Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-03-27
SILVER CITY. NEW MEXICO TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1894
The Economy Of High Wages.

Improved machinery stands TO
high wages in a twofold relation;
it is at once cause and effect. The
better the machine with which a
man works, the more productive
is his labor, and the more vslua-
BILE consequently TO his employer.
On the other hand, the higher the
wages paid, the greater is the in
ducement to the employer to use
more and more productive machin-
cry, and 30 reduce his expenses.
Not only is the labor employed in
connection with improved mRchin-
cry more highly paid, as We have
seen, than any other, but the in
creased cost of it is a powerful
stimulus to further improvement.
Thus a strike among the boot and
shoe makers of Massachusetts o
few years back, resulted in the in
vention Of machine which reduc-
ed the numbers employed in the
operation of lasting by eighty
per cent. And in this connection
we notice a curious paradox, viz,
that machinery should not be
made to last too long. In times
of depression it is the firms which
use old fashioned machinery that
are the FIRST to suffer-as, for in
stance, visiting Oldham in 1856,
Mr.. Schoenhof found that the cot
ton-spinners were making no prof
its at all, whereas at Rochdale,
newly built mill, fitted with all the
latest and best inventions, was do
ing we'll; the reason being that
not only was the expense of work
ing less, but waste had been great
Ily diminished. Such improve
ments are often resisted, or OF
least viewed with little favor, by
the workmen themselves, who see
in these improvements a means of
superseding their own labor. But
they have not grasped the key to
the situation, and have not under
stood how closely their own earn
ings are bound up with their equip
ment.
On the continent such conser-
vatism is far stronger. 1t is a
matter of pride to the manufactur-
er that his machinery outlasts that
in use here; but SO far from being
an advantage to him, the fact real
ly handlcaps him in competition
with his English rivals. And such
conservatism is possible only when
a large supply of workmen is avail
able at low wages, for if new ma
chinery is to be employed a high
er stamp of workman is needed.
In the industry of silk-throwing
for instance, there is a remarkable
difference between England and
America in this respect, for the
wages paid iii America are far
higher then with us, and yet the
cost is far less. Now the growth
of horsepower necessary for work
at such tremendous pressure is pos
sible only when the conditions OF
life are favorable-in short, when
wages are high.
Let us now summarize Mr.
Schoenhofs somewhat optimistic
views. High wages cheaper pro
duction in two ways. They make
the laborer more eficient-he il
stronger, more capable, more alert
and consequently the product oI
his labor is greater, increasing
proportionately faster than the
rise in wages. They also provoke
and indeed necessitate, a constant
growth in the productive power o.
machinery, and give the maximum
of stimulus TO the inventivenesi
Of its makers. Short hours Of la
Dor produce similar results, fol
employer and employed are under
every inducement to greater ap
plication on the one side and econ
omies on the other, lest the vol
ume of production should be les
sened. And in proportion as wa
ges rise, 30 does the demandfor tn,
products of industry rise also; 70.
the working class. O., the grea
> majority of consumers-are abll
to purchase more. What, then, i
needed in the present and the fu
ture2 More light and air for pro
duction; the abolition of all re
straints, protective or otherwise
upon exchange of commodities; tn
, increase of competition every
where. AT the same time, n
agency should be neglected whic
7 viii help 10 increase the laborer'