Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-10-09

EDrEoa Posr sr-lxrxrIreHcx.:

EDfEon foSI
Some young readers may not be aware
that the present var between capital
and labor 10 far from being new. In
1856, Just two hundred years ago, the
common people Of England we're as
much excited on this question ss our
eountrymen are today about Chinese
cheap labor, soaliess corporations and
monopoiIes Of ali kinda i. 10 well TO
look backward occasionally to see where
ve have been and mark the course Of
eur progress TO the present time. In
the time OF Charles the second We are
informed that the lsborer vas by no
means IN the lowest state il he received
FOR day work fourpence With food or
eiRhtpence without food. BIZ this We
learn that fourpence day vas the usual
prise Of board. -Four shiIlines q week
were therefore fair agricultural wages.
VI course II matters not bow wages are
rated, provided the cost of living is 10
proportion. Two hundred years ago
machinery for doing work was almost
unknown. A member Of the House of
Commons. In q spsech, complained that
IN consequence of the high wages paid
to mechanics, one shilling a day, it was
impossible for English fabrics to com
pete with the looms OF India. Tbis
shows that cloths must have been as
cheap a. wages we're low, and of course
all other items OF living expense in pro-
portion. Bot the same old cry, as Ma
cauley says, the vehement and bitter
cry OF iabsr against capital" was heard
IN those days as In ours. They de-
scri.ed the good old times" when ar
tisans employed in the woollen manu-
facture lived As we'll as the farmer.
Sixpence day was all they could earn
at she loom; and IL they complained
that they could not live ON that SUN,
they we're told by the lordiy capitalists
that they we're free to take it or leave
New, IL ve come back to our own
time, ve find the same antagouism BE-
tween capital aad labor. IL not the same
relative conditions between labor and
the cost Of living. In Pennsyivania
today men are living in squalid poverty
and scarcely atle 30 keep sheir families
from starvation. The prevailing rate
OF wages IN the iron mines 10 sevesty
cents per day and not Chinaman there
to shoulder the blame! The companies
have packed the region With cheap
laborers from abroad. Poles. Hunea
rians, BulRarians, and many other
nationalities swarm through the mines,
putting the supply Of labor far in ex.
cess of the demand. An overstocksd |
labor market be gets desperate struggle |
for bread, and soulless capitalists will |
never pay one dollar for work il they |
can get IL done for ninety nine cents. |
IL matters not to them who they employ, |
or where they come from or how they |
lire. On the east We are flooded with |
cheap labor from Eorepe. On the west |
We are inundated with cheap labor from |
Asia. We must take both these facts |
into consideration in dealing with this |
question. Ii 10 not a pleasant picture
to look at, bat We must not deceive our
selves by a one sided view. No doubt
great evil is upon rs and q greater one |
coming, unless some concerted wise |
course 10 marked out for rs. We have
opened our arms for the oppressed of |
all nations. The stream is pouring in |
on both coasts. Who will deliver us
from the impending destruction?
ARaUg