Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1892-04-14
PURCHASING POWER oE WAGES

-hleher wages, Not Lower Prices, IL
what the NorklnKman fbould strive
for.
We often hear free traders claiming
that under free trade prices would fall
NO much that even admitting wages
would fall, their purchasing power
would not be diminished Suppose
wages do fall" says the "reformer,"
lis IL not true that, II prices also fall
correspondingly, the workingman will
be just as we'll of as before3 We an
swer "Yes, undoubtedly he would"
Ifprices would really fall correspond
ingly. the workingman's condition
would not be changed for the worse
But this Is supposition which is OPP
posed TO all experience and cts II Is
true that II hand labor were the only
factor In production. lower wages
would mean correspondingly lower
prices, but under present conditions,
with the age OF improved processes,
with many articles made almost en-
tirely by machinery, this could not be
80. Let us take an Illustration: When
rich man goes TO a shoemaker In this
country and has his feet IN ensured for
pair OF shoes, which are 20 be made TO
order and exactly fitted TO the peculiar
shape OF his foot, he undoubtedly pays
more than he would pay for similar
work in England or in Europe. Our
shoemaker gets two and three times as
much rs the shoemaker OF other coun-
tries, aud IL Is but natural that even
allowing perhaps for his greater skill,
the product OF his labor should be
dcarer.
But take, on the other hand, a pair
OF shoes made by the wonderful ma
chimes which can be found In any one
OF our great factories, which cut the
leather sew the shoes and finish them,
almost entirely without the interven-
ton Of human hands, one machine
turning out hundreds Of shoes daily.
Can IL be for a moment supposed that
the siere fact that the wages OF the
worlsingman who tends TO such n ma
chine are lowered would make any APP
probable difference In the price OF one
OF those hundred pairs Of shoes which
that machine turns out2 Certainly not.
And yet II is just the laboring classes
who buy this kind OF shoes Rarely, II
ever, does the workingman go to
high-priced shoemaker and have his
shoes made to order; that Is reserved
for the millionaire banker and the i'm.
porter. The laboring man buys the
fnctory-made article every time. and II
must be said that IL is Just ms good, Just
rs substantial as the other. SO II Is
with the whole range OF articles that
the masses of our people buy-cotton
goods, wooden goods of n substantial
quality, collars and cuffs, tools and
hundreds of other things. arc all the
products OF those wonderful machines,
them 'elves only made possible by the
inventive genius which protection has
stimulated.
That this is 30 every one knowa
NJ any free trader has unwittingly ad-
mitted, and even that rabid ''reformer,"
cx-Consul Schoenhof, has given invalu-
able testimony on this point when he
said that all substantial articles of 'the
whole sale process OF manufacture" are
cheaper here than in FREQ trade En-.
gland, but that things made entirely
by hand are denrer In the United States.
So we see that while lower wages
would undoubtedly mean lower prices
for the splendid raiments and luxuries
Of the rich, II would not make much
diff ference In the price Of machinery
made articles purchased by our work.
ing men; and thus lower wages could
only mean diminishing purchasing
power, fewer comforts and lower
standard OF living
hut this Is not all Cannot the work.
ingman see that wages have not the
slightest connection with tho cost of
the hund red and one things that 90 to
make up his expenses VIII the thou
sand dollar mortgage on his home be-
come less than a thousand dollars be-
cause he earns lower wages? VIII the
debt he owes be smaller because his in
come is less2 VIII the Hve-cent car fare
be reduced, or the price Of newspaper,
or the admission fee to the lecture or
ENTERTAINMENT No, these things will
cost Just us much as before, 80 that
lower wages simply mean more labor
TO purchase a smaller amount Of them.
The intelligent workinRman cannot
but see that higher wages, not lower
prices must be the watchword in the
battle TO better his condition. Az Wen.
dell Phillips used to say:
The handspring of our progress il high wages
wages at such level that the workngnnu
can spare his wife TO preside over home, can
command leisure, 90 10 lectures, take news
paper and lift himself from the deadening level
OF mere toll That dollar left after all the bills
are paid on Saturday night means education, In
dependence, self-rcspcct manhood; IL Increases
the value of every acre near by, fills the town
with dwellings, opens public libraries and
crowds them, dots the continent with cities and
cohwobs II with railways, Tho ono remaining
dollar insures progress and guarantees millions
10 It's owner better than score OF statutes. II
Is worth more than q thousand colleges, and
mnkea armies and police superIluOus.