Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-09-29
A JAPANESE IDEA.
Raise the Standard Of Living to Raise
Wages.

himself in an original manner upon
the industrial question in some notes
published in the English Paper
Trade RecieW. OF course, he has
been educated by the capitalist side
of the house, but he nevertheless
makes some suggestive remarks
which socialists can take advantage
of. He says:
THAT the United States is most
thriving country, and rapidly advancing
in the acquisition of riches, is fact well
admitted by everybody. The capital
destined for the maintenance of the in
dustrious classes increases there so rap
idly that, Notwithstanding the great
number of immigrants from all parts of
Europe and China, the scarcity of hand
labor is felt by employers every year
more and more. The consequence is,
high wages. Holyoke Gn Massachusetts,
is the greatest focus of paper making in
the world, and 200 tons of paper are
llipiN ttti iiNu ouu VNNlJ p"Nhb1 ~lout
hours. During my stay there of two
years, four large new mills We're erected,
giving employment to about 600 hands at
least Paper machine tenders whom |
knew We're picked up as managers, and
back tenders took their place as machine
men. With such circumstances it is inn
possible for employers not to bid against
each other for workmen. For a town
like Holyoke an increase of 900 inhabi-
tants in two years is not to be got unless
there be an extraordinary stimulus.
Thus increased capital means increased
improvement in the conditions of the
working people Men may possibly OBJ
ject to receiving too high wages, but un-
der such circumstances they will be
obliged to accept the same! Under con-
trary circumstances, in a country where
the capital existing for the maintenance
of the industrious classes is sensibly de-
caying, it is quite aburd to expect lib-
eral reward of labor"
This will undoubtedly interest
some of our Holyoke friends who
have been complaining of low wages
for the past few years.
But the japanese economist goes
into the social question with a
blitheness worthy of All Sin when
he says:
"When capital stops increasing, popu-
lation does not stop increasing. The
same will progress until very low wages
stop the importation of labor from other
places and discourage early marriage or
decrease the number of marriages by the
unprofitableness of children. In fact,
the multiplication of the species was so
fast in the United States of America
that it is said to have doubled in twenty
five years. this being due both to imml-
grafton and multiplication. Labor is
there 50 well rewarded that a numerous
family of children, instead of being a
burden, is a source of Opulonce and
prosperity to the parents. In England
young widow with four or five children
would have poor chance of obtaining
a second husband, but there it is fire.
quently looked upon as almost fortune.
The value of children is the greatest of
all encouragementst to marriage"
After telling us that trade unions
cannot raise wages when the number
of laborers is in excess of the de-
mand, our Oriental philosopher
comes to the remedy. The socialist
idea he turns off as simply an i'm
practical remedy. Says he:
"Then comes the question of the true
and permanent remedy for a low rate of
wages This question becomes more
serious and important as civilization ad
vances, and there are several opinions on
this point, all different Almost all of
them advocate the breaking down of the
present system of social organization,
viz, to abolish private property, With
out going to such an impractiCable ex-
tremity. what | think working people
should do is to raise the STANDARD of liv-
ing By standard of living | mean a
certain standard of comfort, ETC., below
which nation or class does not venture
to descend. For instance, in England,
to be tolerably well clothed, fed and
lodged is considered a proper stye of liv-
ing by the industrial classes. Vow, in
China noticed that millions of iamilies
are living in small boats called 'anpan,
which EXPIRE lion, literally translated,
means "three boards" The boat in
question consists merely of three big
boards. Their poverty is of the lowest
degree imaginable, the next stepdown-
ward being actual starvation. The liv-
ing of a whole family in boat 12yj feet
seems to be the lowest extremity to
which the Chinese are willing % de-
scend, thus showing the difference of
the standard of living in these two coun-
tries.
IF the English working people hange
their habits of living, and become capa-
BILE of as low standard of living as the