Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-02-02
THE WAGE SYSTEM.
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Here is an example: The census of ten
| years ago showed that for nine principal
| cities in the Union the aggregate value
of manufactures was %'l,61G, 000,0 900,
while the wages paid were but 5000, 240,
| COZ, a little less than IS per cent. Here,
as the Tribune says, one-ffth the selling
value was paid to the workers as com
pensation for their labor 1t is argued
that the material cost 60 per cent. of the
actual selling value; that of the remain
| ing 40 per cent. labor obtained Is, and
that one-half of the remaining % went
/ in rent taxes, insurance, etc. Now, III
the first place, these latter items are
taken into consideration and a proper
Tomato per cent added to the selling
value to bring the price to the margin.
The manufacturer is supposed to get
only about 10 per cent; this is untrue.
Take the Manufacturers Rerie,c for
! November, 1888: there is given record
Of the returns Of eleven cotton mills in
Fall River, Mass, the aggregate profit Of
which was "a per cent. on the capital
involved, This is not the only one, |
quoted in the ADVOCATE a few weeks
ago several large firms giving tremeu-
dou8 dividends. But suppose that 60
per cent. Of the last selling price is eaten
up by expenses Where does it 90 to?
Is it not taken on Stock Exchange and
obtained by creating false abnormal
values, suddenly to be counterbalanced
by glut in the market, not for lack of
consumption but by reason of body Of
men controlling that market for specu-
lative purposes? Prices may decrease,
but the cause of the fall of prices is that
an unusual portion Of the usual profits
finds its way to the dealer, not to the
manufacturer, and the one is necessary
to the other under the present system.
Henry George, while asserting a true
principle when he maintains that labor
is not paid out Of capital but from the
products, yet insists upon the obviously
false tenet that all profits, whether in
interest or as returns given to capital
are the legitimate wages Of the man con-
trolling the work or possessing the CAPT
tai involved.
The man who digs ditch, or he who
writes book or paints a picture, does
not now possess. a standard or law by
which his earnings shall be gagged; he
is paid not by the natural demand for
such labor, but by unnatural or abnor-
nal rates to which his work has been
forced 10y those controlling it. This,
may be told, is demand. True, but the
prod ucer does not receive the benefit Of
this demand unless he be also the con-
troller of the market, but the capitalist
or such persons who force unhealthy
prices obtain it, Then has the capt.
alist no return? Certainly, for his own
toll: but the moment he uses the results
of his toll to obtain portion of the re-
tnrns of auothers labor, it is ilegitimate
gain.
Georges argument is finely worded
+ phrase, given a. a boon to capitalism
The truth is, the socialists hide the
fact from their hearers, and perhaps
: from themselves. An economic system
: like the one that now prevails is not i'm.
posed by capitalists, nor is it the work
of theorist. But it is the result of q
process of natural selection, by which
man, trying first one and then another
. way of accomplishing the best result,
with the least friction, loss or disap
pointment has finally discarded a vari
t. ETY. of methods, and settled down on the
, one we now have.
The present system is not an adopt
ed one from variety, it is the natura
: result of a teudallstc system of gov
} eminent, which, when the people rost
: superior 10 serfdom, RESOLVED it
self into individuaIistic competition
Private enterprise is the natura
growth of individualistic anarchy
When men control land, it is an easy
transition into controlling the produc,
and the means of produce. Spain, TIL
e nation. paid for the discovery of Amer