working
men find themselves surrounded, and in
which are absorbed the chief earnings Of
their labor. The rent IF his house-shanty
would more properly designate the general
abode Of the working classes and the cost
of his clothes will amount to a large part of
his yearly earnings. Let any Of the OPP
posers of Labor Reform try to maintain a
family upon the ordinary wages of a me
chsnic, high as they seem, and he will find
there is some reason for what he fippantly
calls the "labor troubles" Of the country.
Now, the simple question everywhere sug
gests Itself" What makes rent 80 high
and clothing 50 dear" The answer to
this question will be very near the solution
Of the "labor troubles" The readers of
the ADVOCATE know what this answer is.
Every honest, thinking man knows what il
is. Labor Reform asks that future laws
be made with reference TO this answer. If
they are not 90 made, labor troubles
will continue. Every nottingham viii
become Trade UniOnist, and the Unionist
may become Communist. II justice be
done him, he will not; Il capital continues
10 absorb all the wages Of labor and turA .
deaf ear to Labor Reform, a serf or Com
munist ID the only alternative result for a
workingman. a.-.l.ss,.
U