The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-03

gie's annual income of>SI, 100000 were
divided among his 900 employees there
might be some slight satisfaction in the
thought that Indiana's burdens were do
ing some good for considerable portion
of our fellow-citizens but it must be cold
comfort for an Indiana farmer to read the
descriptions of this gentleman's castle in
England, or his stage-coach jaunt with
Mr.. Blaine, and then reflect that he is
helping to support Mr. Carnegie by pay
ing a tax on every article of iron or steel
that he uses. Still greater must his dis
gust be when he reads the telegram that
Mr.. Carnegie has cut his mems wages 10
per cent, as he did this year, and that the
men have struck on account of it. "Pro-
lection to American laborw Why, the
labor in the great protected industries is
practically on par with the "pauper
labor" of England now. Listen to the
highest protectionist authority on this
question. In his "Report on the Cotton
Goods Trade" in 1881, Mr.. James G..
Blaine says:
The wages of spinners and weavers in Lam
cashire and in Massachusetts, according TO the
foregoing statements, were as follows, per
week:
Spinners: English, $3.50 to $40 master
spinnerS running as high as $12); American,
500 10 $1,000.
Weavers: English, 1884 to 1914, subject, at
the date on which these rates were given, to a
reduction OF 10 per cent; American. S4.S2 to
1913.
The average wages of employees in the Massa
chusetts mills is follows, according to the of
fetal returns: Men, $3.50; women. 1862; male
children, $311; female children, S3.0S Accord
ing TO Consul Shaw's report, the average wages
OF the men employed in the Lancashire mills on
the LIST OF January, 1880, was about $500 per
week, subject to a reduction of 10 per cent.
women f;om $40 to $3.50, subject TO a reduc-
ton OF 10 per cent.
The hours of labor in the Lancashire mills are
hfty-six; in the Massachusetts mills sixty per
week. The hours otlabor in the mills in the
other New England states. where the wages are
generally less than in Massachusetts, are usually
slxty-siX TO sixty-nine per week.
Undoubtedly the inequalities in the wages of
England and American operatives are more
than equalized by the greater efficiency Of the
latter and their longer hours of labor.
And now these manufacturers tell us
that if the tariffo cotton goods is reduced
less than per cent. (the exact reduction
of the Mills bill is 90 cents in Sl00) they
will have to reduce their laborers to the
level Of the 'pauper labor" of England.
Reduce Mr.. Blaine's figures to the rate of
wages per hour, and see if they will not in
some cases have to raise their employees
wages to get them to the English stand
ard. 1t is like the republican proposition
to ''revise the tariff so as to check i'm
ports" 1t can be done only by advancing
the rate.
Pennsylvania is even worse than New
England. There is no part of the Union
that shows such contrasts of immense
wealth and pitiful poverty as it does. How
does that state compare with England2 1
will let Mr.. John Jarrett tell in the follow
ing extract from his testimony before the
senate committee on labor and capital,
Sept. 6, 1888:
You say their condition is pitiable and miser-
able. How much so is it?
1t is because the wages of coal miners are too
low. They are lily paid. Then, too, they suf-
fer from the truck system. Under that system
they pay 100 per cent. more for what they buy
than our people do. Then the houses they live in
are extremely miserable. If feel particularly
for any branch of labor in this country it Is for
the poor coal miner. He risks his life day after
day for mere pittance. Every time he departs
from the light of day he does not know whether
he will ever see it again. And, while in some
branches it does not require much skill TO be a
miner, in others it does, and | think the coal
miner ought to be better paid better clothed,
better housed and better fed than he is.
Have you been among the English miners?
Yes, sir; and from my experience among the
miners in England i may say that they are
really better cared for than are the coal miners
in the United States.
Do YOU mean that thy have more comfort
during the year?
Yes, sir. Then the truck system has been en-
tirely wiped out there; the men are getting
their money every week.
l presume no one will doubt Mr.. Jar
rett's orthodoxy on the tariff question, as
it is commonly understood that he is now
in Indiana trying to manipulate the labor
vote in the interest OF Mr.. Harrison. He
certainly has had ample opportunity for
investigating the subject on which he
speaks. Almost as Wretched a state of
affairs exists in the coal mines of Indiana.
The wages of the men towing to the fact
that in order to keep up the price of coal
the mines are so worked as to give them
but 220days work in year. average less
than 81 day.
And these owners and operators of coal
mines desire only to protect American
labor also. Do you remember what they
did last winter? Do you remember how
you paid s. ton for coal? Do you re-
member how, in order to make you pay
that sum, these Pennsylvania coal barOns
shut down their mines and threw their
wretched laborers out of work entirely /?
When some one hands you card bearing
q British flag and some forged statements
falsely said to have been taken from En-
glish newspapers, Just remember these
things, and then vote to protect" these
unfortunate American laborers by keep
ing up the prices of their clothing and
other necessaries of life, If you wish TO.
These coal barons are paying for such
cards The fat is being fried ont of them