Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-06
Adjustm en ts.

ltrom the WOFcester FresssJ
 The revival of business dates back only a few months. The improved condition of things has been welcomed with general ex- pression of satisfaction. Manufacturers and traders have been glad to see some prospect of getting increased income from their in vested capital, and vast number of unen- ployed laborers have eagerly seized the op- portunity to earn living. The new pros- perity was entered upon without any agita. tion of old controversies between employees and the employed, so favorable turn ln for tune was it considered that thers was any sharp demand for manufactured goods, and any chance to run the machinery that would produce them. But many could forecast the future sufficiently to see that this state of ap parently happy content could not be perma nent. The vexed question of wages was sure to come up for e-adjustment. No sooner could the managers of extensive business operations begin to share encouraging profits, than their indispensable hired help would put in claim for more pay. The demand was sure to come. It is now taking form and be- ing pressed with urgency in various localities. It is proper to say that it should be met with candor, liberality, and frmness. Everybody is bound to be reasonable; people who are proftably served can afford to deal generously; and at the same time there may be clamor for more, that has no right to be heard and which it is salutary, at the right time, to silence by apositive and emphatic refusal. Labor has no more right to be arbitrary and dictatorial than capital
 There are several considerations that de- serve to be fairly weighed, and must be so weighed, or there will be the threatened out break of labor troubles. These troubles are disastrous; most of all to those who are un- prepared to take upon themselves additional burdens.
 It seems reasonable that the employers of labor, on large scale, should be entitled to plant themselves on solid prosperity, to be- come assured that they are doing an improved business, before they are harassed by claims for increased wages. As long as their opera tions are experimental, and they are feeling their way doubtfully, the element of hazard Is a large one in their estimations. Those con- nected with them may properly share the drawback of their uncertainties. When em- ployers are assured of something more than an ephemeral prosperity, then the employed may say that their time has fully come to be participants in that prosperity.
 The employers of labor in these better times encounter one obstruction which should not be overlooked. If they are producers or goods that meet with quick sales at higher rates than ruled in years past, the advance In the cost of the materials out of which these goods are manufactured is much in excess of that realized on the finished product. The profits are less than they seem. There is the hum of activity but the margin of gain may be less than is supposed, and largely for the reason that the stock consumed involves an outlay which the competition of the market prevents being made up in the final sales. The scale of wages cannot be equitably deter