The Labor enquirer., 1886-09-18

this rate the product would be.$19, ,50
Deduct cost of production."......" sos
| ---
We have capitals profits ...........$l1 ,44I
If we divide this by 122, the number
of producers, we find each producer
robbed of $9382, nearly, per month, or
nearly two-thirds of what he pro duces
Now let US see about the mills. A
mill working thirtY-seven men, saws
and delivers in the yard on the average
80 900 feet of clear lumber per day
Pick cts, shingles and refuse lumber the
mill-owners claim to make nothing on
as to that we must be our own judges
In the first place, this refuse, costs the
mill nothing, excepting and preparing it
for the market. The shingles and
pickets are given out by contract, at SO
cents per 1000 for shingles, and $4 per
1000 for pickets; and there are pieces
saved that would otherwise be burned
as vast. The average output Of which
is, shingles 10000 per day, pickets 1000,
and refuse lumber 5000 feet The latter
generally finds ready market at home at
81 per 1000. The following table will
show the monthly output of thirtY-seven
men:
Clear. lumber, merch 4ntable.......S58,O 900
PlCkets Io,OuO
Refuse lumber r..........................1 900
To make it clear as to how | arrive at
the average prlce per l 900 for clear lum-
Der, would state that lumber is classed
in three grades, by the San Francisco
dealer, and rates al present as follows :
at $11, $16 and $23. To get at quota per
1000 feet as it comes from the log, we
find that per cent rates at SIG, 45 per
cent at $11, and so per cent at $23.
Therefore We find the average value per
1000, laid down IN the San Francisco
market, to be S1725.
The following table gives the product
per month and its cash value
$4,000 feet merchant lum ber..$l4, 800 30
$4,000 shingles at $l.50...".... 488 90
10000 feet refuse. AIS 90
26OO0 pickets at $13 per M. 338 90
Total value........ ,lOl 50
Take from this the cost of pro-
ductiOn which is represented
Y wages paid per month";" LILO 90
Cost of maChin'Y, tools, repairs,
per month ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ,238 l3
Pri paid to loggers at $3.50
per ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 247 so
Aud we find capitals profits. .$12,9O5 81
If divided by thirty seven, the num-
rer of men employed, we find each pro-
ducer robbed of $3488l, nearly, per
month, or nearly eight and one,haIt
times the amount of his receipts.
As the production of lumber in Hum
boldt county at the present time is done
by large capitalists who own both the
mills and logging claims, the better way
of finding the average amount OF what
labor is robbed of would be to take the
whole, and draw our conclusions in that
way.
Doing so, we have, whole number of
men employed both in mills and woods,
l59.
Total value of product per mo.$35, Sol 90
Total expenses. ses......,.....'.......'. II,OlZ 10
Total NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ,2o9 81
Divided by l59, the number of pro-
ducers, we find each man feeced of
$l54 IS per month, or 1896, nearly, per
day.
Fellow-slaves. does it seem strange,
after careful perusal of these tables,
that it is so hard to make both ends
meet? Is it any longer puzzle to you
why a man possessed of means sufficient
to enter into some manufacturing enter
prise, soon becomes monarch of all
within his grasp, even to the making OF
slaves of everyone in the community
where he sees fit to locate? How long,
and how much of this kind of figuring
will it take TO remove the ballot cobweb
from your eyes2 l ask, for information,
can the ballot ever settle this question
of capital fleeing labor
MY opinion is, that person might as
well try to cross the Pacific Ocean on a
straw, as to vote justice to the producers
To be plain, men who are so blind as tc
be the iackasses of monopoly, and re-
main contented with the Chatf, after pro-
ducing the grain, ought to have the iron
plates taken from their heels, forged into
chains to be placed around t cir necks
with the loose end locked to monopoly s
tread-mill. AS to voting men into office
under such system as we now have
only fosters and fattens such bare-faced
robbery as lown in the above tables.
Labor is noble and holy, the capitalist
tells us, but we never see capital with
toil-stained hands, therefore they practice
not what they preach yet with the
lie on their lips. seek by all means
within their power to degrade labor anc
pollute its holy mission, To defend il
from degradation is the only work of or
ganized labor. This done all else will
regulate itself. The more labor seek
to solve this question, the less faith i
will have in the bosh ballot; at leas
such is the experience of 1-4i94.
EUREKA, Cal, Sept, 10.