Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-03-21
|SOMR ECONOMIC IDEAS
ADVANCED BY WHEELING STUDENTS OF TIE
SITUATION.
Some Leading Factors in Dull Times Recountad
and Commented Upon-Inisrssting
Arguments Advanced.

"This thing of reducing wages Is re-
sponsible for very large proportion OF
the hard times" said an employer, yes
terday. "Curtail tie workingman's
wages. and you lessen, in great ratio,
MS power to purchase, and whenever
you do that you have dealt q violent
blow to business, for the American
workman is the most liberal buyer on
earth. He wants to live we'll and, don't
! count the cost in doing 1t. On reduced
wages heis forced to economic, and
whenetS. he does the shop keeper
is idle, and the hard times
cry is raised. Its big mistake, and l
for one, have always refused to follow
it. l never cut the wages'of my en-
| ployes, and we are now paying higher
wages than fifteen or twenty years ago,
when we could get almost any price we
choose to ask. If everyone would DO
the same, the circulation Of money
would be brisk, times would be good,
and business lively. We believe times
are growing better, we believe they
will soon further improve, and we're
going to do Qua share to make them
good and keep them good"
That's very nearly nv idea" said
another business man, and stockhold-
er in a number of industrial enter
p-ises, who heard the remarks above
given. Take the potteries, as an ex-
ample. They are joining in the gen.
eral attack on the wages Of working
men, and yet the workingmen are the
| people who buy the things our potter
| les produce. The rich don't buy the
output Of the Wheeling potteries.
| Haviland and other classes of china are
the things they want; but when
the man of moderate means-the
wags-earner-goes to housekeeping, be
buys set of common dishes, ana when
the rate of wages is up, the potteries
: have q good demand. But pull down
the rate OF wages, and the wage-work.
er will tell his wife the old set of dishes
will have 70 last a little longer, or il
| he's just married he buys a tea set
when he would have taken a dinner sci
at the old wages; and so it goes all
along the line, in all branches Of trade
and manufacture. The man who has
been cut to thirteen cents al hour, or
to some other low or starvation rate o.
wages, won't be q very large buyer OF
anything"
"And I'll tell you something else, "
| cold third aifi7an AT,nU
bad for the manufacturer in another
way, as well as for his employees. A
workman has been making, on piece.
work, certain sum. His wages are
cut 90 per cent, or some other figure.
He at once attemps to earn as much
money as before by turning out more
ware or goods. He can't do 1t, OF
course, but be succeeds In making
an article inferior TO the previous out
put, with result that 1t don't sell as
well, or at the same figure, and the en-
ployer gets the worst Of 1t, and so doe:
his customer and the consumer. A
whole train of evils follow in the wake
Of low wages, and as remedy for dull
times, it is a signal failure"
"But the real thing the matter with
our manufacturing aud other corpora
TONS" said still another gentleman, ais
the load Of debt they carry, and the wind
and water interjected into their capital
stock. Given a corporation organized
for any purpose, the first thing they dc
is to issue bonds, and the second is to
water the stock. Then they at.
| tempt to pay interest on the
borrowed money and make a divi.
dend on the inflated capital. They
can't do it, and the word goes out to
cut the workingman dewn, increase his
| hours, and cheaper the product; and
the next thing, II the end aimed at is
reached, is to put some more water In
the stock, and unload the shares on
some one else-unless wages can be cut
some more. The old-tlme conservative
| business man, who wasn't posted on
/ Napoleonic ideas on finance, isn't in it
| in these days. The remedy for the
present times is merciless squeezing
out of water, and letting out OF wind,
and the restoration Of proper business
ideas and methods"
There is yet another factor In the
problem OF what causes the dull times, Z"
said still another gentleman. at Is the
universal rush OF manufacturers for
labor-saving machinery. l have in my
mind local plant, where a year ago, a
certain process required the services OF
five men and boy. A large sum was
spent on new device, and now the boy
does the work himself, aided
by hydraulic power, and the
five men are standing around
the corners, wondering where they'll
get a job. They're not spending any
money, for they have none to spend,
and all the merchants they formerly
patronized wonder why business don't
improve"
No doubt all these causes, and good
many more, contribute TO the business
depression, and have an important
bearing on the past and present situa-
ton.