The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-03-25
CONDITION OF sKILLED LABOR.

. hAh WIZ oGCuPIeu tue GIAGA III TVut
~ "'e 'eE. -
CONDITION OF SKILLED LABOR.
Its Earnings Now and Before the war
Expectations ~ TO Being Independent
atSiAty.tlVe Years Of Age.
New York Bulletin.
There can be no more acceptable eVi.
dence Of tho recovery Of our material in
terests.trom the shock occasioned by the
panic oil 1873 than the improved and i'm
proving condition Of the mechanic and
artizan classes, MS seen in the demand and
the prices that are now paid for skilled la.
Dor, We think there can be no mistake
on this point. The evidences OF II are too
conclusive TO be disputed. Not long since
we had occasion to institute q careful In.
qniry as TO labor and wages in the leading
manufactures OF this city and neighbor.
hood-a work which we see has been FOL.
lowed up ut intervals since by some OF
our, contemporaries-and the result was
such as to abundantly substantiate the
statement that, all things considered, the
condition and prospects Of the handicrafts.
men OF nearly every class are better to.
day than they have been, we do not say
merely since the collapse OF 1873, but al
any period since 1860, before the com.
mencement Of the civil war. 0bserva-
ton, as well as statistics, confirms that
conviction. The winter through which
we have just passed has wit
messed none OF the public mani.
festations OF discomfort which are 10
common at periods when vast numbers Of
men are out OF employment. Tho do,
mands upon public and private benevo.
lence were much fewer than usual; there
have been no unusual demands upon the
savings banks; and though there was, as
there Is still, no lack OF complaint IRON
large numbers Of worktngmen and labor. |
ers that they can find nothing to do, we
think 1t will generally be found that the |
real trouble Is that they can really do
nothing that anybody wants done; in |
other words, they are not skilled laborers,
and have nothing to sell for which, in the
mandatory, the mill and the shop, there
Is even In tho worst Of times some sort OF |
a market. In every community, and ca.
pecially in every great city, this class Of
persons abound; but as we are dealing
now only with those who have acquired
trades and have at their command the
yatlaBlg1 experience Of trained industry,
" examining the situation these are net
10 pe accepted as an element in the Case
u We turn from New York to other COM
mq1ittes and other States, No meet with
evidences OF q not less gratifying Charapt-
or, As regards Massachusetts, We have
already had occasion to quote from the last
annual report Of Its Bureau OF Statistics,
showing the marked Improvement rs re.
CARDS compensation for labor that has
taken place in the condition of the opera. |
tiYes employed in textile industries. Tho
m4eehaIle trades throughout the stats ars
IN a greater or less degree participants Of |
the Improvement. At present the trades
that would appear to 10 the most prosper.
ous==the petGentage tnpre4ss Of wages,
compared with 1870, being a criterion
ore the makers OF artizans' toels, cutters,
leather manufacturers, carriage makers
book binderV, machines and machinery,
musical instruments, metals and the va
rious handicratts represented in building
operations.
IT il waTtAY 81 remark that the Massa-
far as possible with the future Il tie WORK
ingman 9s well 4s his present Hence, in
prosecuting It's inquiries among them, It
mas endeaSored 10 elicit kind OF intof'
mation mat IN Itself Is highly interesting,
Dnt wlllGn Is not usually found in docu-
ments Of TINS description, Among the
series Of questions put was this: DO you
anticipate peinG 9Rle p lay BY enough to
sapport you 10 your old aga-sas, atteF
slxty'nvef 10 this tinal inquiry there
, were ZVz answers, only % falling to reply.
ihose expecting 70 secure support for
thelr oId age number ~; those who do
HoE, anlsielpGt!e, Reinng able to, comprise l'|Oi
ana ~ consider tHe prospects uncertain
Inc ga. ae.aled replies s arc n gwen aeIowI