Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-08-07

i that wages are the last and slowest 10 rise.
Mr.. DENLY, our minister In emma, MAKES
In China and Japan.
ITO Japan it was left to discover that
cheap labor and cheap silver formed a com-
| bination overwhelmingly favorable to man
ufacturing success" 10 this he could have
truthfully added that cheap silver Is always
the depressing and burdensome handmade
OF cheap labor. Only that kind OF labor IS
l 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
huential agency OF the price OF LABOR III
terprise may be had from this Illustration
In 1873 the mills of the Orient
ana 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 Mt the old rates, While
| the owner of the mill In Japan pays for the
labor in silver at the old rates also. me
Japanese mill owner paid In 1894. as he did
in 1873. from 10 to 20 cents gay ZOE
| men. and from to 10 cents day Tor
women. That meant. III 1873. from Is to ~
| cents in gold q day for men and from
| to 10 cents in gold day for women. Now.
during the greater part OF 1894, 81 IN goid
has been about equal to - OF 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-
| cntes 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
fall OF prices have been modern ingenuity
| modern skill and modern Invention. Inc
| manufacturing world and the word OF
| labor have, within the last half OF the
! nineteenth century, been In the vortex AID
whirlwind of a great social and economic
revolution. We are no longer In the world
| Of the ffties. In those days In place OF
| this size 5000 people, there would nave
been Mt least dozen boot ana snoeinaS N
all busy making boots and shoes. Now
| there are only two and they have nothing
| to do but a little cobbling. Our boots ana
shoes are made in the big factories down
East" where a single factory Will turn out
! In one day all that our people need Tor
whole year, and at nearly half the price
| of the olden time. And In those days we
should have had here dozen wagon ana
| carriage makers, making our wagons ana
our buggics while now we have only two.
| who merely do little repairing, ana our
wagons and busgles are made by the who,e ,
complicated machinery. ut rate SO cheap,
especlally as to buggies and carriages.
rs to make thesprlce Of the old hanumade
article seem almost like robbery. In the
olden time few farmers had or could anord
to have a buggy. Now he who is not
possessed of one Is regarded as the poorest
and most thriftless man In the neighDor-
hood. Our plOws arc no longer made by
the village blacksmiths, but at great fac
tories, and he repairs them with factory
made shares. factory made handles ana
factory made landsides; and he shoes our
horses with factory made shoes, and rae
tory made nails. And why does he do this?
He will tell you: "Bccause 1t Is so much
cheaper" If some free silver patriot stood
by and were to tell him that 1t Is the
he would rub his eyes with astonishment
and be nonpulsed.
In 1867, the first year We made steel rails
In this country, they were selling at $lt6
per ton In our paper currency. ny means
of new Inventions. improved machinery ana
new methods, we have, without sacrificing
labor or reducing wages, so
Reduced the Cost Of Manufacturing
that steel rails were selling for $50 a ton
In 1892, and $24.33 ton In 1905. In like
manner cut nails have been reduced III
price from COG cents per pound in 1867 to
LAT cents In 1906 The same thing has taken
place with wire nails which were first
cents per pound, in 1905 only '1G9 cents. II
we turn to textile fabrics, we shall find
the same remarkable changes. Through
new methods, new machinery, and new In
ventons, and with increase rather than re-
ducton in wages, We have reduced the
cost Of these fabrics so that standard sheet
lngs, which were worth S.73 cents per
yard In 1850 were reduced to 5.74 In 1895:
standard drilling from 8.O2 to SGD; bleached
shirtings from 1850 to 0.S5; and standard
prints from $50 to 5.25. The increase IN
wages since 1860 In these industries have
more than equaed the decrease In the
price Of cotton. OF course, all the prices
we have quoted are " hOlesale prices
If we turn from the field of manufactures
to that of agriculture, we are confronted
with wonderful changes and innovations.
In 1852 No. spring wheat fuctuated IN
Chicago between 81 and Sc cents per bushel.
The farmer then plowed his land with a
poorer and dearer plOw than to-day. He
sowcd by hand, harvested with the cradle,
bound by hand, and threshed with q slow
plows with the cheapest and best plow on
the face"of the earth. seeds with seeder
or drill, harvest3 with self-binder, and
threshes with steam cyclone thresher,
which cuts and feeds the bands, measures
and sacks the grain, and stacks the straw,
the hands and their board, so that oil the
farmer has to do Is to haul his grain to
the grnnary, while bis wife escapes all the
drudgery and turmoil Of the old time
threshing. u.s.. =,
Low as the wages were in 1852, 1t still
cost the farmer Of that day, IL he had
to hire his help, much more than now to
seed. harvest and thresh his grain; low us
the prices of 1906 are, yet, considering the
cost Of production, 1t Is more profitable
to raise wheat even now than In 1852, and
then there was free coinage, while there Is
nnr nav nnNkE Vh n m ~