The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1892-08-11

clearly demonstrated than even with a
smaller per diem income a certain class
| of laborers in the former country are
| infinitely better off than the same class
| of wage earners are here. This point,
| which was one of the best MIR Hurd
made, was scored in the following logic
al way:
There are three elements which chief
ly determine the wages of the laborer
and their value to him. First, the
efficiency of his labor; secondly, the
steadiness of his employment, and
thirdly, the purchasing power OF what
he earns. IL one man be more efficient
than another, he should receive more,
because his services are of greater value
to the employer. In q given enterprise
one may receive 50 per day, and one
So so, some 81, and some even less.
Here differences are the result OF
| differences in productive power, the
| ought to be, that the greater the pro-
dectiveness, the higher the wage.
Then, too, in every estimate the con-
| tinuousness of the employment must
| be considered. A man who works
every day in the year can, so far as his
years income is concerned, receive less
| than he who works every other day.
II man is out of employment half of
| the time, he must receive double the
| wages of him who works every day In
| order to obtain an amount equal to his
at the end of the year.
Then the purchasing power of the
wages must not be over looked Money
cannot itself clothe and feed the man
and his family who have earned 1t. 1t
| must be expended for the necessaries
of life. If with dollar man can pur-
chase twice as many of those necessar-
| les In one country as in another his
dollar is worth just twice as much to
| him as If he had earned and spent 1t in
| the latter country.
| Applying the principles to the rela-
| tive conditions of the laborers in the
two countries and we find that the
| American laborer in iron, steel and tex
tile industries 10 one-thitd more pro.
ductive than the English laborer
Whether this is the result of better
management on account of our mill
owners or of the superior skill of our
| operatives, shall not now stop to
inquire. Certain 1t is that the statis-
tics show that the workmen in our mills
| will tnrn ont one third more work than
the English operatives in the same
| time.
The American mills are all closed on
an average oue-third of the time. Some.
| times this is for repair, but oftentimes
because of the glutting of the market
| which its quickness has occasioned The
English mills run substantially all the
time through the worlds demand, unless
| in periods of great depression, caused
| in nearly every instance by the tariff of
other nations. The cost of living Is
in most respects one-third less N Eng
| land than in the United States. This
difference is largely the result of the
| American tariff, which imposes duty
of 40 per cent. on most of the necessar-
| les of life.
We are now prepared to answer the
question how much, when the English
| laborers in the industries under cOnsid
| GRAFTON receives dollar day, should
| the Americans receive, in order that
| their wages should be equal?
One-third more for the greater pro-
! ductiveness of his labor, one third more
for the want of steadiness in his en-
| ployment, and one-third more for the
diminished purchasing power of his
wages. That is, where the English
| workingmen in their industries get 81
day, the American, to be equal to
| him, should get 81.
But he does not. The average an.
nual wages paid in these industries was
less that $3.50 here, while in the En-
| glish, such wage was not far from
$3.50. Our workmen, therefore, while
receiving nominally more than the
English, still got 81. so less than they
should have received to bave placed
them, under all circumstances, on an
equal plane of equality with the
| Englishmen. In other words, the
/ American laborers in their protected
industries, in view of all conditions of
| productions and living, is not as we'll off
as the Englishmen in similar industries
where there is no protection.
| To many these statements may seen
surprising. But / have giver the sub
| ject the closest investigation and the
propositions have made l assert with
the greatest confidence. l have made
similar statement on the floor of the
house of representatives, in the pres
ence of the leaders and priests of pro-
lection, and its accuracy was not con-
tradicted in the general debate which
continued for weeks afterwards.
Nothing more conclusively demon
strates the falseness of the claim of
protection to help wages than that 1t
fails to make the American workman
as comfortable in the iron, steel and
textile industries as Is the English
| workman.
Referring to labor organizations and
the tendency they had to ameli0rate
the wage earner's condition and secure
for him the greatest com
pensation consistent with legitimate
profit for the employer Mr.. Hurd
remarked that
The duty of workingmen In the pres.
ent situation ought to be- plain. First,
it is their duty to develop, strengthen
and perfect their labor organizations,
which for them are the only bulwark
against the aggressions and exactions
| of the beneliciaries of the tariff. With
out them labor would be absolutely at
the mercy of the tariff lords. Even
! with them the strife Is generally an un-
equal one, and in the end labor is often
worsted. But If they should cease to
exist there would be no future for
labor except that which monopoly and
tariff gotten wealth would dictate.
One day of organized labor is worth a
century of protection to the working
men of this country.
Mr.. Hurd closed his Speech by advis-
| ing the workingmen to associate them
| selves with the political organization
which proposes the relief they desire,
and by referring to Grover Cleveland as
| their emancipation. In this connection
he said:
The Republican party approves pro.
| lection and advocates its continuance.
| The Democratic platform denounces
nrntectioh as n iraIld and robbery Re.