Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-11

AN INCOMPATIBLE UNION.
The incompatibillty Of interests be
tween the members who make up the or.
der Of Knights Of Labor and those who
compose the Farmers alliance Is more
a1d more cropping out as time advances,
and demonstrates the impossibility OF any
lasting combination between them. It'll
not TO the dlscred!t Of either order that
this is so; but 1t is so. The farmer
wants everything cheap, except the prod
uct OF farm labor. The other classes
who are engaged In manufacture and
transportation want high prices, except
as to farm products. How can such hos
tile interests come together? What is
ones welfare is the others bane. There
is really no common ground for them to
occupy.
Labor Is the chief factor in the product
OF almost everything. Indeed, In most
things the price of labor covers almost
the entire cost of production. A ton of
steel rails, which are the crudest and
cheapest form Of manufactured steel, is
worth about $50. OF that amount proba-
bly, s84.75 represents labor, for the ore,
as 1t lay In the ground, could not have
been worth more than 20 cents ton. The
cost of mining the ore, of reducing It, of
transporting 1t, of converting it into
steel, Of the coal and other materials used
themselves the product Of labor and Of
rolling the metal in the form Of rails, has
Increased It's value from 20 Cents to $40
II the price Of labor Is advanced, the cost
OF producing is increased In the same
proportion. Twenty per cent. more pay
for the men engaged in the production
OF ton OF rails from the mine
to the finished rail increases the
price from $35 to SAP. The same rule
applies to every article produced by labor.
The ultimate purchaser pays one-afth
more for 1t If wages are put up 90 per
cent. As all laborers are also consumers
they win not be any better off by being
paid 20 per cent. more for their work
II they in turn have to pay 20 per cent.
more for what they buy,
There is one exception to this rule. 1t
Is the farmer, He does not share the
general advance. His corn and cotton
and wheat cannot be put up in price by
any combination to reduce the hours Of
labor or increase the wages of farm
hands. The price of bale OF
cotton or bushel of wheat is
regulated by competition at The
great worlds markets of Liver
pool and London, where the surplus prod
uct is exported, The regul alton of
these prices is entirely beyond his CON
troll. He must take what he can get.
But the farmer is very seriously affected
by the advance of wages, while not par
ticipating in it He gets no more for
what he sells, but he pays more for what
he buys. His farming implements, the
products Of dearer labor, are dearer to
him, for he must pay the price that the
manufacturer puts on them, and that
price is regulated by the cost OF produc.
ton. Every pillow, reaper, cultivator,
every yard of cloth, every hat, every pair
OF boots or shoes will cost him 20 cents on
the dollar more II the general demand for
higher wages and ten hours pay for eight
hours work is acceded to. II he, too,
could put up the price OF his crops In the
same degree that the price OF labor and
the creations OF labor are advanced, he
would be as well of as other people. But
this he cannot do, on the contrary. he
gets less for his crops than before. II
the cost of building railroads and run.
ming them Is increased by higher wages,
the roads win charge more for CARRYING
freight In order to cover the Increased
expenses, Higher freights mean cheaper
cotton, for the expense OF transportation
to market must be taken out of the price
paid In that market, Thus the farmer
suffers In every direction. whe. he buys
costs more, what he sells brings less.
on account Of the extra compensation
paid to laborers.
As far as the laborers themselves are
concerned, their efforts to get more for
their work is legitimate; but 1t is incredi,
Bile that the farmers should Join the
movement and lend their Influence to the
attempt which, II successful, will make