The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1896-05-27
WEEKj WAGES.
&GzFEE SECRETARY CARLISLE AT
AsS1FF CHICAGO.


He Addresses Mass Meeting of Laborers
on the Currency Ouestion-Cheap Money
Everywhere and Always the Enemy Of
Labor-It Reduced Actual Wages in Chile
and Mexico and Would Do So In This
Country.
! The following is an extract from the
clear, forcible and rnanswerablo speech
of Secretary John G. Carlisle at Chica-
go ON April Is:
Money received for wages, like money
received on every other account is val
uable only to the extent that it can be
exchanged for other commodities, and
it is scarcely necessary to suggest that
a dollar worth so cents will not pur-
chase as much in the markets as dol
lar worth 100 cents. To call a dime
dollar would add nothing whatever to
its intrinsic value OF to its purchasing
power. If these propositions are correct
it is clear that when wages are paid III
q deprecated currency the rates OF
wages must be increased in proportion
to the depreciation Of the money and
in proportion to the increase in the
prices Of other things or the laborer
will suffer loss,
But l affirm that it is the universal
rule that the rates Of wages do not in
crease in proportion to the depreciation
in the value Of the money in which
they are paid, and that when the cur
rency is deprecated the rates Of wages
do net increase in proportion to the in
crease in the prices Of the commodities
the laborer is compelled 10 purchase.
Wartime Wages and Prices.
IN 1862 the wages Of labor, paid in
deprecated paper, were less than 3 per
cent higher in paper than when paid in
gold, but the prices Of the 223 articles
used by tho laborers and other people i'll
the maintenance Of their families were
nearly IS per cent higher than they
were when paid in gold. In 1868 the
wages of labor paid in deprecated pa
per worth about 60 cents on the dollar
were 10H per cent higher than when
paid In gold, L-.S the prices of the arti-
cles the laborer had to buy with his
wages were nearly 40 per cent higher.
In 1864 the wages of labor paid in de-
preciated paper dollars worth 40 cents
each had advanced 25h per cent, but
the prices Of the necessaries Ct life had
advanced 90h per cent. In 1865 wages
paid i'll paper currency worth 63 cents
ON the dollar had advanced 43 per cent
above the rates previously paid in gold
or its equivalent, but the prices Of COM
modities had advanced nearly 1T per
cent-that is to say, had more than
doubled-and in 1866 wages paid in a
currency worth II cents on the dollar
=. had advanced fraction more than 80
kper cent from the previous rates in
gold or its equivalent but tho prices OF
"A commodities had advanced 80 per cent.
The rise in the rates Of wages never cor
responded with the rise in the prices Of
other things until the year 1869, four
years after the close Of the war. when
the value of cur currency was II cents
ON the dollar, and it was quite certain
that no further depreciation would c.
Cur.
The wages Of labor, measured by gold
as they were in 1860, when we had a
sound currency, had fallen about "a
per cent in 1868. more than 10 per cent
in 1864, and nearly Al per cent i'll 1865,
when we had deprecated currency.
Silver and Wages In Chile.
Tho recent experience Of the republic
of Chile furnishes another impressive
warning to the wage Garner against the
evils Of deprecated currency. In 1876
the peso, Or dollar Of Chile, was worth
about 80 X cents i'll our money. but in
1885, ten years after gold went out and
silver came in, the peso was worth less
than 81 cents in cur money. Silver con-
tinued to depreciate, and besides large
by the government and the banks, and
in 1896. 20 years after the change from
the gold basis to the silver basis, the
peso was worth only about S4As cents
in our money. Let us see now what eff
feet this cheap money, or, in other
allism which you are asked to adopt
here, had upon the wages of labor in
that country.
In 1875, when the peso was worth
8Sb cents, mechanic, boiler maker,
blacksmith, n carpenter, fireman
and an ordinary laborer received togeth-
or for days work 1915 pesos, or
$l6.37 in our money. In 1885 the same
persons received for the same work 20A
pesos, but, owing to the depreciation of
the currency, this was equal to only
$10.93 in our money, and in 1896, 20
years after the country had descended
to silver basis, the same laborers re-
ceived for the same work 20. 9j pesos,
but the value Of the peso was less than
85 cents, and consequently their wages
amounted to only $s.34 iii our money,
or just about one-half Of what they had
received 90 years before.
Our minister TO Chile, after very
careful examination Of the entire situa-
ton in that country, says, 1T may be
taken for granted that in Chile, as in
all other countries which have like
financial experience, the consequences
of cheap money have weighed most
heavily upon the classes that are least
able to support the burden" The evils
of silver monometallislu and depre-
ciated currency finally became intolera-
bic in that country, and it has recently
adopted the gold standard of yalue