The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-07-15
From Forney's Press.
What is q Fair Days Wages.

science OF social anG industrial relations
which in the least trouble a certain
school of economists, aud OF course
not the simple question with which we
head these lines. The New York EIr-
press says with the endorsement of the
Observer, that a fair days wages is the
least money Tor which it is possible to
get days work done. Of course, we
comprehend the silly hypothesia upon
which this and all similar economical
reasoning is based, but it is really too
transparently absurd to veil the hard
and reckless spirit that actually prompts
such an assertion, IF the adjustments
Of supply and demand were instant, per-
feet, and without friction, that is if
everywhere and at all times both labor
aud capital were in the most profitable
and productive relations possible, then
the market price OF both would be their
fair value. But there is no ono fact so
deeply impressed on the minds Of both
capitalists and laborers as that these
healthful relations are never fully
realized.
Panics depressions, and great modiG-
cations of industrial processes entirely
derange them. The economists OF
whom we speak object absolutely on
considerations of humanity, or even
fairness, in the popular sense entering
into the estimates Of business relations.
They define a fair days wages as the
least for which days work can hc
purchased entirely without reference
to the profits made out of it or to the
necessities which compel the laborer to
take the offered pay. A starving man
might be glad to purchase crust with
a days valuable toll, and such reward
would be fair days wages. The word
fair here has no meaning which people
who speak only English understand.
But what is fair days wages? Has
the market price of labor nothing to d.
with its determination, aud cen it be
fixed only by an arbitrament Of equity?
Upon what principle would our arbitei
proceed? What profit would he ad-
Judge to capital, and if there were a
loss, how would it be distributed? Hu-
manity seems to require that the life OF
the laborer be sustained at all hazard
and if after his support there is loss
that it should be borne by capital, But
what sort of a support shall the laborer
have and if there is profit, how much
should his condition be improved? 1t i,
plain to see that these are questions
which do not admit Of plain answers
and in their want Of cumulative ele
ments lies the insuperable difficulty Of 8
defnitc settlement Of the labor ques
tion.
1t is from the contempt plation Of thi'
difficulty that one class ventures to as
seat the monstrous doctrine that accu
mulatcd wealth has 10 obligations what
ever to living labor, except such as i
makes by contract and another class
with this identical logic but less in
humanity, asserts that living labor owe
nothing to accumulated wealth. WhilC
the question of what constitutes tai
days wages is theoretically insolvabl
in our system OF competitive industr,
and divided labor and capital there arr
some considerations which ought t.
assist its practical determination. Dur
ing q atagnation of business it is bat
policy to crowd the classes whose entir,
wages arc expended on articles for i'm
mediate consumption nothing so mucI
tends to intensity the dnlness Of trade
1t is chief difficulty in cur system Q
business that people cannot begin
general economy in prospect OF har,
times without certainly precipitatin:
just the evil they would avoid. IF yol
do not buy OF me caunot of you, anc
porduction ceases with the failure 0
the market Another consideration i
that salaries ought to be as subject t,
the market as wages, and should be re
duccd in case Of need before the smale
incomes are touched. In the end, al
men who work must take what the
can get, and there is no just ground
for distinction between wages and sal
aries to the advantage of the latter. al
considerations OF sound economy as vel
as humanity demand that a dis,rimiua
ton should at least not be against III
poorer and more numerous class. TO in
sst on paying all loborers only wha
the most needy is wiling to take is a
poor economy in the EaDress as it i
bominable Christianity in the OJSerce,
CAPTURE OF COIN COUNTEI
| FElTERS.
ARREST OF TWO NOTORIOUS PARTIES I,
CALIFORNIA
Washington, July 9.-The Treasur,
secret service division has received i'll
formation of the. arrest at Oreville, Cali
fornia of NIotroni Sebastiano auC
Augustine Buazzi, two members of th(
notorious Marysville gang of counter
feiters. These men we've in Orevil
during the session of the Democrat
Convention, and took advantage of tn
crowded condition OF the saloons to pas
bogus quarter eagles. They dispose'
Of ten before arousing suspicion, an,
| whom n local cfiioar apnrahondad Sah,c