The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-10-11
neo cher on tho ,worltiugn,en of Wheeling.

~ Icccher on tho, ,Worltngnens OF Wheeling
The Rev. Henry Ward Bcecher, who is
SO loudly shouting for Cleveland and fol
at free trade, visited Wheeling in 1879, and
4 made q tour. Of some Of our mills Then
" heSwrote a letter to the Christian Onion
from here, which on its face contained
falschood and which was an insult to
American labor. II was printed in that
paper May IA, 1870, and is as follows:
NOTES ny THE wAY."'s
Editorial Correspondence. s r 7, &. r
33ttAside from its vapor and smoke, Wheel.
ing is q pleasant city and full OF enterprise.
We visited with great interest, q nail fac,
& tory, perhaps the largestin the country.
sss5 u turns out seven thousand hundred.
spound kegs Of nails a week.
There are employed Of all kinds about
seven hundred men in the various depart.
meDts, and The average wages Of the men
is from thirty.six to. tlirty-eight dollars a
week, and yet iewmc lay up anything,
II We have everywhere made inquiry in
sslargc establishments where skilled labor
lis employed, and with comparatively few
i honorable exceptions it is the same way
men earning from from forty to sixty dol
liars week spend itall as they go. Itwas
$50 in the mines Of California and Nevada.
sItis SO in Pittsburgh, 1t is fatal fault
with hundreds Of thousands OF intelligent
$workmen that they do not organize future
prosperity, but spend all MS they 60, and
when ago or sickness, or commercial re:
5yulsion lay them aside they are poor in
property and rich only in impracticable
schemes Of reorganization OF society and
distribution Of property: 55,tj5.7=
Here are hundreds Of men who live on
" ga dollar a day" and lay up something
every year and thousands who earn from
five to ten dollars day, and grow poorer
y every year.
When the final adjustment OF the king
dom Of labor shall come, tho foundations
GOT 1T will be industry, skill, irugality,
economy, foresight. II. w. B."
Becchers only object in writing this let
ter seems to have been. to re-enforc the
free trade theory that the workingman is
Just as well olr5with low wages, which it
Sis conceded even by free: traders the prac:
stical operation Of free trade must bring as
with high. HeE wanted to make a good
argument, 50 he accused our workingmen
ol spending all they earn, and the infer
ence is that they spent tho money in
drinking and riotous living generally,
But he has proved that Che was a liar
ny his very figures. Il 100 men made an
average Of $50 . week the total pay roll OF
Sthis nail factory must have been So, 200 a
week. He says they turned out 900 kegs
Sof nails a week. Nails were not bringing
more than s. a key in tho spring Of 1870,
md tho total receipts from 1000 kegs
must have been not III excess of $4,000.
Taking no account Of the cost Of tho iron
with whichito make the nails, ot superin-
stendents salaries, sofS q, thousand and ono
other expenses that attach TO a nail fac
tory, it is plain: that the factory was losing
$1,000 a week. Every manufacturer and
every cmploye knows that no such prices
were paid Or could have, been paid at any
time III tho history Of the nail industry.
Beechcr is at tho head and front Of the
Tree: trade agitation Of this country. In
Brooklyn, where tile movement is stronger
3thanin anyiother American city, he is the
apostle Of tho aGitators. Yet it is plain as
day from this letter what Tho would have
eworkingman do. Hei openly says that
the workingmen can save money on
dollar a day, and he intimates that i is
just as well that he should earn no more.
In his plan for tho reconstruction Of tho
kingdom ofSlaborShe offers no attraction
fort nottingham. & There IS no show
for him to get on save through, Industry,
skill, frugality, economy and foresight I
These attributes involve! no faculty not
possessed by half tho brute creation. The
beasts Of thestield have them n NJ
j y Beecher does not provide Tor any in: