Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-07-22
Comparison of the Present
Time with Before the War.
THE INCREASE IN WAGES
Give Us a Reasonable Tariff and
Prosperity Will Come.
THE DAYS OF BUCHANAN.
Some Figures That VIII Bear Careful
Examina;iOn-The Real Issue OF
the Present Campaign
Clearly Set Forth.

c. s Broadben., of Del Rio, Tex, pre-
sents some facts and figures regarding
prices and wages of today. as compared
with before the war times" that will be
read with interest by the farmers of Penn
sylvania He says:
''The assertion that prices generally are
lower today than ever before serves to re-
mind me how short mems memories arc.
Take wages, for instance; in the days Of
Pierce of Pierce and Buchanan the com
mon wage of farm laborers by the day in
southeastern Pennsylvania was 30 cents; !;
in haymaking and harvest. a. cents, with
board The ordinary monthly rate, with
board, was $40. John NJ. Mast, OF Nor
gantown, Bsrlls county, paid $l2 for u
more than average workman, which was
the highest wage recollect being paid in
that section. and we usually worked from
daylight till dark in the summer. and III
winter by lantern, often both morning
and evening. Harvest wages advanced to
80 cents, and for extra good hands to 81.
toward tho close of Buchanan's time. For
two years during the Crimcan war wheat
sold at "a high figure and farmers made
money. 1t was generally believed that
that cereal would never again sell at less
than 81 u bushel. Carpenters wages in our
village were Il day, and $40 a year was u
way up" salary in any business requiring
education and training. In 1870 went To
Champaign county, o., where farm wages
were somewhat better, but in 1861 worked
there on farm for s. a month. The war
had opened and the southern markets were
cut off.
THE year 1859 found me in Fulton
county. Ills. The tremendous supplies
needed for the army caused an advance in
the price of farm products, and the drafts
Of men from field and shop told to the adj
vantage of labor, and farm wages We're sll
TO SIS per month. and advanced rapidly
during 1868 and 1854 10 so to $50, while
the harvest wages in the latter years were
s. to S3 day. In the meantime, how
ever, gold had gone out of circulation, but
people as n rule seemed To pay no atten-
ton whatever to this. Prices were ad-
vancing and no one seemed to think or
care as to tie kind Of money hc was re-
ceiving. and in this connection Ii occurs
to me that financial reporters are much to
blame for the miStincSs existing in the
minds of ordinary people on the money
question. II gold is the worlds measure
Of value, would il not have been better To
quote it uniformly ut par, j. e.. 100, and
Grcenbacks and other dcprcciated money
ut 81. 81, 20, or whatever It's actual value
was in gold: Giving the market value Of
gold ut l25, 100, etc, is surely misleading
to the average citizen.
I'm 1851 corn sold in Illinois at 10 cents
a bushul, wheat ut 90 cents. In 1873 or 1854
corn was worth 30 to ~ cents. In 1858 /
hauled corn about twenty miles to market
in Kansas. and sold it for 1j cents, and in
1872 we burned it for fuel. In the fif.ies we
had the good % cid state bank money.
Every business man had to take u Bank
Note Reporter" and keep u magnifying
glass; even banks would sometimes be de-
ceived by counterfets. Before leaving
PENNSYLVANIA | received part of my little
earnings in bank notes, some of which
happened to be on New Jersey, not over
fifty miles away, yet l had 10 lose D per
cent. discount on them. Our home store
keeper (God bless him) gave me gold in
exchange for my paper money, else, per-
haps, by the time l reached Ohio might
not have had 30 per cent. of the face value
of my savings
These things We're all before the crime
of '73.' In 1873 l paid Mexicans higher
wages in Texas than Americans got in
PENNSYLVANIA in 1850 for similar class Of
work. From 1879 TO 1891 common Mczi-
can herdmen on stock ranches in West
Texas were paid $40 10 $3.50 per month
and rntions, sl2 being the usual rate here.
Since the killing of the sheep industry by
free trade wages have decreased one third.
and hundreds of men who once had steady
work are now idle, living in the scantiest
possible way. Give this section again u
reasonable tariff on live stock and its pro-
ducts, and In twelve months we should
again be II prosperous people, and the
money controversy would be dead"