Daily Republican., 1882-06-22
WOrhxaS { ms Wag es.

w - Az - ~~S A"~
WOrhra ms Wages.
This county has always been consia-
cred the Paradise of latoring men. In
the past we have had no aristocracy
into the inner circle of which no labor
ing man could penetrate and no such
circle can exist in this country, where
every man is left FREQ to raise himself in
society. All are equal and the vote OF
the humblest worker counts for a much
as that of the proudest millionaire,
whose carriage as he passes splashes
mud upon the other. This country is
blessed with little homes filed with
comfort and even luxuries; the garden
provides the table with fresh articles
of vegetable food, while bread, meat
and clothing at ordinary times are not
held at prices too high to afford. The
workingman's children go to school
and sit by the side of the rich mans
offspring and all receive the same in
struction at the public expense. For
his work he receives higher wages than
in any other country, for the protective
tariff makes it impossible for the pau
per labor of Europe to compete with
him.
1t is of this question of wages we
more particularly wish to speak, and
1t will be seen that although the wages
receive seem scarcely enough to make
the ends of life meet comfortably at the
present time the comparison of wages
with those received in the country is
favora BILE to this country. Sometime
ago a report was sub nitted to the Uni
ted States Senate on the subject of wa.
ges by the Chief of the Bureau Of Sta
tistics, in which he says it is not posi-
BILE to give an accurate, comparative
statement, exhibiting in tabular form,
the rates of wages paid in different
countries, because wages tluctuate with
seasons of commercial depression and
prosperity. MIR. Weeks, m expert in
the Treasury Department and Secre-
tary of the American Iron and Steel
A ssociation, gives information which
shows that all operatives employed in
rolling mills and in the manufacture of
pig iron are fully one hundred per cent.
larger in the United States than in En-.
gland. There are cotton manufacturers
who are established both in this coun.
try and in Great Britain. Messrs, j.
& P. Coates state that the average of |
all the wages paid to their operatives
is 40 per cent. greater at Pawtucke',
Rhode Island, than at Paisley, Scot
land. The Clarke Thread Company
say that the averages of all the wages |
paid by them to their operatives is one
hundred and a half per cent greater at
Newark, New Jersey, than at Paisley.
Jonathan Chance, the we'll known COT
ton manufacturer of Rhode Island,
gives it as the result of his investiga.
tions that the general average of week
ly earnings of all cotton mill operatives
in the United States is about sixty.two
per cent. greater than the general aver.
age Of such earnings in England, and
that the average earnings of weavers,
and of the more highly skilled and better
paid labore-s in the cotton mills IF the
United States exceed the earnings of
such laborers in England in a much
greater degree.
The Shoe and Leather Reporter, of
New York, estimates that the wages Of
tanners in the Uuited States are 1877
per cent. greae than in Great Britain,
5L greater than in France and 57H
per cent. greater than in Germany.
Curriers' receive 35 II more for their
work here than In Great Britain and
93a per cent more than in Germany.
In the manufacture of silk the wages
paid in the United States are more than
twice az high as those paid in Europe
and in general the wages of skilled Ia
borers in the United States exceed the
earnings of skilled laborers in the coun.
tries Of Europe in much higher degree
than the earnings of unskilled laborers
in the United States exceed those of un
skilled laborers in Europe.
Another elemt mt of the utmost i'm
portance in this country is the cost Of
living here and in Europe. We are ex.
porting to Great Biitain, wheat, -four,
corn, meal and meat. Of necessi y
those articles must be sold for enough
more than the price here, to pay trans
portation charges and profit to the
dealers.
So from this 1t may be assumed that
the workman can live for much less in
the United States than he can in TIE
old countries of Europe. If lie is paid !
double the wages here that he is there,
as seems to be the case, he can save
proportionably, especially when other
advantages are added. 1t is not VIC.
lent inference then, that the restless.
ness and strikes among workingmen
here, come not 50 much from any real
causes OF discomfort, but are fomented
by agitators and are encouraged by
the desire on the art Of so many OF
those who work for wages to live as
well and erjoy as mary comforts and
In ,,riaa q c tl,.... ~ lnuaKS