Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-04-10
Honest wage. for Honest Labor.


CONVECTION, KY, March l9.--Editor
GAZETTE, have been for twenty-five
years an employer of men, and in that
time have given considerable thought aud
personal attention to the wants and to
the interests of my employees,
Ia the last few years have seen and
felt the tendency among manufacturers
and employers to reduce to the lowest
limit instead of maintaining the wages OF
their employees There has been nothing
in the condition OF affairs which has de-
manded the many reductions made in
wages, but they have been brought about
almost entirely by reckless and uncalled-
for reductions in prices of various manu-
featured commodities. An Investigation
will show that the most startling cuts in
prices In all lines Of business are made BY
| firms who pay low scale of wages, and
these are the firms that damage the inter-
ests OF other men in business, aud are the
primary cause OF our labor troubles
everywhere.
! There is nothing contributes so largely
to the prosperity Of the entire country as
good, honest, liberal wages received by
employees, and If at once simultaneous
movement were made by employers TO
revise their pay-rolls and make sGch in
crease as will give to each and all in their
employ decent living or more, II doing
so necessltates an advance in values the
public, believe, stand ready TO pay such
advanced prices as the step might render
necessary; and the question Of capital
and labor is solved at once. While am
the heaviest shipper in my line out OF
Cincinnati, will pledge myself, II any rail-
road president places his hand on his sup
posed heart and says he cannot raise wages
beyond present scale paid without adj
vancing rates of freight, ! for one will
pay the advanced rates cheerfully, And
II any branch OF industry which patron
ize, after advancing the wages Of under
paid employees, finds II necessary TO make
advanced prices on their goods, will
continue my patronage OF the firms who
do so, aud believe Ia upholding any or
ganization which lawfully works toward
forcing employers 10 take this course.
The laborers of to-day have right to
the handling OF larger amount OF the
wealth Of this country than they are per-
mitted to, and in the present agitation
am avowedly ON the side of the Knights
Of Labor, believing the consummation of
their objects will be largely TO the gem
eral welfare.
The dollars paid to wage-worke rs
quickly find their way through the avenues
OF trade, being promptly placed in circu-
lation. II, in the coming month, the pay
of the bread-earners was increased an
average of 10 per cent. there would be
100000 tattered and faded calico gowns
go TO the rag-men and repl9ced by as
many new ones. hundred thousand
pairs OF shoes badly needed would IN the
first month be bought, and many worn
out and unsafe stove would find It's way
10 tho jpnk pil0And stove dealer The
dry goods dealers, the jobbers, the cotton
mills, the foundries, all would feel the
new Impetus TO business, and the thrill
OF revived industry would 20 through
the entire country. am tired OF
seeing employers persist in taking the
wrong course by banding together TO hold
tho price OF labor down. A continuance
OF such policy will place our country IN
the condition OF my earlier home, where
potatoes are only sixpence bushel, but
no one has the siXpence. Better for em-
ployers to band together and with their
workmen To uphold prices and wages and
the labor riddle is soon solved.
n am ready to meet the tobacco manu-
facturers Of the United States for the pur-
( HDbt VI ttalt VI ilNluE
| wages for employees So our line OF
business; and TO more fully main.
tain my IDEAS expressed on the labor
question and 10 set an example
Tor others To follow, have this day ad-
yanced the wages OF all my employees 10
per cent, and dc this while not shadow
OF dissatisfaction exists as to the wages
| have heretofore paid, as II has always
, been my aim TO pay honest wages, and In
} return | have received intelligent and
! faithful service Let your paper next
I week contain long list OF employers
! who adopt the same course, and CinciD.
c natl has set an example 1t will do well for
! cities East and West to emulate, and even
, the Jay Goulds Of the country may be
y shained into indoIsng the same just poll
: icy, Very respectfully yours,
ROBERT HAMILTON.