The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-06
he ADEQUACY Of WAGES
Prkmen IN England Got More Out
Of Their Money Than
Americans.
bure Their Lives, Take Holidays,
and Give More for Char
ity's Sake.
bna More for Papers aud Bookshelf
More Of the Pleasures That Money
and Leisure Afford.

! ID evident that We are to hear much In
pending campaign about tho enormous
Rss paid by the various protected trusts
ich control tho iron trades. That 10 the
J kind of tactics that seem to offer any
'sible chance of escape from the crush
effect Of the strikes and lookouts that
making this year lurid in the annals Of
10 industries. We are told that what
\ reductions the trusts may see ut to
Ike in their share Of the spoils that they
pt to their workmen, they still pay so
oh more than their v~ariously protected
Z unprotected competitors of Europe
Il IL would be unwise for their men to
init the taxing power to be wtested from
Pir hands.
here are several comments that might
(sonably DO made upon this assertion.
, Of the most pertinent being that it Is
true, writes s. +. Moffett in the San
ancisco Examiner. But waving that
mt, suppose We consider how much good
} employees of she steel and iron trusts got
! Of their alleged high wages.
= is a commonplace, Of course. TO say
1t mon do not work for money, but for
enjoyments that money will buy. II a
IN we're promised $40 a day for twelve
urs' work OF condition that he paid 50 O
y for board at Il company's boarding
use and 81 q day for clothes at a COM
ny's store. he would not have reason TO
proach himself with taxing she generosity
his employers. 1t is the surplus that is
pensss are met that constitutes the real
IT Of high wages. We know something
out this surplus in the case of the organ
Prs OF the iron and steel trusts. We know
at Carnegie and Phipps are able TO live in
kperial magnificence in British palaces
uRht with their share Of Amer
not have to interrupt the
trent of their daily pleasures by one
ur's work of hand or brain. But how is
with the workmen whose labor has ore
ed the wealth of Carnegie. Phipps and
lick? How much opportunity do they have
r expensive pleasures after the require
ents Of animal existence ave satisfied. and
w does their condition in this respect
mpare with that of the 'paupsr laborers
Europe"
/ no invaluable report of Labor Commits
Carroll d. Wright on cost of living
the iron and steel industries enables US
give an approximate answer to this
POSITION. It is not what We should expect
view of the usual cam paign tables show
2 how much more money the American
prkman receives than his downtrodden
PrelRn rival.
Colonel Wright has carefully analysed the
~pcounts of $500 laboring families in this
Puntry and Eulope. The results are given
be no doubt that. taken as q whole, they
resent a fair picture of the general life Of
prking people in the selected industries.
rom these tables it appears that the aver
10 income OF 143 families engaged in the
oduction Of pigi; on in Alabama is S549. "a;
twenty-five families in Georgia, S499. O5;
forty families in Illinois, 1928. 50; of
in New York. $556 80; of ninety
ght in Ohio, 1886. 50; of 3l3 in Pennsylva-
a.. $625.29; of iltty'one in Tennessee.
$3.50; of twenty-seven in Virginia,
i5O. 20; of nine in West Virginia, $3.50. 81;
eleven in Belgium, 1914. 50. and OF sixty
in Great Britain, $45G.S {. On their face
1850 figures seem to show that while
10 unprotected British pigiron workers
g better off than the protected work
3 of Belgium and Virginia, they are
ot 80 prosperous as the men in the
m occupation in most American states.
ut when we turn to the tables of expendi-
res we find that after the necessary pay
Ients for food, shelter and clothing are
ct the British workman is able to pay
1921 for life insurance, against 1884 in
labama. $7.13 in Georgia. $3.50 in illinois,
lO.4O in Virginia and nothing in West Vir-
mia; So for religion, against $4.36 in Ala
ama, S3.45 in Georgia and 50. 70 in Vir-
mia; $50 for books and
sainst 1888 in Alabama, $1.93 in Georgia,
ID in New York and 1871 in Virginia;
1903 for amusements n vacation,
eainst $13.7 in Alabama, $50 in Georgia,
80 in Illinois. $12.93 in New York, S12. IS
and $3.50 in Virginia; and
for liquors and tobacco,
$32. 80 in Alabams, seq. 81 in Georgia,
Z. % in Ohio, 1854 in Pennsylvania,
q. II in Tennessee, and 49, So in Virginia.
Of the British workmen and less
ian one-sixth of the Americans have their
yes Insured; the Englishmen spend more
,r rmusements and vacations than is
,ent by the same class of workers in any
in this union, and on the total
of accounts for the year only two
ritish families out of sixty i've come out
18th deficits, while 249 American families
ut of 762 are in that uncomfortable pre-
in the other iron industries We find a
milar state of things. In the manufac-
of steel, for instance. where MI.
and MIR. Mckinley between them
% supposed to have raised tho American
orkinRmRn to the highest pitch of lux.
~, the protected worker of Pennsylvania
IN spare only 1902 q year for charity
$16.% for amusements and vaoa-
while the pauper toiier of Great Bit
IN is able to dispose of SIS. 76 and $50. OF for
less purposes, respectively. Moreover, the
British workman in this line
'anages to squsnder 1884 on intoxicating
quors, while he happy object of Mr..
arnegie's beneficenoe wastes only S4.33 in
'belIion against enforced sobriety.
The noun expended for religion,
books and newspapers, amussments
vacations, liquors and tobacco may be
to represent the MAJ gin available for
ljoyment after tho absolute needs of the
ody are supplied. This margin is the true
ut of the Adequacy of waRes. The money
ay be more or less wisely spent, but how
7er it may be actually applied it stands for
le opportunities which are the real rewards
labor. With this fact in view. let us con-
a little table, showing this margin in
countries, averaging ali the fam
les cited in each case.