The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1882-10-28
the various degrees and quantities OF
pay for the various kinds of work
done.

UO0os
The unit of value for labor must be
a fixed quantity of an article in gen
eral use; the market price of which
quantity equals the daily cost of living
to an able-bodied man who does the
least skilled manual work, such
as digging, lifting and carrying.
Such an article is wheat flour. When
the market price of this is high, all
the other necessaries of life are high or
soon become so and when the price
OF 1t is low other articles are equally
reasonable. Not that the rise and fall
in the price of -four necessarily cause
rise and fall in the price of other
things, but what affects the normal
price of -four also ultimately affects
the price of everyt thing else. So that
taking the year through from Janu.
airy to December, it will be found that
as the price of -four has been so have
been he prices of the other neeessa-
ries of life.
A care full inquiry extending over
the past twelve years has revealed
that grown person who furnishes the
least skilled manual work requires in
order to comply with what the state
and society expect of him, an amount
of daily wages equal to the cost of
fifty pounds of good family flour
The unit of value for labor, then,
should be-the cost ofJifty pounds of
good family -four IN the locality aOtere
the aUork is done.
This unit of value may be known as
wdge, just as the unit of value for
time is known as a second. Then all
payments for work other than the
least skilled adult manual work, will
be as much above or below this unit
of value or s0age as the present rates
are now above or below what is now
Paid for the least skilled adult man.
ual work. Thu: The yard hand of
a mill would receive one aUdQe =; the
mouldere, puddlers Transfers, clerks
and boys would receive two, four or
three wages or half wage, or what
ever proportion the pay of these now
bear to that of yard hand. Then in.
stead of the question, How much
wages do you get?" the inquiry will
be: "How many wages do you get?"
twill bereadily seen that under this
system it will be immaterial what the
price of -four may be; the pay re.
ceived will always buy the same guam
tity of it or of other necessaries.
Should the price be three cents
pound, then the lowest daily wage
will d dollar and half two cents a
pound, the lowest daily wage will be
dollar-but dollar will, under these
circumstances, buy as much -four or
other necessarie5 as a dollar and q
half. So that let the cost of living be
what it may, the pay of the indus trial
classes under this State or national
law, will always be in accordance
Herewith.
The average price of fifty pounds of
good family -four in each month could
be accepted as the value of the wage for
each following month should the av-
erage price of the flour in February be
four cents pound, then the sOage for
March would be two dollars.
Then, when companies water their
stock, squander their money, or for
want of foresight and skill are unfor-
tunate in business, or become nearly
ruined through rivalry or when fl
nancial panics and commercial disas-
tiers arise, because of INSCRIPTIONS
gambling and speculation or when
thousands of slaves and pauper labor
ers flock in from abroad, employers
cannot make the industrial classes of
America bear their losses or take the
miserable pay of workers III foreign
lands.
The law will step in and proclaim
You can no more compel the innocens
workers to suffer for your losses, ex-
travagance or cupidity, than you can
give thirty instead of thirty.six inches
to The yard, because you have been
unfortunate in business. Every man
must bear the burthen of his own stu
pidity, indiscretion and guilt; he can
not cast it in whole or part upon the
innocent. Goods measured by the
yard may vary in price according to
their quality, but the yard measure
itself must remain invariably fixed
at thirty-six inches 30, like wise, work
measured by the daily waQe may
vary in price according to its quality,
but the daily wage itself must remain
invariably fixed at the cost of fifty
pounds of good family -four. You can
no more alter the one at your peril
than you can the other.
Had everyone the right to arbitra-
rily sell by mis- own stsnda4d of weight
and measure, there would arise the
n ~ So i