The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-04-26
PRICE OF COTTON IND SILVER
How Cheap Asiatic Labor is Affect
ing the European Mills.
EFFECT OF THE CHINESE WAR
Wages in the East Are Stationary,
While in Europe They Have Appre-
GATED. Cotton SINNERS Want
a Silver Standard 10
Offset This.

The partial transfcrcnco Of cotton
manufacturing from Europe to Asia,
which has so alarmed the Manchester
mill owners that they are clamoring for
tho Adoption Of the silver standard Ms Il
means of mrCsting its further progress,
may also be the beginning Of an indus
trial revolution which, for extent and
Importance, can be compared only to
those caused 10y the discovery of America
and by the invention of tho steam en-
Elne The abundance and the cheapncss
OF human labor i'll Asiatic countries have
long been provorbial but they have not
until lately awaited to countcrbalancc
the superior energy and skill of European
artisans and tho greater proluctiveness
of European machinery
Within few years. however, tho fall
OF silver, relatively to gold. has greatly
reduced the wages paid in tho east in
silver as compared with tho wages still
paid III Europe in gold, or, to state
tho fact III another way. wages in Eu-
rope have practically risen while wages
III Asia hevo remained stationary.
Tho HndOo laborCr gets no more ru-
PEGS than he did 20 years ago. the Chi
ncse no moro dollars tho japanese 10
more ycn but the Euopcan laborer gets
as many shillings or francs or marks as
he did, and even more, SO that, while tho
goods the Asiatic makes sell mt the same
nominal price us European goods of n
similar character, they actually cost only
about half rs much. Hence cotton mills
are sprlnging up III India, China and ia.
pau, which are taking tho market away
from tho mills of Europe, and tho same
stimulus is bringing into activity works
for tho production of iron and coal.
Obviously, the way for Europe to meet
tins competition is either to improve its
machinery or torcduce tho wages it paws.
but the oriental, now that he has started
III the business. can improve his ma
chinory rs fast rs tho European can his
and tho only thing left is reduction OF
wages. Against this rcduct ion. however.
tho labor unions OF Europe will stand ms
an impossible barrier so long ms the at
tempt to effect 1t takes tho slans of =
reduction i'll tho amount of money paid.
II, however, the money itself could be
dchascd by substituting tho silver stand
ard Tor the present gold standard, the
wages, though nominally remaining I'M
altered, would i'll reality como down to
the Aslatlc level 1t Is for this reason
that the Manchester cotton spinners are
20 ardent i'll their advocacy Of what they
call bimctalliSm, but which is really the
substitution OF tho silver for the gold
standard.
The success Of bimotallism is vet q
long way oil, and the prcpondorance OF
the indications Is that it Will never in
our time be achicvcd While the discus
sion OF 1t goes on tho ASiatics arc every
day cnlarging their manufacturing on
torpriscs and fixing them upon II firmer
basis, so that very soon it will be i'm
possible to overthrow thcm. if, indeed,
it is not impossible alroady.
Appetite grows by what it feeds on.
and now that II few thousand of Hindoos.
Chinese and Japanese havo tasted of the
profits OF these new cmployincnts they
VIII not mcekly rcnounce them The re
suit OF the recent triumph of Japan over
emma cannot fail to be vastly freer adj
mission into China of modern ideas aud
modern improvements than has hitherto
been permitted, and when to 500 600. =
600 Hindoos, accustomed TO earn 10
cents day and less shall I've added 400.
ooO,O Chinese. whose notions of com
pensation arc equally mcagcr. they will
constitute "A new mino of human labor
us extensive and as valuable rs were the
fertile lands of America when it was
first discovered, or the goldfelds of Cali
lorna and OF Australia.
European talent Will not he wanting.
IF native skill proves inadequate. to
teach those myriads of hands how to EN-
ploy themselves TO the best ADVANTAGE.
and the ruin that has overtakcn Assy1ia,
Baoylonia, Persia, Egypt and Turkey,
from the transfercnce Of their industrial
commercial and military supremacy to
other countries may yet he shared bv
Europe. Years, and probably centuries.
must elapse before this catastrophe ar.
rivos, and unforeseen causes may avert
1t altogether, but it is not n chimera to
be waved aside as impossible. Matthew
Marshall in New York Sun.
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