The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-01-07
TUE REMEDY FOR STRIKES.

with an extent and violence that has been
felt throughout the land and has often, in
deed, caused business shock and a disas-
trous stoppage, for time, at least, of the
most useful and necessary enterprises
Many good and virtuous citizens in the
presence of such troubles have grown
alarmed and indignant at what they have
considered the unreasonable demands Of
labor and have attributed the various
strikes which have occurred to a DISPOSE
ton ON the part of the poor to rob the rich.
very limited insight, however,
into the real cause of the diff
Guilty will remove many previously con-
ceived preiudices, and correct many
Gus opinions. The idea is prevalent every
where that the American laborer receives
wages much in excess of those paid in the
same lines of work in England and Europe,
and that therefore, his attem pts to obtain
an increase, or failing, to cripple his en-
ployer, are iniquitous in the extreme. He
is accordingly held up as a Socialist, Com
munist, agitator, reyoutionist and ENEMY
generally to his country. Such
IDEAS only serve to show how little
attention is given TO incts while the
prejudices and talk of the hastings
or the manufacturers Offices, or the
street, or what not and where not, are
depended upon implicitly and allowed to
mould the philosophy and conduct of the
majority Of the masses. The fact is, under
all the circumstances surrounding labor in
America, the working men are more poorly
paid and their employers are moro richly
enumerated upon their respective outlays
than an any like set of men in the world.
Now add to this fact the still more dis
couraSing feature that this state of affairs
is induced directly by the legislation OF the
country, by those men indeed, who should
be Of all others the friends and protectors
of the laborer and the injustice of the dis
tinctions ana the causes, too often lust, Of
the many efforts to obtain redress may be
easily seen and appreciated. We have said
and can without trouble demonstrate that
labor is more poorly .rcmunerated in the
United States than in England and other
portion. Of Europe lfthisbe so whore the
competition is so much smaller and new
fields and enterprises are so constantly open
ngup, there must De a radical wrong some
whcrc in our system. Let us lool, at some
figures In Great Britain and France
bIacksmiths receive from So to 50 per week,
from late tabulatcd statistics, and in
Chicago, one of the most flourishmg of
American cities, only from 50 to $40. hut
the French or British laborer can more than
save the difference in the prices he pays for
manufactured goods upon which he de-
Ponds for his comfort and which are OBJ
tanned by him at round avcra,,e decrease
of " to 10 per cent over his American co.
laborcr. But again carpenters and ioiners
receive in New York and Chicago wages
running from $3.50 to fl2 per week, while
in France and Great Britain the pay ranges
from 50 to 50, bearing in mind all the
while that there is difference in favor of
the European in the purchase of his living
ranging anywhere from SO IL
TOGO per cent. But further, in the foreign
states named, laborers, porters, etc, receive
81 to 50 per week, whereas in many, very
many, sections of America they receive
no moro, and in Chicago only command
from Sc to S. per week. Farm hands in
Great Britain to-day receive MS much pav.
aud, when We continue to remember the
item Of cheaper living, better pay, indeed
than in half of the States east of the Mis-.
sssippi river. The average farm hands
wages in England amount TO 81 per week.
In scores Of other ayocatiops the Gcures arc
the same, and though it may be arcyelation
to many ON this side the waters, Is none the
less historical and statistical fact
Now when We turn to The other side OF the
question and see how fares the man who
employs the labor ofthc poor al figures no
greater than the provcrbialy oppressed
laborer OF Europe receives, the astonish-
mcnt at the comparison becomes even
greater A tariff as now constituted means
that the amount of the tariff is necessary to
prevent foreign competition. II it be CO
per cent" as it is on wooden manufactures.
It means that European manufacturers sell
90 per cent cheaper than American manu-
iactWcrs The duties on iron are from 81
to copper cent, on calicocs and co,tons from
% to G., on marble from IS to so,
even on salt 60 per cent, on
drugs 100 per cent, on glass
FROM 5oto 100 per cent and on everything
else in proportion, In other words, the
American manufacturer is permitted to
make u profit of from 80 to 100 per cent.
greater than the European, and cmnloys
his labor at nearly, or less than, the same
figures in England and France aud perhaps
other countries. Now with the MAGNIFICENT
adaptohility ottho United States 10 mann.
lectures, with the widespread prosperity
and scarcity of Labor with the powers of GOV.
ernmcnt grinding him down and refusing
rojreSs when repeat. lily demanded. in tho
presence OF his own condition coual ia
or worse than the oppressed or Europe yn
far the comforts ollie are concerned and
the luxury and the rapidly growing wealth
o'the man who is working him for twelve
and sixteen hours q day for halrpricc AND
receiving by the.toStcrng care of the nation,
two prices for what the Workman.
~ ili ,Nn1.g o,,,, . ,,,,a .. 80.