Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1892-10-12
WAGES BREAK DOWN.
SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF A LIST
OF BOGUS WAGE ADVANCES.

OF BOGUS WAGE ADVANCES.
Investigation Proves That Pretended In
crease in Protected Industries Had No
Foundation in Fact-ProtectionistsA At
temp. to Hoodwink Wage Farmers.
The World published several weeks
ago e compilation of 500 strikes, lock-
outs and wage reductions in protected
industries. Immediately the protection
lists sent out orders for quick returns OF
increases of wages, and the land was
searched from one end to the other.
At length returns from twenty eight
establishments were received pretending
to show that wages had been increased
in them under the Mckinley tariff law.
On its face the showing could not be said
to be satisfactory, but Mr.. John De Witt
Warner has examined the beggarly list
and has found that even it exaggerates
the benefits of the Mckinley act to the
wage earners.
In the first item it was shown that
just before the passage of the, Mckinley
bill wages in the establishments had been
reduced twenty-five cents day-in one
department and 1215 cents in another
After the passage of the act the wages
were restored 12l5 cents..a day sau
around, leaving the wages of the iron
molders still less than -they'ha been III
1883.
The second establishment emSloyed
fourmen and about twenty girls. An
increase of 8 per cent. had been report
ed. The operatives assert, however, that
there was no increase whatever. -
The same tale is told of the third es-
tablishment, in which an advance Of 10
per cent. was claimed.
This is what is said of the fourth es-
tablishment by the agent who inyesti
gated its reported increase in wages of
10 per cent: This report of an increase
of wages in their works is deliberate
and barefaced lie. There has been no
increase whateyer.in ten years"
In the fifth establishment an en-
ployee, on being shown the report that
his wages had been raised, exclaimed,
"What lie!'
In the sixth the only changes had been
in reduction of wages. The seventh en-
ployed fifteen or twenty hands, and
wages had not been raised There was
no such establishment as the eighth.
The ninth employed two men. The pay
of one of them had been raised from
twenty-five cents to fifty cents a day,
while that of the other remained sta
tionary at $l.25.
Wages in the tenth had not advanced.
"There has not been a single advance"
is the report, "but there have been
scores of reductions" One of the pro-
prietors of the eleventh establishment
said that there had been no advance,
adding, 1.-The Mckinley bill has Tot
helped us, nor has it had any material
effect on our business" He is highly
protected glovemaker, his tariff tax lav-
ing been increased from 80 to "a and so
per cent. Another glovemaker, the
twelfth, thought that his wages might
have been raised, but he was very un-
certain.
In the thirteenth concern the men said
that their wages were slightly advanced
because they were agitating the subject
of strike.
In the fifteenth an advance of 80 per
cent was made this year, although in
1888 the employers had promised a sub
stantial increase if Harrison was elected.
In the fifteenth the men obtained AZ
increase Of 10 per cent. after fight, and
this advance, to quote one of them. didn't
put them 'alf back where we was eight
or ten years ago"
In the sixteenth, seventeenth and
eighteenth establishments there had been
no increase in wages. There was no
such establishment as the nineteenth.
In the twentieth wages had been raised
from three to four dollars week. In the
twenty-frst, twenty-second, twenty
third and twenty-fourth there had been
no advance In the twenty-fifth the pay
Of few individuals had been increased.
The employees in the twenty-sixth
said that they would not have known Of
the alleged increase if they had not read
about it in the newspapers.
In the twenty-seventh few increases
had been accompanied by more reduc-
tions. In the twenty eighth wages had
been increased in answer TO the demands
Of the operatives, who, however, were
still dissatisfied.
The effort to discredit The Worlds
list of 500 strikes and wage reductions
by twenty-eight falsehoods about in
crease of wages cannot be called emi-
nently successful. The wage earners
know too much about their own incomes
to make possible such game as that
tried by the hard pressed protectionists.
New York World.
Production ad Ultimum."
Suppose that manner labor goods