Weekly Trinity journal., 1874-03-21
LABOR WAGES.


and shelter, and more of the comforts of
life. In England, in the last of the six
teenth century, good mechanic, carpen-
ter, mason, painter or wheelwright, earn
ed bushel of wheat by working nine
days and one-eighth. In the period from
1900 to 1925, he earned n bushel in five
days and one-third, and from 1918 to 1921
in one day and one-eighth. And now,
with the present prices of labor and grain,
the same classes of mechanics in the
United States earn bushel Of wheat in
half-a-day.
Two hundred years ago, weavers, cloth
dressers and dvers earned each seventeen
cent, a day, and paid sixty-two cents for
the meanest shirt.
In the first period the mechanic earned
three quarts and a half of wheat, and in
the last period siXty-four quarts, with
one days labor.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, a
good mechanic could obtain with the
wages of one days labor two pounds and
II half Of beef or mutton, or two dozen
eggs. He could earn hen in one day
and II third, a turkey in three or four days,
IL caulihowcr in two days, pound of po-
tatoes in three days, and coarse linen
cloth enough for a shirt in six days and n
half. a m-laborer earned fourteen
cents Il day from April to October, and
twelve cents day from October to April,
always boarding himself.
In the early ages the Government fire.
quen,ly fixed the price of labor, and
sometimes of grain and other articles
Sometimes this was done by Parliament,
sometimes by the town council, sometimes
by the Courts. In 1917, when wheat was
ten pence a bushcl, the narrower of the
ground, the weeder and the haymaker
were ordered to have one penny and n
half, about three cents, day and mas
ter carpenters, masons and tylers three
pence, or six cents, Il day.
! In 1860, the master hind, carter, shcp-
herd and swinehcrd were to have ten
shillings 1.-TWO dollars and fifty cents a
year; and woman laborcr or dairy
woman, six shillings zone dollar and fifty
cents II year.
In lIl6, the wages Of n master or head
farmer We're twenty-three shillings and
four pence, (about five dollars and eighty
three cents year; of II chief carter or
shepherd twenty shillngs Give dolHrs)
Of Il woman servant, ten shilings (twc
. dollars and fifty cents per year All
these had their food from the employer.
The wages of mechanics had not risen in
those eighty-siX years they still had their
three pence day and their board.
In 1910 the Justices of Ruthlandshire
revised the scale of wages and ordered
that the employers should pay to the
balIiif OF husbandry, head men ON the
farm, Fifty two shilIings (thlrtecn dollars
year with board to the chief woman
servant, being a good cook, a fraction less
than thirteen cents week and board. A
mower was to have ten cents. n haymaker
or reaper eight cents, a woman reaper
six cents, "A woman haymaker four cents
day all with board.
1t was further ordered that all of these
should receive double wages il they
boarded themselves, except the female
haymaker, who should have ten cents.
The wages of mechanics were fixed by
the same ordinance. Carpenters, in Sum
mer, had sixteen cents day with board,
and twenty-six cents without it 4; tailors,
eight cents with board and sixteen cents
without it. The general idea Of the courts
] was to allow one half of the earnings for
board the rest was clear wages, to be
! used according to the will Of the workman
for other personal and family expenses.
! Thus the carpenter, tailor and laborer,
who severaly had sixteen, eight and four
cents surplus daily wages alter paying
the employer for their board, had 50 much
lett to pay Tor their clothing, to lay by
for then support in sickness and old age,
and for the support OF their families il
they had any.
In the days Of Queen Elizabeth" the
good old times Of Queen Bess," the pride
oi English history, when national pros
perity and personal comfort were supposed
to have attained their highest point-the
average wages OF good mechanics were
five shillings, or about one dollar and
twenty-five cents, "A week. Wheat was
/ then-lj65 to l599-fve shilings and ten
pence per bushel the mechanic could
/ then earn bushel of wheat in seven
days, coarse linen shirt in five days and
! a half, common waistcoat in seven days
and iour-fhhs, IA pair Of strong shoes in
eight days and tour-tenths, "A stuff gown
for his wife in seven days and iour-lifths,
linsey- woolsey petticoat in five days and
two fifths, IA check apron in two days and
half, pair OF shoes in four days and a
| half, and pair OF stockings in one day
and tour-fths.
AT the present time a good mechanic
earns three or four times the cost Of his
board, and has three or four times as
large proportionate surplus for the sup
port of his family, or for investment for
future use and labor, in all its varied
forms, receives a much larger reward in
sustenance, in comfort, in means of health
and vigor, at the present, than was paid
in any of the former ages Of the world
atlantic M0nthty.
A WESTERN paper dwelling on the
deadliness Of nicotine, said that single