Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-09-17

there. Prices are as low as thev eve,
have been.
lao what an extremity has I'll: cause Of
protection sunk when such instances as
these are cited to show how the Nckiu.
ey law has raised the wages and in
creased theppros perity of the American
workman! Here IS case that is stu
worse. 1t was claimed with a grea.
flourish Of trumpets that H. L. Chap
man, Of White Pigeon, Mich, had
voluntarily increased the wages in bis
actory fifteen per cent. because of
willingness and desire on his part tina.
his workin gmen should share in a pros.
f,erlty that was coming to him in bound
less measure as result Of the bene6cent
workings Of the Mckinley Tariff law
Mr.. Chapman manufactures patent
Jorge and employs just two men besides
himself. One is machinist and the
Gther is moulder. Toe machinist is
about twenty-one years Old. He went
70 Mr.. Chapman and oiered TO work for
twenty-five cents a day and his offer was
accepted After while Mr.. Chapman
found that he was worth more and SO
advanced his wages to fifty cents day.
Tne moulder was good for nothing so he
DISCHARGED INN and hired another and
Detter man. Inc most ue pald the old
hand was 81 % a day.
Another wildly absurd claim was that
he Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com
pany had increased wages twenty per
cent. in its shops at Grafton, w. Va.
Whoever first made this claim must have
been the victim of prac tical joke. The
wages Of the Baltimore and Ohio en-
poyes there have constantly tended
downward. During the last year hun
drcds Of hands have been thrown out
Of employment, and many have been
compelled to leave Grafton for other
| places in search Of WORK. The foundry,
which employed seventy-five men, has
! been closed completely. The force OF
machinsts has been greatly reduced, the
carpenter shops have been torn. down,
aud nearly all the large number OF csr-
penters formerly employed have been
discharged. Those who have been re-
tanned have had their wages reduced
rom - 25 day to S1.75. The rail-
! road hands are compelled now to work
fourteen hours day instead of twelve
before they get any extra pay, aud those
employed who formerly worked ten
hours a day are only permitted to work
eight now ami are paid accordingly.
These are sample cases. The more
J they are examined the more it will be-
! come apparent that either there has been
made a wiliul attempt to deceive IN the
matter OF these reported increases Of
WAGES, or that the American Economist
uas been imposed upon. 1t Is more
probable that the latter is the case for
III its list is the name Of B. Howltzer, of
Chaseburg, Wis, who is said to have
raised wages in his factory ten per cent.
Chaseburg is q little town Of about fifty
inhabitants. There is no factory there
and there ls no man named Howitzer
there. 1t is all hoax.
No one has ever yet claimed that there
have been no individual cases where
wages have been increased within the
United States since the Mckinley bill
became a law, bSt the claim has been
made and repeated that no well-authen-
ticated case had yet been reported where
WAGES had been increased in consequence
Of the operation OF that law, while all
over the land, in every State ana in we'll
meh every county, there has arisen case
/. after case where wages have been re-
l.ccd 10 some protected industry. The
people Of the country are taxed osten-
sibly to enable the wages OF American
aorNmen to be increased. Wages have
no. been increased They have in many
case, been reduced. What then becomes
OF the money which the American peo-
PIE pay to the manufacturers In tariff
taXts New York " orld.