The Labor enquirer., 1883-10-20
"Arcanun.
The Question Answered.

At a recent session of the United
States Senate's Subcommittee on edu-
cation and labor, Robert Howard, cot
ton spinner from Fall River. was asked
by Senator Pugh, of Alabama, the fol-
lowing pertinent question:
"How much value does the work of an
operative add to the value of cotton
goods purchased ?"
Mr.. Howard, although remarkably
well supplied with other statistics, un-
fortunately did not have the material to
respond to this query at hand, and an
swered:
Il cannot state. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics would furnish you with the de-
sired information.'
AS correct response to this query
would have been very serviceable at that
time and place to spread the light not
only in the contemporary report of the
proceedings, but by its future widespread
publication by congress in book-form,
thus being preservable for refernece, its
omission is, to say the least, very unfor
tunate.
But Mr.. Howard has yet a chance to
supply the deficiency by forwarding to
said committee full written answer to
the query, with the request that it be in
corporated into his testimony as re-
vised response, or added to the same as
supplementary. Such procedure is not
only regular but of constant occurrence.
But fearing that similar question
might again be propounded with similar
results, and being quite sure that the
committee will not take the trouble to
dig out the important facts that the
answer involves, although told by Mr..
Howard where they can be found, we
cheerfllly assume this labor and coate
testimony Of the. Massachusetts, Labor
Bureau for 1888, being presumably for
the year next preceding,
We shall strict y cOntine ourselves to
answering the committees question,
which reads, How much value does the
work of the operative add to the value
of the cotton goods purchased ?"
The commissioner says on page 1873 of
the report referred to, that of the 100
cotton mills in the state he has tabulated
but $50, proportion one would think
large enough to give very fair showing.
On page 246 he tells US that the value
of products" of such mills was $66, All ,3l3
and the "stocRused," or what the com
mittee calIs"the value of the cotton
goods purchased" was $35, 5,OO9,lO8.
Consequently the reply to the senator's
query as to what labor adds to the ma
terial is in this case $3l 1852, ,2O6.
In other words, each of the dollars
worth of finished fabric contains the raw
material supplied, SO cents and labor AZ
cents.
But more exhaustive analysis can be
obtained by learning the per cent OF
value which labor adds to the raw mate
rial which is, of course, as to the pro-
portion which $3l ,462, ,205 bears to $685.
009, lO8 which is within a small fraction
of 80 per cent. Having gone so far in
the labor Of love in answering the COM
mittee's conundrum we will 60 little
farther for our own satisfaction, and, de-
ducting from labor's increment, quoted
as above at $3l ,462, ,205, the amount which
the commissioner says was paid for such
labor($l5 ,45i ,347) we find the handsome
remainder of $160l085S as the final
award to the employers for bossing the
employees or more for the bossing than
for the work.
| Dividing the said Anal award to CAPT
tai by $50, the number of employing
Establishments, we find it results in an
average pay of $l0O072 to each.
Dividing the award to labor ($l5, ,46l, :
347) by the number of employees, quoted
on page 24l, as "a, 1854, we find the average
amount paid to each operator to have
been $25S, $780, against an average earning
or wealth creation, of more than double
that amount.
With such facts as these before the
respectable classes" of Massachusetts, it
is no wonder that they are disgusted
with the attacks of their chief magistrate
upon such insignificant piccadillos as
tanning paupers' hides and peddIing dead
babies, as practically the labor system OF
Massachusetts transforms said "respecta-
BILE classes" into hordes of cannibals,
who devoar the substance and damn the
souls of their employees to secure fat divi-
dends on their (often borrowed) capital.
Irish World.