The Louisiana populist., 1895-11-29
GOLD STANDARD PAY.
A COMPARISON OF WAGES IN
VARIOUS COUNTRIES.
In Many Trades Wages Are Higher In
Silver Countries Than In All the Gold
Standard Countries OF Europe
Figures Deceptive.

OhC VI luC VI
sertions. upon which the advocates of
the gold standard lay peculiar stress is
the alleged low rate of wages in silver
countries as compared with those of
gold countries. We have often noticed
that while this assertion is made with
a great deal of emphasis, the relative
rates of wages in the two classes or
countries are never actually stated and
contrasted. We know now why they are
not. 1t is because they do not bear out
the claim of the gold standard orators.
We have before us the very tables so
often referred to, but never quoted, by
the gold monometallists, which show
the weekly wages paid to the general
trades in countries whose currencies are
on the gold and those whose currencies
are on the silver basis. We observe in
these tables that such gold standard
countries as Egypt and Turkey are
omitted from the tables, doubtless be-
cause their wages were entirely too low
to show up to advantage in gold
standard argument. Nevertheless, espe-
cially prepared as these tables were for
a campaign of gold monometallism,
they are utterly destructive of the argu-
ment based on the comparative wage
rates. While these tables show that IN
a number of the general trades wages
are higher in the gold standard than
they are in the silver standard coun-
tries, they also show that in a number
of others the wages in the latter coun-
tries are higher than they are in nearly
all the gold standard countries OF
Europe, and that they compare favor
ably even with the wages paid in Eng
land and France. Thus the tables show
that in Mexico, bricklayers receive $40
per week, while in Germany they re-
ceive $4.21 per week, in Belgium $i.5S
per week, in Holland $i.S9, in Italy
$4.20, in Spain $3.50, in France 1914.
In Mexico masons get $10.SO, and in
Peru, also on a silver standard, they
get S14.76 per week. The same class OF
laborers in England get s7.6S per week,
in France $3.50, in Germany $4.67, in
Belgium 1922, in Holland $3.50, in Italy
50, in Spain $3.50. in Switzerland 1927.
In Mexico the wages of a carpenter
range from sl.5O to s4.75 per day. In
Peru they are 80 per week, and in Vene-
zuela, which was on the silver standard
when the table was prepared, they are
1884. In Germany carpenters get $i.1l
per week, in Belgium $4.O7, in Holland
$3.50, in Italy 81, in Spain $500. Brass
founders in Mexico get so per week. in
Germany they get s4.3s, in Holland 81
in Italy 81, in Denmark Sf.S2. In
Mexico the wages of a cabinetmaker are
SO per week, in Peru they are $l4.76
per week and in Venezuela they are
S14.45, both of these latter countries be-
ing classed in the table as silver coun-
tries. In Germany a cabinetmaker gets
$4.25 per week, in Denmark $4.5S, in
Belgium s., in Holland $3.50, in Italy
So. 40, in France s614. Tinsmiths get
$3.50 per week in Mexico and $14 per
week in Venezuela. In Germany they
get 1856, in Holland 81, in Spain 50, in
Belgium $40, in France $3.50, in Eng
land $3.50. Tailors get $7.14 per week
in Mexico and $3.50 per week in Vene-
zuela. In Germany they get $3.41 pei
week, in Italy 81, in Spain $i.90, in Hol-
land IS, in France s5.62. What Is
there in these figures to justify the
claim that high wages go with the gold
standard and low wages go with the
silver standard? Reduce these wage
all to their gold value, and it still ap-
pears that the earnings of the work
ingman in these despised silver coun-
tries are higher than they are in nearly
all the great and enlightened gold
standard countries of Europe. Wher
among the great enlightened nation;
of Europe, despite the blessings of
gold standard, you find laborers work
ing for from 20 to 30 cents per day. as
the reports accompanying these table:
show to be the case in Italy and Switz
erland. when skilled labor" can be hat
in the German textile industries for Al
cents per day, what excuse is there fol
all this howl about low wages in silver
countries memphis Commercially
peal.