The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-05
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WANT AND WAGES.
By HON. CARROLL D. WRIGHT LID
tates Comm of Labor
WANT AND WAGES.
By HON. CARROLL D. WRIGHT. LID
United states Commissioner of Labor.


city of workers, and yet under these
conditions labor was poorly paid.
This was because large proportion
OF the natural products of the earth
were easily obtained, and the country
had not then attempted on a very
large scale the production of things
beyond those of tie earth. When
manufactures began to be undertake
en-, then, and not till then, did labor
begin to receive more than two or
three shillings per day. 1t is argued
even now in some sections of this
country that manufacturing indus
tries are detriment to the communi-
ty. This argument is made on tie
basis that tilling the soil is the most
honorable calling in life; but while
it is thoroughly honorable calling,
1t does not bring success and gener-
al development as does the introduce
ton OF manufacturing industries in
connection with the tilling of the
soil, or rather in association with it.
1t is when this association takes
place that wages begin to rise, and
the worker feels the necessity of ex-
banding his wants and taking into
his life more of the conveniences and
comforts which he sees are gained
only by those who have larger means.
Wages now must be paid at such
rate that the workingman can do
more than simply keep himself in
healthy condition. Labor is the only
thing he has to sell, and under the
iron law he must receive wages suffi-
Gent to preserve his health and thus
his capacity to sell his labor. This
much, of course, is an absolute ne
cessity from the lowest physical
point of view. Now he is legitimate
ly in receipt of, perhaps, from 10 to
Is per cent. more than the iron law
requires, and this margin above phys
ical necessity goes to what may be
called his spiritual development"
The word spiritual" is not used in
any theological sense, but in the
sense of the development of all his
faculties. With this 10 or Is per
cent margin above his actual needs he
secures whatever culture he can,
through reading, through an indul-
gence of his love of music and of art
and amusement. This is the devel-
opment of the higher faculties be-
yond those necessary for the earning
of his livelihood and the support of
his family.
The labor question, therefore, SO
far as wages are concerned, is now,
by this development, lifted to high
er plane than at any previous period
in the worlds history, and this
makes the struggle that is now going
on, the struggle to increase this mar
gin. Just how it can be increased is
an economic question, but one which
must be considered with view to
ethical results.
If the question be asked whether
the workingman is dynamic force
now, or otherwise, think the answer
can be clearly stated. 1t can not
only be stated philosophically and
as the result of observation, but it
can be stated statistically: and what
ever form the answer takes it is a
positive assurance that at no previous
period in the history of this country
has the workingman, taking all
things into consideration, been so
"well off" as at present, for examin-
ing wages whether real or nominaD
in all respects, historically, it is
found that there has been a persist
ent tendency upward. This tenden-
cy, of course, has been broken here
and there by industrial conditions,
but the rise has been gradual, even
though there have been long periods
when little if any change was noticea-
BILE.
1t is very difficult to state with any
defniteness, for any given time, the
average wages paid to any particular
class. 1t is far more difficult to state
definitely the course of wages through
averages; yet the facts show for a
certainty that for long period after
the settlement of the colonies two
shillings per day was fair average
for mechanical labor. and that wages
remained steady during the whole of
the seventeenth century, no great
change coming till far into the
eighteenth century, when the stan
dard of wages paid mechanics and
tradesmen was based very largely
upon the compensation received by
farm laborers.
The decrease in the cost of living
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