The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-12-25
VOLUNTARY RISE OF WAGES.
Farmers ana WorIsIngaen Enjoying



the Fruits OF Prosperity.
Wages are the price of labor. Labor
Is commodity, and like all others, its
price depends primarily upon demand
as related TO supply. The revival of in
dustry, consequent upon the victory for
honest money at the polls last fall, aud
the restoration of the conditions which
provide sound basis for our industries
by the enactment OF the Dingley tariff
law, is now bringing it's logical result
an increase OF wages, without strikes or
the employment OF brute force in any
other form.
Recovery from wasting illness is al
ways matter OF time. Disease will
strike down a strong man, and in few
days reduce him 10 a condition Of bod
lily weakness from which II will take
him weeks, and even months. 10 recover.
So the deadly blow dealt 10 American
Industries, and as a matter OF course TO
American workingmen. by the Wilson
law, led 10 dcpression, idleness and gem
eral business disaster from which the
country has been slowly emerging for
several months past.
The process Of recovery has gone on
until wages are sensibly affected.
wages are the first 20 fall and the last
20 rise" is an axiom whose truth has
been proved many times in the indus
trial history OF every nation. IL is glad
tidings 10 the millions of workers in the
United States that we have reached the
point in our recovery from the hard
times that there Is general movement
Of wages upward. The regular weekly
report of the mercantile agencies sup
plcmentcd by dispatches from various
parts Of the country, show eouclusivcly
that we have reached the normal condi-
ton Of industrial activity, such as we
had in 1890. NJ the timc Of the enact
ment Of the Mckinley tariff, and thatin
some lines we are going even beyond
that, in obedience 10 the law OF supply
and demand.
The Chicago Times-Hcrald. which Is
keeping close watch upon the bAgness
situation. gives the following lit OF
great industrial plants and other Airgc
employers Of labor who have withirNhe
past week voluntarily increased he
wages OF their men "
During the week tho 1000 employees OF tho
steel works Of Jones e Laughln. OF Pitts
hurgh. received a ten per cent advance I'm
wages: LOO operatives ln tho works OF tho
Mahonlng Iron g Steel company, at
Youngstown and New Castle, received n
10 per cent. advance; the largest pay in fivo
years was distributed in the MoorchCad g.
CO.'S mills az Sharpshurg. Pa, tho pud
dlcrs receiving as high as sA2S per day.
a voluntary advance OF from 40 10 20 per
cent was made IN the wages Of the en-
ploycs OF the Bcssemcr Limestone COM
pany. Carbon Limestone company. John
son q Co, and John. r.. Grst at Youngs-
town. the largest limestone concerns IN
Ohio. the 10 per cent. advance mi the wages
Of the 1900 employees OF the five big iron
ana ore mining companies In the Iron
mountain district OF Michigan went into
effect Tuesday: a voluntary advance OF
% per cent. was made In the wages Of tho
worstcd workers IN the mills Of Providence,
restoring the high rates OF 1885,"
This list does not include many small
err concerns, nor the eases OF individual
employers. 1t records only those in
which the number OF men employed ia
large. In the face Of such facts, il il
not possible for that prophet OF evil, Mr..
Bryan, nor for his Acknowledgements
Of disaster, 10 declare that there is no
prosperity, aud that conditions have
not improved The farmers and tho
worldngmen in the nations industries
are reaping the fruits OF the era OF
good times, and that in the largest de.
grce.-Toledo Blade.