The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1885-11-09
VOLUME XXXIV.---NUMBER 81.
NA1LRns WAGES.
a Manufacturer Responds to Secretary
cheN'G CARD.

CheN'A Card.
To he Editor the IatslltSen1.
Sm:-Secretary Chew's figures con6rn
the statement made by the Wheeling mai
Association exactly. They claimed mailer
couid average Sc 81 per day for every da,
they worked under the l7.cent scale. MI
Chew's figures prove 1t. He places thl
average number Of days our Western fac
tories were in operation last year ss l40
and the average easaiug OF mailer.
s., POS 40, or $S Gl per day. Now, wha
would have been their average at the II.
cent scale2 Deduct 10 per cent, and we
have it-SG97 per day, or 1910 so for l4(
days. That would have been very fAil
earnings for the worst year ever known in
the nail busiposs-a year during which ali
our factories either lost money or made
no gain. But Mr.. Chew seems to think
the naileTs should be paid for a years
work, whether they are employed or not,
and pleads the small number Of days til ey
work each year as u Justification for tue
enormous per diem they have been
receiving, and are trying to force a
continuance Of. Men who work at
piece.wosk might all sst up the came plea
but they don't.
The nailers have made the terms and
conditions upon which their compensa-
ton Is based, and should not complain Of
their own work. To the great mass OF
skilled mechanics 500 so would bs con-
sidered big years earninRs, and they
would bo glad to work 300 days every
year for it. Nailcrs can make It in l40
days, and at the reduced scale offered by
the manufacturers Nine hundred and
ninety.fve book.keepsrs ont of every
thousand would be happy at receiving
such salary, aud would be willing to
work all day and some Of the night to get
it. Mr.. Chew says: "0ns mil! in this
vicinity hiss only run fourteen weeks in
the last fourteen months" Well, whose
fault % that? How many months have the
doors OF that mill been open to the mailer
and feeder at the best wages paid to any
class OF mechanics on earth? And right
hero let me ask Mr.. Chew, why are our
mills idle 80 much Of the time? Why has
all our Pacific coast trade and our South
ern trade LIFT US and gone. to our more
favored Eastern competitors? Simply be-
cansa We could not hold it against Eastern
quotations, and when the limited ter.
rito!y in which we could COM
pste was supplied, our factories had
to shut down. We used TO send
great barge loads OF nails South every
spring and fall. Citizens OF Wheeling
know this, and right we'll, too. Have we
shipped one barge load in the last three
years? 1tso, cannot recall it. Much OF
the blame OF this must rest on tho nailers
as their persistent demands, and ability TO
enforce them, have made competition
prodtiess in many quarters. Oar manu-
facturers have sought to overcome this
difficulty by increasing their capacity, as
it is we'll known that large factories man.
utacture cheaper than small ones. The
nailers look upon this inCresse as an evil
dence Of prosperity, and advance the idea
that because u factory is in op sration it is
making money, when the fact is they
often run at n loss to realize on heavy pur-
chases Of matsrial rather than carry it
0reE, Financial affairs ofsea compel men
to do wha. their better Judgment con.
demus; and so it ia with some ofthe mills
in operation at the 81 cent &c lie to-day.
But some men think all they have 10 do
to make money iflto start business
hence the necessity Of a bankrupt law.
am surprised that Mr.. Chew again re-
fers to the % percent reduction when
self.feeders are used, as though their use
WAS detrimental to the naiiets' interests,
when it has been shown that the very op-
posite is the case. Where self.fseders are
used, two boys can run four machines,
taking the place of four regular feeders.
These boys are paid by the mailer at the
rate Of from 5Oc to 75c each per day, while
feeders would receive ope.half the pro-
duct Of the four machines. Let us SEQ
how this will figure on full Al job. One
Al machine will cut % kegs per week
when fed by hand, and 81 kegs per week
when fed by an automatic feeper; conse-
quently the hand output would DO 100
kegs on full job, and The automatic out.
put l0S kegs. The price allowed for cut
ting 4d on the 17-cent scale offered by the
manufacturers is 56y; per key, less 25 per-
cent when automatic feeders are used.
The full price is paid when fed by hand,
one-half Of which goes 10 the feeders.
Now note the result:
ArrnNI Ttr PSrnIsiu