The advocate., 1895-11-06
GOLD STANDARD PAY.
A Comparison Of Wages Paid In Various
Countries.

vertiOns, upon which the advocates OF
the gold standard lay peculiar stress 10
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
q great deal of emphasis, the relative
rates Of wages in the two classes OF
countries are never actually stated ana
contrasted. We know now why they are
not. It 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, Dy
the gold monOmetallists, which snow
the weekly wages paid to the generaA
trades in countries whose currencies are
on the gold and those whose currencles
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 De"
cause their wages were entirely too low
to show up to advantage in a gold
standard argument. Nevertheless, espe-
cially prepared as these tables were fOr
q campaign Of gold monometalllsm'
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 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 S4.21 per week, in Belgium $4.68
per week, in Holland $4.89, in Italy
S4.2O, in Spain $3.50, in France $5.74.
In Mexico masons get $1O.SO, and in
Peru, also on silver standard, they
get S14.76 per week. The same class Of
labOrers in England get $7.68 per week,
In France S5.33, in Germany $4.67, in
Belgium 1922, in Holland $3.50, in Italy
SO, in Spain $3.50, in Switzerland $5.27.
In Mexico the wages of carpenter
range from $3.50 to $4.75 per day. In
Peru they are SO per week, and in Vene-
zuela, which was on the silver standard
when the table was prepared, they are
1884. In Germany carpenters get SAIL
per week, in Belgium s4.O7, in Holland
$3.50, in Italy $4, in Spain $500. Brass
founders in Mexico get $40 per week, In
Germany they get $4.38, in Holland $4,
in Italy $4, in Denmark $4.82. In
Mexico the wages of cabinetmaker are
$40 per week, in Peru they are $14.76
per week and in Venezuela they are
S14.45, both of these latter countries be-
ing classed in the table as silver c0un-
tries. In Germany cabinetmaker gets
$4.25 per week, in Denmark $4.58, in
Belgium $5, in Holland $3.50, in Italy
$S.4O, in France 1914. Tinsmiths get
$3.50 per week in Mexico and $14 per
week in Venezuela. In Germany they
get 1856, in Holland $4, in Spain 50, in
Belgium $4.40, in France $3.50, in Eng
land $3.50. Tallors get STA per week
in Mexico and $3.50 per week in Vene-
Zuela. In Germany they get $3.l per
week, in Italy S4, in Spain $4.9O, in Hol
land S., in France $5.62. 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 wages
all to their gold value, and it still ap-
naara that the earnings of the work