Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-12-30
! COMPARISON.
Wages In English and American
Cotton MhAIRe.

Cotton Mtbfas
The statement concerning the cost of
spinning cotton yarn In England, which
ia furnished by Consul Schoenhof in the
last Issue Of tho consular reports Of the |
United States, "a exceedingly interesting |
and important, says the Boston HerGld. I
Mr.. Schoenhof possesses the enormous |
advantage In work Of this kind Of prso. |
teal experience as manufacturer. BE |
carried on tor q punber Of years large |
bdsiness in New York, and, from the ne:
cesaities of his trade, became intimately
acquainted with the methods and costs OF
texule manufacture. This Information
he has utilized in the comparisons he hiss
instituted between the systems of pro.
duotion in England and those In this
country.
In the spinning of cotton yarn, he
6nds, what we believe has been the CON-
clusion reached by all who have investi-
gated the subject with knowledge of its
| details aud diainterested desire TO arrive
at the truth that, while the cost of pro-
| duction in most respects is higher here
than 1t lie in England, the item of labor
| il lower In the United States than it Is
| there. That is to say, with No. Is yarn
| the operative In Fall River mill receives
4
/ while in Lancashire, for the production
Of the same quantity and quality Of cot
/ ton yarn, the operative would receive so of
o cent. With one or two slight exceptions,
this difference holds good in all the num-
bers Of yarns, from No. is up to No. so.
though in the higher grades the advantage
is not SO markedly in favor of the English
operative.
Bot If, instead Of taking the wages
earned by actual work--and this is the
| way payments are made in cotton mills
both In England and this country
comparison were to be instituted between
the amounts which the operative received
in English and American mills, il would
be found that the American cotton spin
ners were paid from so to rs per cent
/ more wages week than those operatives
received who were spinning cotton in
England. How is this to be accounted
, for? One reason is that our working
time is go hours per week, against 81
hours in England. But a atlll greater
and much more important difference is
the fact that the average operative eni.
: ployed in an American mill produces
vastly more finished results than the aver.
Q age operative employed i'll the Englist
q mill.
He or she may bs paid lower per pound
IS OF cotton yarn than an English operative
a out at the end of week the American
6 operative, will have produced from 50 Il
rs per cent more cotton yarn than woult
be spun by an English operative and, o
i course, as the pay is based upon worl
- performed, the earnings are proportion
: ately larger.
Thus, in the weaving department o
70 the English mills, Mr.. Schoenho
10 states that the weavers make abou
Bl22 per loom per week, while il
America they make only about 80 cent
ID per loom per week. But, at the end o
ne the six days, the American weaver rt
1e ceives for her work on the average $685.
while the English weaver receives, ON tn
rs average, only $500. This difference
be accounted for simply enough. In Eng
ks land, three looms are as much as it
thought that an operative can mind, Will
= in Fail River an operative can tend sil
Il, and sometimes even eight looms.
The obvious conclusion to be draw
- from all this is that the relatively hig
y pay in America is due entirely to the g,
IS, traordinary quantity and quality OF Il
work performed. In almost all other r
ts' spects we are at disadvantage wit
England in spinning cotton. The cost
construction is greater here than there
IRE the cost of machinery is higher; the co
Sc, Of management is very much larger, al
VS. the cost of supplies, especially coal,
- greatly against us. These disadvantag
are due partly to the exactions of o
ns tariff taxes, and partly to the extravaga
MT manner, in the way of supervision al
,er direction, in which our large factories q
- handled. The national policy of pr
lection has had not the least effect mp
,ut the wages of the operatives, except, pr
fe. sibly, to make them less but it has p
ate mitted of the payment of large salar
Ak to treasurers, superintendent and othe
and, possibly, large commissions to 81
ia ing agents. And yet, in the face of
W. this, we are told that it is the workingn
So So in whose interest the protective system
maintained.