The weekly miner., 1879-06-24

l2l, ana ~ ~ Sale 10 assume blt the rate OF
wages under whatever aspect we regard them,
are and never can be anything other than pure
problains of value. Though nothing Is easier
To say than that the value of other things, or
4 ~ Yott please, as a resident gentleman
i'tssssslusetts was pleased 10 remark, de-
npha, supply aa,d demand, for we may
e fJttiula IN any newspaper; but this
s9H lisIowS no li:stlb upon the causes,
81 t;A goVerfl iEe values, either of labor or
WHAT we wish to know is not whether an
Increase Of su jIi ii cheaper commodity
or VIII cheaper labor, or an increase of de-
mtnd raise the price of each but scadt 1t Is
q ich governs supply and demand in each
case? The solution is certainly fraught witt,
3rtipas intTieacies, and depends in large
measure upon the nature and cause of both
sWrplY aad demand. And again the cost of
production is en- all important factor which
we may i. olive in turn into two elements,
viz: ..iabfr end risk. And considering labor
as an element of cost of production, two 9TH
or circumiances must be noted, viz: the du-
ration or amount, and the risk or liability
attending j..
The labor employed in producing different
commodities differs in severity, as likewise in
liability to accident, and in proportion as these
contingencies obtain, greater sacrifice must
be made, and hence a larger cost. This great
er sacrifice will require corresponding conn
pensation, which as in other cases can only be
furnished from the value Of the product
And more particularly is this proposition ap-
plcable TO Montana, where quartz mining is
the labor end bullion the product.
| And while inthe States, wages are intimate
| ly affected by the price of the product, and
subject to the various fluctuations of trade,
/! this cannot be true in our Territory, where the
/ chief product is tie standard and sole meas
ure of value throughout all civilized marts.
J fJ,aks Ia - H.,
tion of the value of The commodity produced,
there can be no valid excuse for reduction
Of wages, where the risk, labor and liability
| to accident remain the same.
| That the chief commodity of this camp had
deprecated in value at the time of the SO
termed strike no one will argue. That the
risk involved and the price of living remained
the same, and that the mines waxed richer, no
one will deny. So here was presented the in
! iquitous anomaly of proposed reduction in
wages, while the value of products and COM
! lnodities remained the same.
| No one will dispute the fact but that strikes
are mutually baleful-subjectin not only the
workmen and their little ones to privation and
off-,iInes want, but paraly zing trade, and of
natural sequence the entire industries Of the
REGION but when under circul Instances Of this
nsture, capitalists band together to harness
the very nobility Of honest toll to abject SER
Witty, it is Sod iven right, and duty they
owe to their ives and their little ones, to grid
on their arZlor OF protest, nail their colors to
the mast anG hiirow down the gauge of battle,
for their righos are God-given, and money cam
not abridge them.
To treat 5his matter of the so-called strike
in strictly monetary light, with respect to its
effect upon our business interests it was not
without significance. At that time wages in
the mines were at the top and bottom $3 and
$500 per day, respectively. The proposition
of the mill men was to reduce the same so
cents per day. Estimating the number of men
employed at that time at 225, this makes a diff
. ference OF over $4,000 per ann,lm; not to
the laborers alone. but in respect to the money
, Hoated in the camp 10 say nothing of its di-
rect influence upon divers other home labor.
, Merchants tell me that every dollar of this
: money paid to miners is distributed among
, hem, and their mercantile interests bolstered
Just So much. But some one remarks that il
lad been the same otherwise, for the reason
, that the money Tas in the camp and could not
, e With11awD. Ge thus not deceived. For that
',e Union has been pregnant with good results
= and frau9ht with fraternity and charity in its
= bloadest sense cannot be denied, for since its
organization. Brother MCGOWAN has paid the
debG Cl nature and .'journeyed TO that undis-
| covered country from whose bourne no tIav.
eler e'er returns" and although the silent city
2 o. the dead. numbering in pensive quietness
p in the wiley below, boasts no towering sbafi
= q marble White TO mark the grave IF a loved
/ one loot tie sott sou5h winds stealing betime.
9doWn 'he vale, nIU'mur not REQUIEM kinder
- than the tertlcr memory OF the Union for The
''-C.her gone, lcr 10 cheer the weary, succo
s tlle sick and pelI II. tle last sad liohts, arr
lie cardinat MinGlp' as ar2Gt jewels of the order
= Fully do 7 bciiege that the influence O
Z t".ta-Huionislu c'" rulzed lh,:s, with a delhi
i e. e IuIpu- collecting and difusins