Omaha daily bee., 1892-08-21
WHAT IRON-WORKERS EARN
Authoritative Comparison Of Mechanics
Wages in England and America,
sHtFFltLD'S PAY AGAINST HoMESTEAD'S
Earnings of Iron and steel Workers In Eng
land Not Even HAIR as Much as Those
at tho Carnegie Miils-An In
structive Parallel.


kind allusions to the way in which work men
were being treated by American employers
at Homestead and elsewhere that l deter
mined to find out If | could, what wages
were being paid to workmen in similar lines
over here. Accordingly went to Sheffield,
and | counted myself fortunate in being
whlrled tbither over the road and by the
train which makes the fastest time on REQ
ord, so far at least as the railways in Eng
land are concerned. viz, from Kings Cross
to Grantham, 1861 miles without stopping.
at the rate of fifty-four miles an hour. My
judgment was that for information of the
particular kind desired Sheffield would be
tho natural headquarters. The number OF
people in that town who make iron ana steel
for living is something enormous, and as
all the world knows, they pursue these
branches of industry with distinguished sue
cess.
My first impression was Of an endless
stretch of smoke stacks and OF an atmosphere
SO thick with tho kind OF stuff emitted there
from that with good blade from one OF the
cutlery shops about one might almost have
cut 1t into dense chunks. Sheffield is the
sort of place, atmosphorically considered,
which / should imagine Old Sol would long
ago have given up as being hopelessly joined
to its idols. This WIS my first impression,
and my next was of the hills one has to
climb in getting about over the town. What
l had been told was that Shef1ield itself was
in sort of basin and that should find
steep rise in every direction which led out of
1t, out what l seemed TO find was that the
basin, useful it might have been
for washing purposes in so sooty
an atmosphere, was dlstressinCly
invisible and that the whole place was
an exasperatiDg undulatlon through and
through. There was hardly any point one
wished to reach which did not involve the
climbing of some enormous Hill OF Difficulty,
and, what was worse, the uphill WORK in
getting about was more than matched for
some time by the obstacles met in the search
for information.
Why American Wages Are Higher.
The manufacturers were quite English,
which means that they were hard to get at
and very reticent. In a country whore the
clergy are boxed up for most part, as though
while dispensing the Word of Life it were
necessary TO protect them securely against
the people in the pews and where every fell
low having tidy house and grounds walls
himself in against the possibility of his Dos
sessions being even looked at by vulgar out
siders, this reserve on the part of large en-
ployers of labor was naturally to be expected
BY tact ana perseverance,, however, | man
aged to converse with representatives of two
firms, and was not badly received by them.
The Atlas works and the large establish
ment of q. Cammell & Co turn out steel in
enormous quantity, and for almost all pur-
poses, aud it is said that altogether they
nave something like 10000 men In their
service How nice it would be-
thought, If these concerns would favor
me with quiet look at their pay
rolls, and even ventured to suggest in their
very presence that this, or the equivalent of
1t, was that was after. But polite inslnua-
tons were only as sounding brass, and had
an inward conviction while making them
that In ears so unused to such American hb-
critics they must have sounded verv brassy
indeed To show how utterly hopeless was
the quest undertaken, the secretary of the
Cammell company assured me they had re-
FUSED to give information about wages, even
when asked for 1T by statisticians of the
British government, and the gentleman
representing the other firm waived the main
issue BY explaining that 'of course wages
were higher in America than in England be-
cause the restrictions against foreign compe-
titon were so much groater.n
No Chance to Rise.
-, Tho American consulate is always accessi-
Die, however, ana the representative OF Inc
stars AMI stripes in Sheffield, MIR. Benjamin
Folsom, an own cousin of tho distinguished
mamma of Baby Ruth, and an old newspaper
man withal, | found to pc deeply Interested
in labor questions and quite ready to help.
In visible attestation of his patriot
ism, Mr.. Folsom displays the model
OF an American eagle over the front door of
his Office, and his conversation was found to
be fully as patriotic as the sign he had hung
out. Between the condition of the working
nla l., RA1 ,l..N
same classes in England. tho difference, he
said, was great in the extreme. In America
the drift was always upward. whereas here
II maintained dead level. The rule in Eng
land was once Il workman always work
man, while with us large numbers climbed
up. They first got a house of their own,
and you would hear OF them soon after as
mayors of cities. He had been visited re-
Gently by an American who began life as a
blacksmith. In England tho same man
would have been blacksmith today, but
instead of this he now has 100 men in his
employ, and is an inventor whose machines
are known all over the world.
Wages IN sheffield.
From reports to which my attention was
directed by Mr.. Folsom | made the fol-
lowing abstracts of the general run of wages
In Sheffield. For workers in iron the hours
vary from fifty 10 tiftys hours per
week. and the average weekly earnings
were given thus: Puddlers, S77S;
underhands, 1924; shinglers, Sl2S9;
assistants, IS 90; bail furnacemen,
sl2l l6; underhand, S729; charcoal Jumpers
e4 80; rollers, Sl094; assistants, S129
metal reiiners, $1,000; plate rollers, Sl5S so;
furnacemen, Sl459; fremen, SS5l; scale
melters. $S5l forgemen, Sl4 90; levermen
s607; bogIemen, S6.07; hammer drivers,
1923; pattern makers, 500; moders, SS5l;
fettlers, S6.44; laoorers $40; iron traIlers,
$3.50; tire rollers, Sl3.62; machinists, SIS
From the same reports IL was learned that
men engaged iu making pocket and table
cutlery were earning on an average from
f6.O7 week to 1913 For railway en-
ployes the average wage was given as fol-
lows: Engine drivers, Sl50 for day OF
twelve hours tiremen, Sl.09. Tho rate of
the others is by tho weeK Pas
songer guards ST. so; goods guards, $6.32;
watchmen, 1874; pointsmen, S6.32; passenger
porters 80; goous porters, Si,S6; engine
filters, $50; car examiners, S632. Counter
men in dry goods stores are reported rs av-
eraging little less than 5000 a year; police.
men average SI20 ana street laborers 81. So a
week.
steel Workers Earnings.
The figures obtained from the same reports
bearing directly upon the sIeel trade were
as follows; Steel converting Foreman as
hours), $7.29; laborers, SiS6 Steel melung
-Teemers go hours), $50; pullers out,
E7.05; cokers, 81 So; pot makers, IS 81 collar
lad, Sl,S2. Steel roling-Foreman as boursl,
1904; rollers as hours), $S.75.
For tho class of labor indicated, these
n kuma mt tina time the rADnrts Ivarn nada