The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-03-06
WAGES IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY.

full and prompt compliance with the law.
WAGES In ENGLAND AND GERMANY.
Does England pay higher wages than
Germany; and. If SO. what is the reason?"
Such is the question asked by correspond
ent. The answer is 'yes," for all the in
dustries except agriculture. The reason is
more and better machinery, and more steam
power Is employed In manufacturing in
England than In Germany and France.
Until 1916 England had the most rigorous
protective policy the world ever knew. and
had been under II for more than a century.
For years 1t was felony to export ma
chinery. From her location, her commerce,
her wealth and her protection England. at
the time she adopted the free-trade policy,
was more than a century ahead Of any
other nation in the art of manufacturing.
Soon after adopting free trade England in
duced France and Germany to enter into
trade treaties not to lay a duty of over %
per cent ad valorem upon any imports.
Both nations ended these treaties-France
when the republic was established and Ger
many when it adopted a protective policy
about dozen years ago. That is, England
practically had the control of the markets
OF those two nations until few years ago,
and she had those of the United States
til 1861. England had the factory system,
which was production by large corporations
having cheap and abundant capital, the
most skilled labor and the best machinery.
applying steam power wherever 1t was pos
sible. Because of applied steam power in
manufacturing and the most improved ma
chinery, the factory report of Mr.. Red
grave to the British Board of Trade in 1870
said:
An English operative does as much in
sixty hours as German in ninety. and the
average production of spindles to each
workman is 80 per cent. more in England
than on the continent
Mr.. Nulhall, In his Progress of the
World" says that leach English work
man tends an average of eighty-three
spindles to forty-six and downward on the
continent"
Again, the use of steam by different ma
lions gives an idea of the extent to which
artificial power has taken the place of HUI
man exertion in production. In England
there was in 1883 twenty-five horse power
of steam to each one hundred inhabitants,
and only thirteen in Germany. In the
United States the amount was twenty-four
horse power to one hundred inhabitants.
In all Europe it Is only nine to one hundred
inhabitants In estimating the cost of pro-
duction what is called productive energy
is measured by the one thousand feet.
Mulhall in his History of Prices" gives
the cost of one thousand feet of productive
energy In all the countries of Europe. and
he calls attention to the fact that the cost
thereof is II cents per one thousand feet in
England and q cents on the European con-
tinent. from which ne draws the following
deduction:
This advantage enables us, as far as Ia
| Dor is concerned, to underSe0 continental
| nations by - per cent, although our work
| mems wages are almost double.
George Gunton, in his Wealth and
| Progress" commenting upon Mulhalrs talk
/ OF energy, says
Through the improved methods of produc-
| ton the productive capacity of ten laborers
| In England is equal to twenty in France,
| twenty-six in Germany, twenty -seven in
| Austria, forty-three In Spain and sixty-one
| in Italy.
| In tables by both these writers IL also
| appears that the cheaper the productive en-
| ergy, that is, the machinery and the power
| to drive it. the higher the wages. The rea-
| son that ten laborers could produce as much
goods in 1880 in England as could twenty
seven in Germany was due to the fact that
hand work in the former had been reduced
| TO the minimum, and that, as the price of
| labor advances the use of machinery and
power is introduced. Since Germany
adopted protective tariff machinery is be-
| ing introduced, and as a consequence wages
are advancing and Germany is pushing
| England in the open markets. Because so
much hand work is required in silk produc-
ton, and hand labor is cheaper in France
than in England, the former has captured
the British silk trade.
There is very little difference in the quail
ity Of the machinery here and in Great
| Britain What is called the productive
energy" costs more here than in England,
| so that when the duty shall be removed. the
question will be one of wages. The facilities
in both countries being the same, with no
protective duties, wages must be about the
same for the same hours. That is what
Mr.. Bynum means by putting labor in Eng
| land and here on the same plane.
SLAVERY IN INDIANA.
| To the Editor OF the Indianapolis Journal: