St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-23
"Hard Times" Always.

We never heard OF any other times
hut Hard Times" at least ip the
present. The good times seem to have
all been in the past, during generation
that have gone and can not be here to
tell of them. According to some, the
times are not only bad and getting
worse, but the moral condition of the
world is worse than it used to be, and
is becoming still worse.
AS a matter of fact the world is bet
ter in every respect than it ever was be-
fore, though it is still very bad accord
ing to high standard of morality; and
mans physical surroundings have so
much improved, that a common laborer
of to-day has more comforts than kings
had two or three hundred years ago.
One phase Of mans improved coDdi-
ton is remarkably illustrated by the
following, from a late number of the
Scientific American, showing the in
crease in labors' wages during cenlu-
~ just past:
Discussing wages, in one of his lee
lures before the students OF Harvard
University, Professor Thompson gives
many facts of curious interest. In
1898 the Schuylkill and Susqueilanna
Canal Company advertised for work
men, offering So month for the winter
months, and ST for summer, with board
and lodging. The next year there was
a debate in the House of Representa-
tives which brought out the fact that
soldiers got but SO month. A Yer
mont member, discussing the proposal
to raise it to 81, said that in his State
men were hired tor els a year, or 81 a
month, with board and clothing. Mr.
Wadsworth of Pennsylvania said: "In
the States north of Pennsylvania, the
wages of the common laborer are not,
upon the whole, superior to those Of the
common soldier" In 1897 Rhode Is
land farmer hired good farm hand at
So a month; and S. a month was paid
to those who got employment for the
eight busy months OF the farmers
year.
A strong boy could be had at that
time in Connecticut at 81 a month
through those months, and he earned it
by working from daybreak until eight
or nine o'clock at night. He could
buy a coarse cotton shirt with the earn
ers could pay no better, for the price
they got for produce was wretched.
Butter sold at eight cents pound, and
when it rose suddenly to ten cents.
several farmers wives and daughters
went out of their minds with the ex-
eitement. Women picked the wool off
the bushes and briers, where the sheen
had left it, and spun and knit it into
mittens to earn 81 a year by this toll
some business. They hired out as help
for twenty five cents month and their
board.
BY days hard work at the spinning
wheel woman and girl together could
earn twelve cents. AS late as 1921 the
best farm hands could be had for
twenty-five cents day, or twice as
much in moving time. Mathew Carey,
in his letters on the Charities OF Phila-
delphia 1920, gives painful picture
OF the working classes at that time.
Every avenue to employment was
choked with applicants Men left the
cities to find work on the canals at
from sixty to seventy-fve cents Il day,
and to encounter the malaria, which
laid them low in numbers. The high
est wages paid to women was twenty
five cents day and even the women
who made clothes for the arsenal were
paid by the Government at no high
rates. When the ladies of the city
begged for an improvement of this
rate, the Secretary hesitated, lest 1t
should disarrange the relations Of capt.
tai and labor throughout the city.
Poor people died of cold and want
every winter in the city, and the fact
seems to have made an impression on
ly on benevolently disposed persons
like Mr.. Carey.