Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-04-13
PURCHASING POWER OF WAGES

r.
Trade and Lower Wages the A,,in,s
bought by the Rich ouid ri, =,
Price. Hut Not Those Used by tn. -.
-Higher Wages. Not Lower Prices. A.
What tho W orkingman should -.
for. 1--we
We often hear free traders clairoi,..
that under free trade prices would f.lI
so much that, even admitting waco.
would fall, their purchasing powe,
would not be diminished ..Sunnosa
wages do fall" says the ..reformer ;,
lis it not true that. If prices also fan
correspondingly, the workingman will
be just as well of as before? We an
swer "Yes, undoubtedly he would .
If prices would really fall correspond.
ingly. the workiugman's condition
would not be changed for the worse
But this is a supposition which is on.
posed to all experience and facts. 1t is
true that if 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 ne
SO. Let us take an illustration: When
rich man goes to n shoemaker in this
SchhbiJ dho mas Ills IccL ensured Tor "A
pair of shoes, which are to be made IN
order and exactly fitted to the peculiar
shape of his foot, he undoubtedly paws
more than he would pay for similar
work in England or in Europe. Our
shoemaker gets two and three times as
much as the shoemaker of other coun-
tries. and it is but natural that, even
allowing perhaps for his greater skill.
the product of his labor should be
dearer
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 1T be for moment supposed that
the mere fact that the wages of the
workingman who tends to such a ma
chine are lowered would make any an
probable difference in the price of one
of those hundred pairs of shoes which
that machine turns out? Certainly not.
And yet it is just the laboring classes
who buy this kind of shoes. Rarely, il
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 inn
porter. The laboring man buys the
factory-made article every time. and il
must be said that it is just as good, lust
as substantial as the other. So it 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, are all the
products of those wonderful machines
themselves only made possible by the
inventive genius which protection has
stimulated.
That this is so every one knows
Nj any free trader has unwittingly adj
mitted, and even that rabid 'reformer."
eX-Consul Schoenhof, has given invalu-
able testimony on this point when he
said that all substantial articles of 'the
wholesale process of manufacture" are
cheaper here than in free trade En-
gland, but that things made entirely
by hand are dearer in the United States
SO we see that while lower wages
would undoubtedly mean lower prices
Tor the splendid raiments and luxuries
OF the rich, it would not make much
difference in the price of machinery
made articles purchased by our work.
ingmen; and thus lower wages could
only mean diminishing purchasing
power, fewer comforts and a lower
standard of living.
But this is not all Cannot the work.
ingman see that wages have not the
slightest connection with the cost on
the hundred and one things that go &c
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 less? VIII the five-cerat car fare
be reduced, or the price of Newspaper,
or the admission fee to the, lecture or
entertainment? No, these things will
cost just as much as before, so that
lower wages simply mean more labor
to purchase Il smaller amount OF them.
The intelligent worlxingman cannot
but see that higher wages, not lower
prices. must be the watchword in the
battle to better his condition AS Wen
dell Phillips used to say:
The handspring Of our progress is high wages
wages at such level that the working1naa
can spare his wife to preside over d home. can
command leisure, go 10 lectures, take news
paper, and lift himself from the deadening leVei
Of mere toll. That dollar left after all the bills
are paid on Saturday night means education in
dependence, self-respect, 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
cobwebs IL with railways. The one remaining
dollar insures progress and guarantees millions
10 Its owner, better than "A score Of statutes IL
is worth more than thousand colleges, ana
makes armies and police superhuous
. ne Tariff Again.
The anthracite coal roads, controlling q cap
ital OF s70O,OO0OO have combined Free coal
would enable the people 20 escape in part from
me clutches OF this monopoly kansas City
Times.
VIII the tariff editor OF the Kansas
City Times please refer 10 his copy of
the Mckinley bill. Paragraph 536 says
Goal, anthracite - free" This is a
sample of the kind of arguments (?} adj