New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-30
DISTRESS AND ITS CAUSE.

Without warning there comes 10 tnOusdnu
men employed in Pennsylvania axle estab-
lshment the choice, reduction of 20 to 40 per
cent in their wages or closing of the works
for an indefinite time, until the market de-
mand for products may revive. So without
warning several it-goods establishments are
forced to suspend, whether for short time or
not is yet uncertain. Again without warning,
the coke workers, who were struggling so long
against the reduction Of wages, find that a
sudden collapse in the business has stopped
work for an indefinite time in most Of the es-
Establishments, while those still at work get only
ST. per ton for coke and cannot pay the former
wages. Thus several thousand workers, some
of the highest and some of lower grade of in
telhgence, are astonished to find that their
lab or has at present no value, or much lower
value than it had few days or weeks ago.
Their entire mode of living must be suddenly
changed. Their wives and children must
suffer in many cases. or must submit to changes
which seem scarcely endurable.
To the workers these things prove that they
are in some way most unjustly treated. Yet
many know not in what way. The companies
cannot aft ord to continue work with markets
so overstocked, unless the men choose to accept
wages so low that the products can be safely
accumulated until better demand arises. 1t
seems hard to the men, but the companies may
claim that the cessation Of the demand for
products Is not their fault, that they have paid
the wages which the men require just as long
as they could, and, in fact, could have eStab-
lished their business moro securely, gained
more and better permanent customers, and so
been able to continue work longer, if they had
not been required to pay quite as high wages
in the past. But the present undeniable fact
is that the market will not take products any
longer at the old rate Of cost.
The men naturally look further in their in
dignation. If the companies are not to blame,
somebody must be. The men do not feel ready
| to admit that they ought to have been content
with lower wages all along, and doubt whether
that would have made any difference except
| in the profits of owners. This doubt is natural.
and yet the workers are apt to reject plans OF
cooperative labor when proposed, as Mi.
Carnegie's workers at Braddock have refused
to work at all on plan which makes the earn
ings proportioned to the market value OF the
product. Their daily necessities. they answer,
are not conditional. In that case who is in
fault when the market breaks down and no
work or lower wages is the alternative?
The indignant workers know that the de-
mand for iron and woollen products has sud
denly and largely diminished. The axle
makers. like other iron workers, are aware that
purchasers are looking for lower prices, be-
cause the great party now in control Of the
Government has proposed a bill to reduce the
duty on iron axles from 2 1-2 to 1-2 cents
Der pound, or 40 per cent, and if that should
pass not even reduction of 40 per cent in
wages would enable the works to continue
without other changes. The consumers OF
woollens are looking for lower prices the same
bill proposes to reduce the duty ON knit goods
from 81 1-2 per cent to 40 per cent, reduction
of SO per cent. and consumers are naturally IN
no haste to purchase now il they believe the
bill will pass The proposed reduction on
steel rails and many other forms of iron and
steel has suddenly arrested the demand for iron
and steel products, and therefore the demand
for the coke used as fuel in such works. thus
the knit-goods workers, the axle makers ana
the coke burners all have to look TO the election
of Democratic President and House OF Keep
resentatiyes as the cause OF their trouble.
Other causes of uncertainty not infrequently
disturb markets and put down wages, 1t Is
true, But in this instance one perfectly
obvious cause is visible, the powerful influence
of which, upon the markets for all woollen and
iron products. and for coke and WOOL the ma
terials used in those manufactures, cannot be
disputed. Hence, if the men are indignant, 1t
might be well for them to consider how many
of them voted in 1884 for MIR. Cleveland or
| in 1885 for Democratic Congressman