New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-26
UdGES HERE And ~ ErEOPE

There are many men in this country VINO
do not begin TO comprehend the dEcrenc" III
thc Iatc of wages between the nltcd STATES
and other countries. Most Of the wagc-caincrN
who have lived and worked in foreign lands
are we'll aware of that difference, but Americans
are often found who cannot realize that differ
cnccs 50 great do actually exist. In discussing
the wages paid and the wages offered at the
steel works Of Homestead, for example. 1t -
shown that the average for all the men whose
wages would in any way have been changed
were about - per day even at the minimum
under the proposed scale; to the thirty three
different hands the amount paid under the old
scale was Sl27 81 per day, reckoning at eight
hours only those who formerly worked twelve
but now work eight hours, while at the mini
mum possible under the scale proposed by the
company the same thrty-th men would have
received for eight hours Sl2l - per day No
such wages are paid in any other country, and
while it is probably true, rs has been stated by
the managers Of the Homestead works. that
wages as high are not in fact paid at any other
works in this country. it is nevertheless worth
noting that the best wages paid here are far
beyond the best paid in any other country with
which we have dealings.
Owing to differences in the names given TO
occupations or kinds Of work, or in the terms
Of payment for labor, it is not practicable to
compare wages in steel works IN detail But
there are some occupations which are subStan-
tally the same and for which wages are paid
I'm similar terms The rollers i'll the plate
mills in Great Britain, at last accounts for
warded Ey American ConSulS, were getting
about SIT Der week at the Homestead works
they were offered IA a minimum SO 20 per
day. The shcarmen in Great Britain received
from 80 to $40 per week at Homestead they
were offered as "A minimum from - to Sc per
| day. Pudding iron is substantially the SamG
process in different countries, and the English
| nuddlcr earned in 1880 an average of - 26
| ner week according 70 British official records.
| but at some points as much as $40 per week
was paid few years later, though the de-
pression in recent years may have reduced
wages But the puddlers at Pittsburg are
| strupplinp TO resist a reduction below - 30
| per ton and at that rate Of wages the head Of
the Amalgamated Association has testified that
the men averaged 80 30 per day, or S21 per
week. In Belgium, according to consular
| rcport the men were paid for pudding an
average OF - 76 per week, and in Bohemia. ac-
| cording to another consular report, men are
| this year doing the same work ut an average
of S4 10 per week. Between 81 -, or 81 76.
or even 81 90 per week in various foreign
countries, and the S21 per week hitherto paid
for some years at Pittsburg, what a difference
appears
1t is not proper to infer that in all branches
of the iron and steel manufacture the differ
ence in wages between this and other countries
is exactly represented by the difference in wages
paid for pudding. Indeed, the Pittsburg and
Western wages are considerably higher than