The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-05-20

CLEVELAND, May 20, 1875.

TO the Editor Of the woakIxsAAE's ADVOCATE.
Fostering trade by low prices deserves
much more serious attention than our coal
companies seem to give it. We do not
advocate coal, or any other companies car
rying on business at loss, for the benefit
Of any other interest but the condition
Of the country, the whole commercial
world, in fact, indicates IN q manner too
clear to admit of question, that our prices
(which means our cost Of productiOn)
must settle to a considerably lower basis.
Wages in the anthracite regions are
much too high, and will certainly be re-
duced, though possibly the arrangement
made with the men when they resumed
work, after the long strike in 1876, may
postpone the inevitable reduction till next
January"
This, from the New York Mining and
Engineering Journal, il about the kind Of
doctrine taught by the iterGti of the en-
dustry, and, for that part of it, we might
say all other industries in this country and
Europe presently. To the operators in
the hard coal fields in Pennsylvania this
cup Of the milk Of commercial philosophy
is offered, with the assurance that it will
stimulate the languid and dropping trade
in that commodity. The iron trade, which
is near kin to the coal business, wants
to be drugged by cheap coal, so more bust
ness will be done. There is no question
but that if the cost Of production is re-
duced but business will improve, and the
increase in volume will more than COM
pensste for the loss in value. This teach
ing has an effect upon some Of the patrons
Of thSse journals who thus talk, and we
hear them echoed to some Of our miners,
who are not averaging % a week at pres
emit, by the superintendent and mine
bosses, who abjure them to greater econo-
my in their households, as the means BY
which business will grow better. 1t is the
argument we have presented to our work
men as an inducement for them to quietly
submit to another shave of their already
much shaved wages Take this reduc-
ton, and it will enable us to sell more
coal and give you steady work" ia the
usual form of presentation, and it some
times has q good effect. But the hope Of
STEADY work" inspired is seldom realized,
and the men blame the operators, and
charge them with bad faith in not fulfill
ing the promises made them. To do so
may be just or not just, in proportion as
the party making the promises believe
they can redeem them. They are only
following the advice given them by their
representative journals, and if they, at the
beginning Of the panic, had any faith in
the doctrine. which was the sane then a.
now, that faith must be considerably
shaken by this time, by the oft-repeated
failure to reap the promised reward. The
fact is, as the leading trade unionists have
argued all along, low wages and low prices
will not Of themselves bring an increase of
SAe"AN - NAAAACS VI oCPACb6AOhs Inc cause
Of our trade inactivity is not in the high
wages of the wOrkmen in our different
branches, nor will the elements Of recupe-
ration be found in cutting down prices
As proof Of this, we can refer to the very
region Of country in question. In 1874
the miners Of that section were receiving
at least 20 per cent. higher wages than
they we're paid in 1875, and the whole
production of the field was less BY over
200, 900 tons the latter year than it was
the former. Did the lower prices increase
the trade in this case9 This year, though
no direct general reduction in wages TOOK
place, yet we know by reducing contract
work, and cutting away extras" that
were important to the workman, the cost
of production has been lowered at the
mines. yet there is no evidence of an i'm
proved trade, and still lower rates are ad-
vised. If the remedy is to be found in
this policy why do We find no testimony
in the condition of business The reason
is, the proposition is a humbug, and what
is wanted is higher wages to the workers,
who, with their families, are the consum-
ers, to enable them to buy what they re-
quire, and this will start business up.
So much for the anthracite field. How
is it in the other coal fields of the coun-
try The same course of reasoning is
paraded at every point. Take the Mary
land and Clearfeld districts. Last spring
the strike in Clear6eld county naturally
threw the bulk of trade to Maryland.
Considering the general situation, the
companies operating were enabled to make
fair dividend on the capital invested.
This year some Of the employers in Mary
land have tried hard to reduce their
miners. The consequence is a strike
there. To this is added the difficulty Of
the freight question With the Cumberland
and Pennsylvania Railroad, who IL itself .
large coal producer, with the other COM
panies Of the valley. They will not re-
duce the cost Of transportation nor the
price of mining, and, ] suspect, to force
the railroad as much as the miners to their
terms, the other companies will rather
fritter away the trade of this season than
yield. This reverses the programme this
year as against last. Clearfeld has the
trade that the Cumberland field had in 70.
Now, the Mining Journal tells ua ths in.
creased production in the one is due to the
low cost OF production. Stuff Had the
Maryland companies ran ut the old terms
there 10 no question but they would have
held their trade this year as they did last,
and made money too. Now, suppose they
be successful, there will be no dividends
on capital if they be able to clear their
way even. Were the miners Organized