The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1878-10-31
Wages Abroad and at Home.

The lines are hard for unemployed Ia
Dor at all times, says the Mirror and
Farmer In periods of depression the
distress and deprivation are never known.
Wages fall and as matter Of course, and
many sources of employment are mar
r0Eyed or dry UP entirely. In such times
we are apt to consider our condition
worse than any otler peoples, and our
land the most unfortunate under the sun.
Accustomed to high wages, as all periods
Of inflated currency brings, we forget that
imitation affects the prices Of things as
we'll as labor. Habits of unconscious
extravaganza are never so easily formed
as in prosperous times, and few really
appreciate the value of economy, or or
money for that m&tter, until adversely
sweeps away the dciusions Of an inflated
prosperity. Then life becomes sober and
real. and we begin to live in true econo-
mic relations. Then we see things eye TO
eye, and we begin to find out that eTen
hard adyersity has some advantages over
a fictitious prosperity.
We who have been accustomed to two
and three dollars a day are not easily rec
Onciled to one and two dollars. Said a
mechanic to US recently, II used to get a
hundred dollars month at my trade, but
now cannot get but fifty" The hun
dred dollars came when the paper dollar
was at discount of thirty or forty per
cent: now it is substantially at par. Then
the dollar carclessly spent would buy but
little more than the half dollar now care
fully husbanded. The difference is III
oursolvre, not so much in the times or In
the land We live III. When we look
abroad, We find people more unfortunate
than ourselves. Ii wages arc low in this
country, they are higher than in other
countries. In England agricultural Ia
borcrs get from two to three dollars
week, with beer thrown in; building
laborers and gardeners get from four to
five dollars per week; and brick-layerS,
carpenters and masons from six 10 elevea
dollars per week. Boot makers, tailors
and bakers get from four 10 seven dollars
per week, and house servants from $40 to
$140 per annum. In great Britain as in
the United States labor and trade are
greatly depressed. Strikes are more fire.
quent even than with lis.
In France. where our infiationists claim
forty dollars in currency per capita, agri-
cultural lab0rGrs command from At to 81
cents per day; carpenters and smiths
from SO TO 50 cents per day; cOmpositors,
shoemallers and masons from SO cents to
81 per day; and the better class Of
mechanics, like plumbers, uphOlsterers
aLl iournovmeu tailors, from $1.20 to
81 .56 per day. i4he cost pf Living IS lew,
; ;.ade much lower by the frugal habits Of
the French. who. as has often been said
will live we'll on what americans will
r~~tG-
The condition Of labo: in er.4Iand an
pears to be about as favorable as In tliis
country. In five years wages have in
creased from five to fifteen per cent.
BricklayerS and plasters get 20 cents an
hour masons and skaters, IS to II cents
painters and carpenters, Is cents; and
cuiHHor labOreTs on buidin~ work. 10 or
l3 cents. stone cutters obtain 24 cents.
Machinists get from 81 10 50 per week
male operatives, from $3.50 to $3.50;
women, from s. TO 1925 per week. Rail
way engineers and train hands are paid
from $3.50 to SO per week. The cost of
living is quite as high as in this country.
Bread costs IS cents for 1our-pound loaf;
-four and oatmeal, cents pound; milk,
s cents a quart, in the cities; meat, 16 to
81 cents a pound; eggs, 80 cents dozen;
potatoes, IS cents for % pounds, and
other articles in proportion. A suit of
serviccaB!e Scotch tweed costs 81. The
rent OF IA two-roomcd house is $4S yearly :;
of thrcc-roOmcd house, S72; Of a four
ro0mcd house, sos, and so on. On the
whole, the condition OF labor and wages
abroad shows to Disadvantage beside tho
condition of labor and wages in America,
even Ggrin" the present exceptional de
preston in trade and industry.