Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1888-07-19
Comparative Wages.

In answer TO letter from Indiana
making inquiry as to how wages in
the United States are compared with
wages in England, Germany and
France the Chicago Times has the
following:
Undoubtedly men and women get
higher, real or commodity wages in
this country. The continuous i'm
pour of immigration from Europe is
pretty good proof of this. The mass
of immigrants do not come here be-
cause they are in love with our form
of government. but because they
hope to better their condition here in
the matter of material possessions
and enjoyments. There is undoubt-
edly enough difference in favor of
this country to induce men and
women to break up old associations
and establish new relations and
make their homes in a strange
land.
2. 1t is not certain that we pay
pay higher actual wages than we did
before the war. We pay higher
wages, but we do not neces-
sarily pay higher commodity wages.
We ought to do so, however, be-
cause of the vast improvements that
have been made in the means of
production, The pay of the laborer
comes cut of the product, In the
long run 1t can not come out of any
thing else. The pay of the laborer
is the share he gets of the product.
If the means of production are so
that the workman produ-
ces on the average one-third more
than he did he ought to receive at
least one-third more pay.
The workman gets more pay in
this country because he earns more.
He turns out more product in the
same length of time than the work
man of any other country. That is
partly because he Is himself more
efficient IN most branches of produc-
ton, partly because the product is
more easily obtained by the favor
of nature, and partly because the
product is more easily obtained by
the help of improved machinery,
and processes. So long as
this continues to be the case the
workman will continue to receive
more on the average.
The Times lays no claim to pro-
phetic inspiration. 1t does not pre-
tend to know whether wages will ev-
er come down to the European basis.
1t presumes not, however, for long
time to come. Labor has always
been better paid IN this country than
In Europe. More than a hundred
years ago Adam Smith said that
wages were twice as high in Amer
lea as in England. They have been
higher here ever since. They are
sure to be higher so long as the
workman is more highly favored by
nature, by invention and methods,
and by his own energy and capabili-
".
1t Is more likely that European
wages will advance to the American
standard than that American wages
will fall to the European standard.
In England within the past forty
years there has been an advance of |
wages estimated by the ablest statis- |
.icians at so to GO per cent. The
workman is not likely to
get less pay hereafter unless he him
self loses his grip and insists on
less. In that case he Will |
undoubtedly get less.
Let him not for moment imagine |
hat any tariff will help him get |
more or prevent him from getting
ess. The men who tell him that any |
.ariff can produce such an effect are
ryIng to practice deceit and fraud |
IN him. When Adam Smith said |
hat the American was getting twice
IS high wages as the EnglIshman,
had a high protective tariff |
md America had none at all. Amer
ca was British possession at that
lime, and the British government, so |
ar from giving 1t a protective tar
ff," was doing all it could by law
md otherwise to repress and destroy
American manufacturing industries,
,ut without success. The American
5 not now getting twice as high
wages as the EngliShman, although
here is II per cent. tariff here,
vhlch some people are trying to
make the American workman believe
5 the reason, and the only reason,
Why he gets higher wages than the
English or the Italian workman.
-
A YOUNG girl who lived eight miles
rom Springfield, Mass, anxious to
Ielp herself, and with no talent for
an1 a 6aciJad obicptiOn IN |