The Portland daily press., 1896-09-10
ESPECIAL TO THE FRESH

lthusiastio rally was held here this |
aysning and addressed by E. G. SWEET, |
E a.. of Portland. In the course of Mr.. |
.sMett's remarks he made the following
telling arguments IN regard to wages
and productions
The last time that we had So cent dol
lars in this country was IN 1865. Those
were the days Of ''the greenpaok" when
money was plentiful.
AS matter of fact the per capita vol
ume of money at the period of the great
est imitation of paper currency was Is
per cent less than 1t was at the present
Indeed there hassbeen no year since $780,
when the per capita volume of money
in the United States has not been greater
than at any time previous TO that period.
A distinguished gentleman from Masss-
ohusetts, Mr.. George Fred Williams, de-
iivered a speech in Portland short time
ago in which he made this remarkable
statement: "Ooal oil, beef, sugar, to-
baoco,1 and various other articles which
he mentioned, "are no longer articles
of competitive commerce their prices
are fixed at the point Of endurance of
q helpless p2blic."
Now it would seem almost incredible
than an educated man Who has been
considered worthy to represent IN the
Congress of the United States one OF the
most intelligent districts IN Massaohu-
setts, should commit to paper such an
absurd and preposterous statement and
have the effrontery to make it Eefore an
audience OF Intelligent men, and in or
der to verify my own impressions In re-
gard to it, made few comparisons be-
tween wages and prices of commodities,
before, during and since the war, and
/ base those comparisons not upon the
tables of any of the professors of politi-
cal economy, but upon homsly facts and
figures that every wage Garner may ap-
preciate, everybody can undertand, and
every body can verify for himself. went
to the records of che departments OF
streets of the city Of Portland, and l
found that in 1861 the wages OF skilled
and unskilled labor in the street depart
ment of the city of Portland were, for
laborers, 81 per day drivers, 81. %; fore
men, $3.50 PAYERS, So. Prices current as
published in Portland papers were, for
coal, 81 per ton; flour, 81 per barrel
beef, $40 per barrel; pork, $40 per barrel;
sugar. cents o pound tobacco, 25 cents
per pound; cotton print, 10 cents a
yard. In 1865 gold was worth 80 per cent
premium, which made the green back
dollar worth % cents, just what the sill
yer dollar would be worth today under
free coinage. Wages and commodities
have both advanced. but mark the diff
erenoe. Wages had advanced from Il
per cent to so per cent and oommodie'
had advanced from 100 to 800 per cent
In 1865 wages for laborers were $3.50 i;
day; drivers, 81. 30 day; foremen, 81. u
day and PAYERS, g. 80. Those prics
were fixed on basis of 10 hours a day
and were paid in dollars worth So cent
in gold. Wages today in that depart
meut are, for labora rs, 81. % a day; driv
srs, 50 a day; foremen, 81. per day
PAYERS, 50. SO per day. Those prices ar
fixed on basis Of eight hours day ant
are payable in..dollars as good as gold.
Now, as to my comparison of prices O.
commodities and / quote from price,
current of the Portland papers, In 1856
GOAL was SIT ton, -four S14 barrel
beef $2S barrel, pork S46 a barrel suga
% cents a pound, tobacco 81. % pound
kerosene q 95 cents gallon, cottol
S6 q ton, -four 81 barrel, beef So. 30
pork $40 barrel, sugar s cents a pound
tobacco 30 cents q pound, kerosene i
cents a gallon, cotton prints cents
yard. In those good old days of 53.cen
dollars it took a laboFing man nearl,
the ton of coal that no now earns il
"a days of hours day. 1t took hin
nearly 10 days to earn the barrel O
-four he now earns in two days ant
three-quarters. 1t took him half a da.
to earn as much beef and pork as b
now earns in one hour. 1t took hir
eight hours to earn the pound of Tobacco
he now earns in an hour and hall
1t took six hours to earn the gallon G
Kerosene oil he now earns in 80 minutes
Ii took him an hour and forty minute
to earn the pound OF sugar he now earn
iu Is minutes, and the cotton print dres
for his wife that took TWO days of tie
hours each in the good old times of S;
cent dollars he can earn today togethe
with one for the baby, between his break
fast and.dinper. In a speech to th
farmers, Mr.. Williams stated that he ha
made careful study of the improve
methods of agriculture, and found thu
they were invented and in operatio
before the depression in prices of farl
products. and he defied any one to sho
any substantial difference in the mett
DDS of prod uction today from those whic
prevailed in the latter seventies.
If Mr. Williams will pursue his agricu
tural studies he may learn what any il
telligent farmer can tell him. that the
Is as much difference between the c.
paoity Of the agricultural machinery
today and that of the latter seyentie
as between the present electric sire
railroads of Portland and that OF
years ago which consisted of man,
horse. little seven by nine caboose, al
two streaks of iron rust from the Pc
office to Bracket street. If Mr.. WI
liEms knew as much about thrashir
machines as he will when this campail
is over, no would show that in the latt
seventies they had as rule, 28-in'
cylinders. were driven by horse pow
and had q capacity Of about 500 bushe
day. Now they, have from 40 to
inch Cylinders, steam power and a cap
city OF 1000 bushels day. On the gre
wheat farms OF the latter seventies
took fonr men and five horses to do Il
work that one boy and three horses CO
T0EY do easier and haitian Tuat va