The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-07-06
CARROLL D. WRIGHT,

err of Labor, Encouraged by tile LaDor
Newly = Inaugurated aud
Very General Practice OF Voluntarily
Raising Wages ON Returning Prosperity
an Omen for Good.
CHICAGO, June 2S.-The famous Ten
nessean. Carroll d. Wright, United
States commissioner of labor, who Is
attending a committee meeting OF sta
tisticians in this city arranging for the
annual September meeting of official
statisticians, which will be held this
year in Minneapolis, takes an enthusl-
astic view of the labor outlook.
Il have always held" said Mr..
Wright, that as soon as manufacture
ers and other extensive employers of
labor put into active operation the
plan of raising the wages of their en-
ployes the moment that business
would warrant such an advance,
strikes will be effectually done away
with. 1t is Il popular error to suppose
that the strenuous opposition which
craftsmen offer to a reduction of
wages, even in times of financial de-
preston, is simply from a cOnsidera-
ton of the amount of wages sacrificed
by the cut. Often this is an entirely
secondary consideration. Perhaps it
might be said with approximate accu-
racy hat such is generally the case;
the main motive of their resistance to
the reduction being the knowledge,
gained by sad experience. that re-
stored prosperity in their line of busi-
ness does not mean a restoration of
wages to the point from which they
were reduced to meet the eXigencies OF
trade depression.
They have been taught by almost
universal object lesson that a raise OF
wages is 4 very difficult thing to at
tain, and that it ~often.if not generally,
follows with dilatory and hating
steps any improvement in tie general
financial and business conditions OF
the country. In other words, the la
borer has come to regard any accepted
cut of wages as so much ground per-
m%anently lost. Consequently they con-
test every inch of gound in the way
of reduction with all the power that
organized labor can summon. This, OF
course, means strikes; and not until the
workingman sees that the employer
will voluntarily restore wages that
have been temporarily cut off because
of poor business will he give up the
strike attitude and idea for one of con-
fdence that any improvement in the
trade in which he is engaged will bring
him a benefit approximately in proper
ton to that which it brings to his en-
ployer.
THAT this happy principle is be-
coming more and more generally ac-
copied by the extensive employers of
labor is a matter of national congratu-
lation, and that there are substantial
proofs on almost every hand that this
Just and fortunate movement is be-
coming characteristic of the hour can
not be disputed. 1t is not too much to
say of this significant sign of the times
I that it marks Il new era in the pro-
gress OF the cause of labor, and that
its growth and continuance means the
realization of many good things which
can now be only dimly foreseen and
hoped for.
Il do not assume to know anything
about finance, save as directly rela'
ting to labor, but l am convinced that
the reported voluntary increase OF
wages by great concerns throughout
the country is not only genuine but
general, and to my mind it cannot fail
to have a wholesome effect upon the
general business of the country, | see
no reason to doubt hat this movement
has just begun, and that it will stead
ilv increase in volume to the satisfac.
ton and joy of all"
Nj. Wright regards arbitration as q
moral rather than an economic fea
ture, and says hat its chief value mus
be in bringing the employer and the
employed into closer relationship.
Thirty-one states with the national
government will be represented in the
coming convention, which will chiefly
be given over to the discussion of i'm
proved methods in statistical work.
Conventions of this kind have beer
held for ten years. Nearly all OF
those who attend these convention:
are employed in the labor dpart'
ments of the various states or the ma
tioual government, although many
college professors. economic writers
and specialists in pursuit of various
lines of investigation are expected to
attend the convention, which will be
the largest of its kind yet held.
When asked for an expression as tt
the general attitude of the ranks o.
labor regarding the silver issue, Mr.
Wright said:
THAT is something about which
do not claim to know anything, anC
consequently 1 cannot be induced tc
say a word in relation to it."