Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-03-26
AMERICAN VS.. FOREIGN LABOR.

High Earnings and Low Labut Cost In the
United States as Compared With Low
Earnings and High Labor Cost Abroad.
In responding to the toast Pas,
and Present of the Hardware Ma1ufact.
ure" at the hardware dinner recently
held in New York, j. B. Sargent one OF
the largest manufacturers of hardware
in the United States said:s
IN agricultural tools and nipple
ments, at least, we take half the trade
of the foreign countries outside OF
Europe, and in all kinds of edge tools
we take half the trade of South Amer.
lea and Asia. But gentlemen. my time
is more than gone, and | will bring my
remarks to a close by saying that with
the manufacturers of this country in
their present condition, with our ma
chinery, with our unriyaled help, with
our skilled mechanics, and with you.
gentlemen of the hardware and iuer-
chantile branches, there is no reason
why we should not only hold our own
in our w country, but take a large
part of the trade of all the world.
"The American manufacturer, with
the American mechanic, has never
seemed to realize his own strength, or
the strength of his own trade. We
have, as | have always said, the most
skilled, the most willing, the most
energetic and the most ambitious work.
ers, workmen and mechanics anywhere
to be found. Although our wages in
this Countrywide earnings of men per
day-are very much more than anv
other country, and especially of the
countries of the continent, who are
Il competitors, and although they
earn so much more per day, still their
labor to the manufacturer is cheaper
than that of laborers in other countries.
In other words, the labor cost Of al:
most any article of American hard
ware manufacture is less than the
labor cost of the same article in any
other country. The fear which SO
many of us have had of the pauper
labor of England is a matter I'M
worthy of consideration. The pauper
labor of England, in manufacture Of
hardware, as compared with our labor,
may be compared with the cheap
farm labor Of India, where that class
labor is paid 10 cents per day, as com.
pared with our western farm laborer,
in the raising of wheat. With land as
plenty and as cheap, with millions of
acres which are not used in India, but
that are roamed over by wild beasts
with land in plenty, and with labor at
10 cents per day Cheap labor in the
usual acceptance of the term, still Ia
this country we can produce wheat
more cheapIy than they can in India,
and yet we pay 81 per day for the
labor. In other words, the 10 cent per
day labor in India, under all the con-
ditions that they have there, is not so
cheap in the product obtained as is the
81 per day labor of our western
farmers. And so, if we will only take
courage and 60 out before the world
with our industries, with our machin.
cry, with our intelligence and with
our mercantile ability, we can conquer
the world in industrial pursuits. APP
plause.
when I look upon this intelligent,
this energetic, this ambitious company,
it seems strange that any one should
think that the industry and business
ability of any other nation on the globe
can compete with us in a free field and
a fair fight.
81 have only to add that know that
you gentlemen of the hardware trade,
you manufacturers and merchants, will
carefully consider the question that
must come before you-of the greater
freedom of trade: the question Of
placing ourselves with our raw materi-
ais on an equal footing with the manu-.
facturers of England. Whenever we
do that we can certainly take care Of
ourselves in any quarter of the globe
Applause.