Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-04-16
Labor and the Cost Of Living.

qulIy W tuo NUMBERS or employed and
unemployed men and women in tt at
state. 1t will be remembered that the
number OF people seeking work was
then about $500. The tenth annual
report of the Bureau, Just published,
gives. the result of another canvass,
made IN November, from which it APP
pears that only $4,000 people in Massa-
chusetts were then in want Of work and
could not get it. If the industrial con-
dltlOn Of Massachusetts may be taken
as an index of, the industrial condition
of the whole country, we arrive at the
encouraging conclusion that not more
than one per cent. Of the population Of
the United States began the winter I'M
employed. This, notwithstanding the
fact that the relative proportion of those
seeking employment and depending on
1t tor support was probably much great
er than ever before. Multitudes who
had retired from business in flush times,
had been driven to seek work again in
consequence failing investm ents; and
for similar reasons many young people
and dependents upon wealthy parents,
and relatives had been set adrift to
crowd the labor market
That the reduction of wages conse-
quent thereupon, and the return of
prices to gold basis, had not brought
the working people of Massachusetts,
as regards work and wages, relatively
below their position when gold began
to go up, is SHOWN by statistics, which
we believe to be worthy Of the utmost
confidence.
"The following is the per centum of
increase of wages in 1873 over 1860 in
several trades: Agricultural laborers,
per day SO per centum, per month Is;
manufacture of arms, 10; artisans
tools, SO; blacksmiths', AZ; bookbinding
IA to IL; boots and shoes, 26; boxes, IS
to 3S; bakers, Is to So; brickmakers, 9;
building trades, 16; cabinet making. 6
to 16; carpet making, %; carriages, 80;
clothing, s; dressmaking, 10; leather
making, 2S; linen and jute manufacture,
20 to %; machinery manufacture, 81;
metallic fine work and jewelry, rs;
millinery, %; musical instruments, s;
paints, %; paper, Al; printing, 80; silk
manufacture, 45; soap and candles, IS;
stone working, S;manufacture of wooden
goods, SO; worsted goods, 20. The fol-
lowing are the occupations and the per-
centage of decrease of wages: Bleach
ing, dyeing, and printing Of cloths, 3
per centum; preserving meats, pickles,
ETC., 2; envelope making. II, shipbuild-
ing, 80.
"The returns from 63,515 employees
in the occupations considered, in the
cities and town visited, show that aver
age weekly wages, on gold basis,
were twenty four and four tenths per
centum greater IN 1878 than they were
in 1860.
ct is found that the prices of gocer-
les has advanced over 1860, per cent. );
provisions, %; fuel 5; boots, Is; rents
25; board, 20: while drygoods have fall
len 9 per centum. On all the items
entering into the cost Of living the aver
age price was l43 per centum higher in
1873 than it was in 1860. The follow
ng figures show the per centum which
the prices Of the following articles in
1872 exceed the same in 1879 Gro.
ceries, 43; provisions, II; fuel, A;
drygoods, 40; boots, q; rents, 1O5;
board, 81. On all the above items the
average per cantum Of cost in 1872
above the same in 1878 was "a per cen
tum.
The results of the investigation rela-
tive to wages and prices are as follows:
Wages have advanced, compared with
1860, pa per centum, and the cost of
living l4.5 per centum, which on its
face shows a pecuniary advantage to
the workingmen of 9 go per centum.
careful inquiry was made by the
officers of the bureau of 345 retail
dealers in ten cities and towns contain
ing a population of $4,000, to ascer-
tain the amount, quality of goods pur-
chased now compared with the same
several years since, together with the
ability to pay for the same. From
these inquiries the following conclu-
sions are reached: That the working
men Of Massachusetts, in the majority
Of cases, have the best quality of food,
though not in SO great a quantity and
variety as in previous years, that they
are practicing a rigid economy in Dur-
chases of clothing, dry goods, boots and
shoes, house-furnishing goods and fuel;
and that the ma ority continue to pay
their bills promptly.
Comparing this state Of affairs with
the previously ascertained relations of
wages and prices, which shows in 1878
an advance over 1860 of 24,4-1O per
centum in average weekly wages, and
an average advance in cost of living of
~ per centum, which means pecun-
larry betterment of lOper centum in the
general condition Of the workingman
In Massachusetts in 1873 as compared
with 1880, no account being made Of
the decrease in hours of labor in many
inoustries-it would seem like stating
an axiom to prophesy that, with a re-
vival in business, gradual decline in
the prices of provisions, ETC., and no
cut down in wages, the conditions Of the
Workingman in this state, within a COM
paratively short period, will be better,
considering all circumstances, than it
ever has been since the foundation Of
our commonwealth"
What is true of Massachusetts in this
respect, there is ample reason for be-
lievlng to be true of the whole country.