New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-25
AROUT VICES

That is an instructive chapter which Mr. Por-
ter gave in The TRIBUNE yesterday in comparing
English and American wages. The English state
ment shows the actual pay roll for a fortnight
in one of the most celebrated shipyards of the
Clyde. This kind of labor, as all know, is
among the best paid, and the payroll was for
the last two weeks of November, time OF I'M
usual acti witty, when piece workers had all they
could possibly do and worked with extraor-
binary energy, as is usus! before the holidays.
Under these circumstances 1t may he inferred
that the statement shows not al unusually low
but an unusually high average of wages paid
Mr.. Porter states that the average for the year
in the same yard would be lower, and that the
highest wages were then paid at that yard, so
that the average elsewhere would be lower at
the same time. Yet it appears that l,176
skilled w0rkmen received about 81 % each
week while 43S unskilled workmen received
less than So so per week.
These are not picked cases, it will be seen,
nor averages made by guess. The full sum
actually paid to large body OF men is stated,
and il some get much more than the average,
Others must get much less In nearly all reports
published In this country Oh this interesting
are taken as sample of what others receive,
and even in those classes it is very common to
meet with calculations based upon some esti-
mate of the amount of piece-work that man
can perform in day--for instance, "skilled
workmen. paid SO much by the piece, earn so
much in a day. In such computations the
tendency always is to take what the best men
can do in one day OF especial effort for what
good men can ordinarily do, week in and week
out. But the results are very different. The
best man does not do quite all that he can for
fortnight continuously. And the actual value
of his wages depends upon what he can and
will do for year continuously.
How would American workmen fancy the
British rate Of 81 20 per day for skilled and
Al 2-3 cents per dayfor unskilled labor9 There
are differences, of course which 1t would not
be fair TO overlook. American inventive genius
and fondness for labOr-saving devic es make
labor more efficient here than elsewhere. The
higher intelligence and sense of responsibility
OF the workman make the average work OF
given number of men worth more. But when
ample allowance has been made for these
differences, how would it suit American work.
men to be obliged to compete on equal terms as
W lno tatih Win iaDoreib "ho sot III "'0i"5o
of ST. &c for skilled and Al 2-3 cents for I'M
skilled work per dayq
The letter of Mr.. Porter shows, too, that the
English laborer Is not thus poorly paid because
the shipbuilders cannot afford to pay better.
They are accommodating enormous fortunes, and
the business has been SO profitable that great
numbers Of persons are rushing into 1t with in
adequate capital. Hitherto the builder could
have paid better If he would presently time
may como when, the business being greatly
overdone, many yards must close and thousands
of men DO deprived of even the poor pittance
that they have received lie this the system that