The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-06-30


carefully prepared tables furnished
by Mr.. Joseph d. Wells, of Pitts
burg. These tables show that the
wages paid at Pittsburg in 1873, for
boiling, per ton were $500, in South
Staffordshire and Warrington, Eng
land, for the same work, SI.7oa; for
muck-rolling, at Pittsburg, .65 to rs,
in South Staffordshire, .a86, and at
Warrington .a7I; for shingling, at
Pittsburg, .773, in South Stafford
shire .2S5, and at Warrington aga;
for bar-rolling and b~ar-heating, at
Pittsburg .65 each, and in South
Staffordshire .5a3, and at Warrington
.653; for sheet-rolling and sheet
heating, No. "a, at Pittsburg S7.I6,
and in South Staffordshire and War
rington S3.o97. This comparison,
the accuracy of which is beyond all
dispute, shows that the boilers of
iron receive between two and three
times as much at Pittsburg as in
South Staffordshire, and if the COM
parison is extended to the product of
labor in any given time, the result is
still more favorable to the American
workman, because the iron manu.
featured at Pittsburg is more readily
boiled than in the English districts.
AS to the only point of disadvantage
in the comparison, that of the labor
Of bar-heaters, while the wages per
ton are nearly the same, the earnings
per day are more than twice as great
at Pittsburg, as in England, because
of the greater effectiveness both Of
men and the machinery there.
In 1879 the rate per day paid to
the several classes of labor employed
at the Pittsburg furnaces in working
pig iron averaged nearly 100 per
cent. higher than in England.
Moreover, the number of the men
employed at the rates above 81 per
day in England is much less than
that of those employed at less than
81, and the difference between the
average rates per man employed is
therefore much greater than that
between the average rates per class
of labor, as in the Pittsburg district,
the number of men who earn more
than 81 a day is far greater than
those who earn less. AS an example,
the total cost of labor per ton of pig
iron at Pittsburg is SI.25, in Cum
berland, England, .583. At Pitts
burg in 1881, The price of pudding
iron was fixed at $3.50 per ton, with
a rising scale if the price of bar
should rise. In the north of Eng
land, the principle seat of the Eng
fish iron industries, the wages paid to
puddlers at the same time this agree
ment was made at Pittsburg were
only SI.75 per ton, and the wages of
other rolling-mill workmen cores.
ponded with the wages of pud
dlers in both countries. These
are a few of the statistics at hand,
and in view of these, we submit that
the question whether the wages of
American iron-workers are helped
by the tariff would scarcely appear to
be an open one. The fact is, and
we may as well look it squarely in the
face, that the breaking down of the
tariff on iron would have one of two
results, either to crush the American
iron industries altogether or to bring
down wages to a level with those
which prevail in England. Do the
working men deserve either Of the
results described !? We do not be-
lieve they do. On the contrary we
do believe if the advocates of free
trade undertake seriously to demon
strate to the iron-workers of America,
that their condition would be i'm
proved by either of these results,
that they will find they have a
pretty large contract on their hands.
Industrial Notes.