Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-04-22
con ,,ment of its cllentage. and we shall
have party organization that Will
never die ont.
Thu Condition of Labor.

view gives a discussion OF the laoor ,
ou,s,i m by VIM. Goodwin Moody ana !
prot. ]. l.. Lsughlin, who view the |
matter of the workingmen's eriev-
ances from antipodal standpoints'
MIR. Moody is a pessimist Of the most
melancholy type, and draws gloomy
picmre of the worRingmar's ccndt
ton and his pros poets. Prof Laugh
Inns view is that of an optimist-
cheerful and full of promise for The
future.
The dismal forebodings Of Mr..
Moody are promised upon the multi
jplic.tion of labor-saving contrivances
bv the invention of machinery TO
perform the work OF man, thus limit |
ing the demand for mans labor. "lh
every han dicralt has machinery taken
the place of muscle" he laments,
land mills, factories, furnaces, FORCES
and shops have been multiplied and
increased in capacity far beyond the
economic ability Of the people to con-
sumo the product" And then he
proceeds to say that sin town, country
and mining.camp are found armies OF
homeless wanderers, that can be num-
bcred by hundreds OF thousands, if
not by millions, vainly seeking
work. This exhibits the character
of Mr.. Moody's utterances, and asser-
tions equally reckless abound on every
page of his article. To assert that
millions Of men are out of employment
in this country, where the entire male
population engaged i'll manufacturing
falls below two millions and half is
so preposterous as to discredit the
whole of the article; for it is to assert,
in effect, that more are idle than are
employed at work. Mr.. Moody is one
of those men who disdains to resort to
statistics to sustain his assertions, and
hi, arguments, which must necessari-
ly stand or fall by the proof OF figures,
appear rldiculously weak when sub
iecte d to the scrutiny of the statisti-
clan.
1t is relief to pass on to Prof
Laughlin's part of the discusson. On,
energies from the cave Of gloom into
the cheerful sunlight of midday
Rank assertion without evidenc,
forms little part Of Prof Laughlin'
. argument. He finds labor saving ma
, chinery to have been the greatest ia
, strument for adding TO the comforts o
, the workipgman and increasing hi
I wages. He pnts the question boldly
/, Are the workingmen better off? an
1 finds an Affirmative answer in tn
+ figures of the United States census n
por's He shows that from 1850 to lSS
the percentage of increase in the nun
Der of hands employed in manu;a
lures was lS5, while the increase j
nj wages paid was 300 per cent. In Ii
IL same time the total increase of popul
,r ton was but II per cent 1t cam
H. be denied that the period from 1850
ne 1850 witnessed a complete revolutiC
ss in manufactures by the introduction
d. labor-saving machinery, yet viii
ga population increased but liz per Ger
n. in that time, the increase OF manufa
of turing employees was 1855 per cen
ty while the total amount Of wages "
,al increased 800 per cent. These figui
III. completely annihilate Mr.. Moody's
an. gument that labor-saving machin,
tor drives men out of employment l.
,re cuts down wages.
adj. Prof. Laughlin introduces tn
ally showing me rate OF wages In 1850 q
ov. in 1874, which exhibits the Increase
zen the various occupations: