The Russellville Democrat., 1890-09-04
LABOR HERE AND THERE.


 recently in way that was very annoy ing to the protectionist Senators Mir. George. of Mississippi, made the state ment that the labor cost of making a ton of steel rails in this country was only SI. 54 This statement was denied and denounced very earnestly by Sena- tor Platt of Connecticut and Senator Hawley, of the same State, supported his colleague in his denial
 Then Mir. Jones' of Arkansas, under took to confirm MT. Georges statement about steel rails by the official report of Mir Carroll D. Wright in pursuance of a duty imposed upon him by Congress. The raw material of the steel rail man. ufacturer was the steel ingot, and Mir. Wright had given tho cost of making the rail from the ingot as S1.54 per ton The Senator from Mississippi had said (Mr Jones argued) nothing to the con. trary.
 Hereupon Senator Edmunds, of Yer mont attempted to convince Mir Jones that he was entirely mistaken in the matter. His explanation was that the difference in cost between the steel ingot and the steel rail was g. P, of which amount labor got S1.54
 But even if Senator Edmunds be cor rect his statement here is nothing to the point The orthodox protection position is that the labor cost in this country must be compared with the like cost in Europe; and when the cost of labor is greater here protection must bo given equal to this excess of labor cost That is what Ben Butterworth means by his famous expression, equality of opportunity"
 Now If Senator Edmunds had exam ined the report which was referred to in the debate, he would have learned some- thing about the comparative labor cost in making ton of steel rails here and in Europe. That report of Labor Com missioner Wright contains highly in- teresting table giving the labor cost in making ton of steel rails in two Amer ican, two English and seven Continents al rail mills This cost is given simply on the process of making the rails from the steel ingots or bars, and it Is S1.54 in one American mill and S1.3s in an. other, the average being sl. 46 per ton. In the two English mills the average was S1. 95 per ton. On the Continent of Europe the average in seven mills was g.. 63.
 This fact crushes the explanation of Senator Edmunds rather flat The point of chief interest is that the labor Cost of turning ton of steel into rails is much less here than in Europe.
 Ithas long been known by those who take the trouble to inform themselves that this ''pauper labor cry" is nine .enths humbug, for when the labor cost of any given article is taken into ac- count American labor is found in nearly every instance to be the cheapest labor in the world. This is caused by the greater efficiency of labor with us and sy the greater use of labor-saving ma. .hinery.
 If any Republican wants to find out ,he facts about this matter he can very easily get them. and does not have to take them from British free traders either Mir. Blaine and Senator Eyarts have thrown some very bright light on this question.
 During President Hayes administra- Zion Hon. William NJ. Evarts, then Secre- sary of State, made report on the State of Labor in Europe" This report bears date of May IT, 1879.
 Tho American Consuls Il Europewere directed to examine into the condition and character of European labor, and to report their observations to the Depart tnent of State at Washington. Their re- ports were so striking that Secretary Evarts made liberal extracts from them, Introducing these extracts with the fol- lowing strong assertion:
 The average American workman per forms from one and one-half to twice as much work in given time the average 1urop an workman. This is so important a point in c, nnectfon with ability to compete with the cheap labor manufacturers of Europe, and 1t seems at first thought so strange. that l will trouble you with some what lengthy quotations from the reports iD support thereof
 The Secretary then gave number o extracts from the reports of the Consuls, s few of which are worthy of reproduc- tion here. They are as follows:
 France--At his work the French laborcr or mechanic lacks the energy Of the American of the same elass, and the amount Of work executed by him Is much less in the same humber of hourl The hours of labor arc from eleven 10 twelve. but an average Amer lean workman will accomplish as mncp in nine hours.--From the Report of the Consul Tt Bordeaux.
 workingman in the United States will do as much again as will one in this district in the same time.--From the Report of the Consul al Chemniiz. saxony
 An active American workman will do as much work in a given time at any employ txrfr .r t1trnn Corr aox xNn FlfnaR From the Report of the Consul at Leipsic.
 There can be no question that, speaking in general terms, the quality as we'll as the quantity of the work of the German artisans is inferior 10 that produced by the Amert- cans The workman here Is Inclined to be sluggish, and what he ac eomplshes is rela- lively small,-From the Report of tho Consul nt sonneberg
 The reports of these good Republican Consuls led Mir. Evarts to say:
 For the first tims our manufactures are now assuming international proportions Al time of universal depression VIC have met thoae nations which hold a monopoly of the worlds markets-met them in their stronghods and established the fact that American manufactures are second 10 tho manufactures of no other nation; and that with propaF and patriotic understanding between capitalist and laborer We can command a fair share of the buy ng worlds patronage anu Nohiltfll tAAt IhtiphhEt with larger profits 10 the capitalist and higher wages to the laborsr than can be made or pa in any cther country.
 And he adds:
 Within the last fifteen years we have demonstrated our ability, by the brilliant development of our own resources, to ex- elude by Ii 5n ss competition foreign manu- factures to d large extent from our shores. The question wliich now pere npt 5riiy chal- leng,s all thinking minds is how to create q orelgn demand for those manufactures vii ch arc left after supplying our homo de- mands.
 When Mir Blaine was Secre tary of State under President Garfield he made report on the cotton goods report of the world. On pages 9s and 9o of that report the following striking facts are stated:
 Thf W ges of splnners and weavers in Lancashire and in Massachusetts. accord Ing 10 the foregoing statements, wcre fol-