Morris tribune., 1896-08-12

the following statement m, MS report; "A
In China and Japan,
| ITO Japan twas feft to discover that
cheap labor and cheap silver formed COM
bination overwhelmingly favorable to man
ufacturlng success" To this he could have
the depressing and burdensome handmade
Of cheap labor Only that kind of labor is
content to Subsist on such a currency.
! will quote what United States Consul
General 'Jernigan of China, in his report
of April 10. 1895, states on this subject.
These are his words:
IAN intelligent understanding OF the in
fluentfaI agency Of the price of labor In
regulating the profits of manufacturing en-
terprise may be had from this Illustration:
In 1873 the mills of the Orient
and Occident were competing on equal
terms and receiving equal returns. Now,
In 1894, each mill employs the same amount
Of labor as 1t did in 1873, but the owner
of the mill in the United States pays for
the labor, in gold at the old rates, while
the owner of the mill In Japan pays for the
labor in silver at the old rates also. The
Japanese mill owner paid in 1894, $as he did
in 1873, from 10 to 20 cents a day for
men, land from to 10 cents day for
women. That meant, IN 1873, from Is to 20
cents in gold day for men and from s.
to 10 cents IN gold day for women. Now
during the greater part OF 1894, 81 In gold
has been about equal to 81 or japanese
silver, which makes it clear that, on ac-
count of the low rate of standard wages
which prevail In the Orient, the mill
owners of the United States are now paying
twice as much for labor as the mill owners
of Japan" The effect of what the advo-
Gates of free silver ask us to do upon the
laboring man is to scale down his wages
after this Japanese style.
The chief and controlling factors in the
foil Of inOnnnitV
modern skill and modern invention The
manufacturing world and the world of
labor have, within the last half of the
nineteenth century, been in the vortex and
whirlwind of great social and economic
revolution. We are no longer in the world
of the fifties. In those days in a place of
this size 5000 people, there would have
been at least a dozen boot and shoemakers,
all busy making boots and shoes. Now
there are only two, and they have nothing /
to do but a little cobbling. Our boots and
shoes are made in the big factories "doWn
East" where single factory will turn out
in one day all that our people need for
whole year, and at nearly half the price
of the olden time. And in those days we
should have had here a dozen wagon and
makers, making our wagons and
our buggies, while now we have only two,
who merely do a little repairing, and our
wagons and buggies are made by the whole
machinery, at rate so fcheap, |
as to- buggies and carriages,
as to- make the price Of the old handmade
article seem almost like. robbery. In the |
olden time few farmers had or could afford |
to have a buggy. Now he who is not
Of one is reg arded sas the poorest
and most thriftless man. in the neighbor- |
hood. Our plows are no longer made by |
The village blacksmiths, but at great fac |
tories, and he repairs them with factory |
made shares factory made handles and I
factory made landsides; and he shoes our
horses with factory made shoes, and fac |
tory made nails. And why does he do this?
He will tell you: Because it is so much |
If some free silver patriot stood I
By and were to tell him that it is the
Of gold that has done all this,
ae would rub. his eyes with establishment /
Ind be nonpulsed.
In 1867 the first year we made steel rails |
n this country, they were selling at $166 T
per ton in our paper currency. BY means
# new inventions, improved machinery and
lew methods, we have, without sacrificing
abor or reducing wages so
Reduced the Cost of Manufacturing
hat steel rails were selling for $304a ton
n 1892, and $24.33 ton In 1895. In like
manner cut nails have been reduced in
'rice from SOP cents per pound in 1867 TO
Al cents in 1895. The same thing has taken
'lace with wire nails which were first
made in 1887. They were then worth g. 10
ents per pound, In 1895 only 1.69 cents If
We turn to textile fabrics, we shalt find
he same remarkable changes. Through /
lew methods, new machinery, and new in
ent1onS, and with Increase rather than re-
+uetion in wages, we have reduced the
ost of these fabrics SO that standard sheet
ngs, which i, weres worth S.73 cents perl
ard in 1850 were reduced to 5.74 in 1895; i.
rs nd Td fo 4 |
hirtings from 1880. to 985; and standard
rfnts from $50 tor 5.25. The increase in
Tages since 1860 in these industries have
lore than equaled the decrease In the
rice of cotton. OF course, all the prices
re have quoted are wholesale prices.
II we turn from the field of manufactures
D that of agriculture, we are confronted
18th wonderful changes and innovations.
n 1So2asNo: spring wheat fuctuated in
hfcago between 81 and Sc cents per bushel
he farmer then plowed his land with
oorer and dearer ploW than to-day. He
owed by hand, harvested with the cradle,
ound by handS.and threshed with a slow
Ding horse power machine. To-day he
lows with the cheapest and best pillow on
re face of the earth, seeds with seeder
: drill, harvesta with a self-binder, and !
lreshes with a steam cyclone thresher,
hich cuts and feeds the bands, measures =
nd SACKS the grain, and stacks the straw, !
AZ ID opefaLSu. ny q man VINO IurnlSneSEJ
lie hands and their board, so that all the
lrmer has to do is~to haul his grain to /
lie granary, while his microscopes all the IL
'udgery and turmoil of the%9eld time |
lreshing.
Low as the wages were in 1852 it stiff4~l
'st the farmer of that day, if he had t
hire his help, much more than now to t
ed, harvest and thresh his grain low as c
e prices Of 1896 are, yet, considering the t
St of production, it is more nrofitabIa | G
raise wheat even now than in 1852, and q
en- there was free coinage, while there is a
me now. But while all these new and q
lproved machines, implements and meth {
IS have greatly reduced the cost Of farm t
g, they have, at the same time been the a
ief cause of our greatly increased and I
metlmes excessive production. In other ]
ofds, that while improved and new ma :
Ines, and improved and new methods C
We reduced the cost of production, they S
We, at the same time. greatly increased
e volume of production. Ia 1870 our total
N1rro4 4 n-1rsh