River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-08-02
CAPITAL AND LABOR.

lag ellecIS Ol WHICH tiiilc VIII nv SUM
efface, has given rise to much thought
on the part of thinking men upon the
relation of capital to labor, the COM
parative cost of living and relative
amount of pay received by different
classes of men for labor performed.
It is universally recognized fact that
mental and skilled labor rs a rule COM
mand much better pay than mere
physical labor, though in many in
stances tie difference is too dispropor-
tionate to meet the requirements of
exact justice. True. the professional
man whom it has cost comfortable
competence and years of hard study
to acquire knowledge sufficient to
enable him to enter upon his chosen
profession, master of the same, should
receive compensation therefor. while
this is equally true of the successful
mechanic who has applied diligently
for years to master his trade, but
there is a reasonable limit beyond
which this disproportion should not
90. There are, however, many en-
gagged in mercantile pursuits and the
business of manufacturing who are
seemingly receiving ample remunera-
ton when in reality, after deducting
actual losses caused in part by too
much confidence in their fellow-men
TO whom they have sold their goods
and wares on credit, and incidental
causes. they have not as much left at
the end of the year to compensate
them for their labor, capital, anxiety
and care as they pay their book-keep-
er or head mechanic, who suffers no
perplexity of mind and who has no
capital staked upon the result of
venture. There are thousands of men
who chance to have ''friends at court"
as the saying is, who are provided
with easy positions for filling which
any man of common sense is fitted and
receive liberal pay for the discharge
Oh lLGAI hullED. WIZ Va
cite the envy of those less fortunate
who toll on beneath the brOiling heat
of the summers sun engaged in ex-
hausting labor for a much less sum.
This last suggestion reminds us of the
saying that 1.-THE less man does the
greater his pay" which is frequently
the case. Again, when we reflect that
years ago men could live and sustain
their families upon wages of five or
six shillings per day, it would seem
that with most of the necessities of
life now quoted as low as then they
could do the same ON the wages now
received. But we would not restrict
the laboring classes to the absolute
necessities of life; we would allow
them more than sufficient to provide
for their immediate wants. were those
wants governed by the practice of or
binary prudence and economy, that
they might provide themselves with
means that would place them in po-
sition of comparative independence
by working for themselves instead of
others. While it may be true that the
laboring classes have much cause for
! complaint, it is also true that in many
instances their employers undergo
more real trials than those who envy
| them ever dream of more especially
| is this the case when the product of
their labor is held for want of mar
ket and the holder has bills to pay to
meet which tits stock must be realiz-
ed upon to enable him to honor his
obligations. 1t is quite evident that
there are two sides to the labor ques-
ton, and no one questions the right of
a laborer to refuse to labor for what
he may deem inadequate compensa-
ton, but he has no right to interfere
with the privilege of corporations or
individuals of employing such labor
ers as they may choose and at such
prices as may be agreed upon. No
legitimate reason exists why the price
of labor should not be regulated by
that common law of supply and de-
mand which determines the value of
breadstuffs, money and all manufact-
ured articles the price of which is
not controlled by combinations known
as monopolies. 1t were better that
laborers recognize this fact and gov
ern themselves accordingly than re
sort to such dastardly outrageS as have
characterized their actions in the
eastern riots.