The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-04-25

Inc Boston Globe of a recent date
contained the following communication:
Among the many perversions of fact
caused by the eXtgencies of the defense
| of monometallism, none have been more
Migrant than those relating to its effect
The gold interest has resolutely main
| tanned that the workingman thrives
when values fall, because, since statistics
show that the daily wage has not been
materially reduced, they argue that he
| lessons.
Not only is this argument fallacious.
but it is actually dangerous, because II
discusses the truth. In point of fact.
| While the appreciation of gold affects
every class of the community, except,
perhaps, the moneylenders, 1t pinches
none more sharply than the Garner OF
| daily wages, and this for obvious rea-
sons
A mans income does not depend on
what he earns in one day supposing him
/ to be employed. but on what he gets in
year. Therefore, loss OF time is
! equivalent to reduction Of wages, and
| periods Of contraction are always eras
| of scanty employment.
Like every other force of nature the
pressure of a depreciating currency acts
| along the line of least resistance, the
weakest suffers first Now the weakest
| is always the agriculturist, and he is the
weakest because ne IS the poorest OF
| capitalists, and cannot stop his prOduC-
| ton to- steady the market as the manu-
| facturer can.
Agricultural labor is also weaker than
| industrial labor since IL cannot combine
| to resist reductions Of pay. So farm
| products fall first, then farm wages. and
| then a migration begins from the cOun-
| try to the towns.
These phenomena are best studied in
| England where the situation is further
| advanced than here. and some very in
| tereSting evidence was given on these
| points before the gold and silver commits
| sion in 1887.
Mr.. Fielder is a large manufacturer
| of Lancashire, who has an intimate
knowledge Of the population of the tex
| tile districts and has frequently been
| chosen to act as referee in trade dis
putes. He was called and examined at
] length. Speaking of the increase of the
| population Of Lancashire, his evidence
| was as follows:
@. Now, does that.increase, 1871 to 1881,
! entirely arise from population, owing to
| the birth rate exceeding the death rate,
/ or does it result from migration into
! LANCASHIRE A. 1t results also from the
| fact that agricultural employment is
| constantly diminishing and we keep alb
sorbing the surplus from the farming
| districts.
Q. 1 think your evidence comes TO this,
/ that the loss in real wages in the cotton
| trade amounts to u per cent? a. That
| is so.
@. And concurrently with this loss in
] wages there is "A great and growing num-
| Der of people out of employment alto
| gether? a. COncurrently with this loss
of wages, employment has not grown in
] its usual proportions, while population
| has, and, therefore, there has been an
| increased pressure among the working
| classes.
Q. Well, now you speak with very
| great knowledge and an intimate eX-
| perience Of the condition Of the working
| classes, and l understand you to say
that it is an entire delusion TO suppose
| that the working classes have been
| gamers by the fall in prices since 1874?
A. l think on the balance they are
! losers. Cheapness is a very important
| thing, but employment is more inn
! portant
MIR. Fielden also submitted reports for
| ten unions and societies showing their
| condition before and after the demone
| tization of silver by Germany, when gold
began to rise. His summary is as fol-
| lows:
number
of mem
bers Average
Average out of cost
members work annly.
Average from 1S7I-5.. SS go 2l5O fttS So
Per Cent.
| Average increase Of members. AZ
Percentage unemployed 1919 period. 2lS
Percentage unemployed 1896 period. az
Total support given by these 10 SO
cieties to the unemployed in 1915 f224 $50
Total support in the years lSS2-6..... 6lZ,4iO
Based on the experience of the above
ten societies the number of unemployed
| in the country would be over 100000
O. You say unemployment has increased
from . per cent. to Z per cent odd. That
8 per cent. means that the number of I'M
employed had trebled? A. That is 50.
There is no doubt that it is so.
Q. 1t is three times the number Of un-
employed? A. Yes.
This phenomenon Of the depletion Of
the rural districts is exceedingly strtk-
ing 1t is very marked in England. The
census shows that while between eighty
one and ninety-one Of those who lived
by agriculture decreased 10000, those en-
gagged in industries increased nearly l.
O00 900. 1t is also computed that the ag-
| Ticultural income last year had shrunk
from f40, 600, 900 to f60,000000 when meas
ured by the scale of prices of IA.
This is a clear loss Of purchasing power.
and therefore while the demand for manu-
| features has relatively decreased the
supply of labor has relatively increased,
with the effect Of causing the population
| of the manufacturing districts TO multi
| ply very much faster than the means OF
| employment.
@ 1 think you said last time that the
population was growing four times as
| fast as employment? A. In Lancashire,
| in the cotton districts.
O. The growth of the employment has
| to some extent diminished. has il not
! in recent years, by vastly increased econ
| omy of production? A. There are al
| WAYS such tendencies. For instance. in
a bad time the tendency is to increase
the speed Of the machinery and to i'm
prove machinery. As profits diminish
vanish this tendency becomes
| greater.
But the popularity of the approaching
standard is to cause this acceleTation to
| intensity to its limit, since in other
way can any margin of profit be main
| tained. Most enterprises are debtors, and
| the weight of the fixed charge increases
| in proportion to the fall of the price of
| the product.
On the other hand wages are difficult
| to reduce directly because of the cost of
strikes, and the effect of this double
| pressure is to stimulate labor-saving in
| ventions. The working of these forces
| comes out with startling clearness in the
history of the great coal strike.
In telling the story il will be best to
begin again with the evidence of Mr..
| Fielden given in 81:
q. Well what is the next branch? A.
There is another important trade, that
| is the coal miners. The condition of the
mining population Of this country is
simply peplorable.
@. You mean the average rate be-
/ tween 1858 and 1868 was 2Ss a week ?
| From 1873 IN 1893 and the avora %