Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-09-12
Fiat" Money RObs the Working

Flood the country with ''fiat money"
give to prices an upward tendency
and the wages of labor will be increas-
ed-thus it is that the working people
OF this country are appealed to by the
infiationists, both Democrats and Ma
tionalists. 1t is undoubtedly true that
revival of business, even though it
should be only tempCrary-a bubble
blown up by speculation and sure to
burst at the very time when its collapse
will be most di5astrOuS-W would, for u
time, affect the price of wages, as il
would that of almost every other COM
modify purchased OF sold in the
market, but it does not, by any means,
follow that the working man would be
benefited thereby.
The most superficial study OF the
laws governing prices disclOses the
fact that the same Causes or set OF
causes affect in greatly differing degrees
the market values OF staple articles OF
commerce. The prices of some COM
modities seem to be remarkably sensi-
tive, while those of Others are very
stable, changing only when violent
disturbances take place, or when new
order OF things affecting values has be-
come firmly established. Fluctuations
in rates of wages (the prices paid for
labor) are less frequent and less violent
than those of almost any article that is
bought or sold. The price of cotton or
wheat may change every day in the
year, and several times in day; it
may advance or decline % per cent on
account OF injury to the crop or an un-
usual supply abroad, but the wages of
the plantation hand and of the farm
labOrer retiXed at the beginning of the
season, and are not changed with the
varying price of the articles they help
to produce. The same is true of the
wages of mechanics and operatives en-
ployed in manufactures; their wages
remain substantially the same when
markets are brisk and when they are
dull, when capital realizes large profits
and when it sustains losses. Wages,
always remain unchanged long after
the prices of other things seem per-
manently to have advanced or declin-
ed, unless they are affected by de-
mand for particular kind of labor
that it is difficult to supply, or by
supply that is greater than the de-
mand. CID
Not only is the price of labor less
mobile than that OF other things, but
its fluctuations are Invariably less in
degree than those of the neceSSaries of
hfe- Every one will remember our
own experience during the war and
Immediately after its close. There was
scarcely an article of provisions or
clothing that did not advance in price
far more rapidly and in much greater
ratio than the wages of labor, although
there were from 1861 1885 exceptional
causes in the withdrawal of huHdredsl |
OF thousands of men from productive
industries to push up wages more rap.
IDLY than they would naturally have
advanced. Numerous examples might
be cited to prove the truth of this as
sertation, but single one will suffice.
lron-moulders in New-England |
earned in 1860 about S1I week. Their
wages gradually increased during the
war and the years that succeeded, until.
before the panic in 1873, they were
paid Sl6 week, the increase being Al
per cent. Now they receive $l3 week.
In 1873 prices of commodities were
much lower than they had been in
1900 and 1866, and weeks wages
would for the first time purchase about
the same quantities of the common :
necessaries of life as in 1850, although }
there had been times when prices had :
been proportionally much higher than
wages. Indeed, that had been true !
most of the time after prices began To-
Now, a New England iron.
noulder earns Is per cent more than
n 1850. while dollar is just as valu-
'6le as it was before the war. T
If a new initiation of the currepcv t
Mould now take place there is no {
easOn to believe that wages WonId b
dvance as rapidly as the prices of fl
rticles of general consumption. and Lei
he ditferenceiwould represent an actual d
oss to the workingman. The Iaborer 8.
phose wages are increased only 10 ner n
ent gains nothing if he has to paw an p
dvance OF 25 per cent for everyt6iny n
g buys. Imitation at first, therefore "a
'ill make the lot of the Workingman W
arder, instead of easier.-N. Y. Tri- to
une. m