The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-09-04
FAIR WAGES.
ny "a striker" in the.North Ameri-
can Review.

In the United States the amount OF
capital invested IN railway property last
year was S4,470,00O,000, made up of g..
250,0o0,000 capitsl stock and &, 22O 600,
600 bonded debt. The gross earnings
were S5OO0OO,000 or about eight and a
half per cent on the capital. The run
ming expenses (Of which the
bulk was for labor were $780,
100000, leaving Sl85,OOOO00 as
interest, to the capitalist or
barely tour per cent on his investment.
Labor is admitted into this enterprise
rs n preferential creditor, to be paid out
of gross earnings before the most pre-
ferred MORTGAGE or bond holder receives
dollar For as capital could not build
the roads nor equip them without labor,
so the enterprise, when complete, can
not be run without labor.
Capital, therefore, takes back seat
when it comes to the push, and scknowl-
edges not only that labor has the largest
interest in the concern, but takes the
first fruits.
take the railroad as sample out of
all enterprises, aud if we could get at
figures, there is no doubt it is fair sam.
pie of the crowd. II, then, labor is the
more important and essential factor in
the result, when it comes to the question
which OF the two shall suffer in moments
OF general distress, the capitalist in his
pocket or the laborer in his
belly, we think the answer has
been already settled by the rights as
sumed by one and acknowledged by the
other.
1t Is manlfestly unjust that the work
ingman should be subject to under
wages in bad times, if he bss not the
equivalent of over wages in good times.
Ii railroad companies III concert with
the laborlng class had established tariff
OF labor, and paid bonus on wages al
every distribution of dividends, that
bonus being in proportion to the profits
of the road, so that each man becomes u
shareholder in his very small way
then he would have submitted TO boar his
share of distress when all were called or
TO share trouble, but TO share it equally
and alike.
When folks say that labor and capital
mus. find, by the laws of demand snd
supply, their natural relations to each
other IN al. commercial enterprises, and
neither one has any rig hts it can enforce
on the other, they take for granted that
the labor "market" is, like the produce
market, liable 20 natural Quotations. If
that were so. we should not complain. But
it is not. The labor market has got to
De like the stock and share market few
large capitalists control it and make
what prices they please. This sort OF
game may ruin the gamblers IN stocks
and iniure those who iHvest, but the
trouble is confined mostly to those who
deserve to lose or IT, se who can afford
IT.
But not so when the same practice
operates in the labor market. The capt
talist must not gamble with the bread o.
the workingman, or if he does, let hir'
regard where that speculation led France
one hundred years ago, when the tinan
ciers made corner in -four, and the
people broke the ring with axe the ofth'
guIIOtlhe.
When the railway companies obtained
privileges and rights over private
property, and became by force OF law the
great landowners of the state holding
its movable property as well, and control
ling every avenue and. department OF
business, public and private, they became
powerful monopolies. The state endowed
them with powers to frame laws of their
own and deprived citizens Of their prop
perty, means, facilities OF transport, &c
vest 1t all in these corporations. Thus
endowed, they cannot pretend they are
no more than ordinary commercial en-
terprises. They are responsible to the
state for the result of their operations, L
they disturb fatally the order of our con
Germs. They may not accept liabilities
and then decline responsibility. 1t be
hooves the State to decide what the PEG
pie are entitled TO in return for all they
have conceded to these companies and t(
enforce such claims.