The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-01-01
FOREIGN WAGES AND THE NEW
TARIFF.


Mr.. Mann, member of the royal labor
commission appointed by the British par
Lament. announces that the average wages
of skilled mechanics are IS shiIlings week.
or about $3.50 in Anne rican money. Re-
member. there are the wages Of skilled me-
chanics. This English authority informs
Us that 'handy men at all trades average
30 shillings $3.50 and iaborers 81 shiliings
(1.25) weekly. This latter figure ($525)
represents the average wages of the skilled
operNors in the Yorkshire textile indus
tries" From this small income the English
workingman has TO subtract large
amount for rent. In London amalgamated
engineers who receive the weekly remu-
neration of $3.50 are obliged to pay &. %
for rent, leaving them s625 TO defray the
other expenses of the household. These
men belong to the best paid class OF Brit
ish labor. The rank and file Of skilled la
Dor are obliged in England to live on
an amount much less than what is earned
by common labor In America.
In England. where the workingman's
standard of living Is lower than that pre-
yailing in America. the wages earned by
the English workingman are not sufficient
TO support him and his family. There.
fore the wife and children of tender age
must help 10 swell the household funds
by going out 10 work in the factories and
mills. Mr.. Mann writes that In the north
Of England cit is common thing for
women 10 go out to work. especially II the
family is small. The effect is observable
in the wages. In London wages are o
shillings higher for the same kind of work
than In Leeds. where the women are the
workers in the mills. factories and work
shops"
Ii Is the fruit of this cheap labor that
the trainers OF the Wilson tariff bin pro-
pose 70 put into competition with Ameri-
can labor. The products of this English
cheap labor viii come into American mar
kets alongside the products of the still
cheaper labor the Continental countries
This is the kind OF competition that the
trainers Of the Wilson tariff bill are pre-
pairing TO force on this country. The
American workingman in Massachusetts,
earns about & per cent. more wages than
an English operative IN competitive In
dustries. and his living expenses are but
IL per cent. greater. Lower wages will in
evitabiy follow the adoption OF the Wilson
tariff bill; the mere prospect of a new
tariff has already started the drift of wages
downward.
Industrial establishments at the East In
great numbers have already reduced wages
and the members OF the labor organira.
tiens have accepted the reduction. for they
know that employers must cut down ex.
psnses or close their doors, and knowing.
too. thai the destitut!on is SO great and
unexsmpled in all the great manufaetur-
ing censeTs that the roads are filed with
mea seeking employment and ready to
perform IL without reference TO rates Of
wages. A large employer of labor in New
York city, Democrat, recently remarked
that he could get all the skilled carpenters
he wanted for 81 day. Men who have
been earning 50 or sSso dsv for twenty
hSe years, he said. ARE now glad to work
Of :. Can the labor uniens," he was
asked. do nothing to keep up wase.Yr
the answer. an these times no labor or
gaalsati0n can deprive workman of his
chance to earn his bread" So the Demo-
cratic employer rays his carpenters hu. 81
and can hire al the men he wants at tina.
rate Taese carpenters, unprotected La
s'sr. have their wages fall by the fan in tie
WAGES OF protected lshcs.
Tie farmer and artisan feel 1. when pro-
tested mills close or reduce wages. for
thea mil operatives have less money or
no money 70 spend for products. They
hay teHer gooss; there il smaller de-
Esand gos cotton used ia domestic manu-
tAetaTe People eay less taour. eornmeal.
oatmeal, meats and farm rrodacs.. Ex.
Speaker Reed in hss minority report makes
u gsAsa thar 80 IS not any one phase az
industrial efficiency snd EXPANSION which
IL sought ey protection. has tia general
sas universal development OF inagasEiAs