Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-05-20

IL these times OF financial stringen-
ley when the money and wages prob
lem is so frequently discussed, those
who favor the gold standard and q
diminished volume of money have a
favorite argument which they ad-
vance when confronted with the
statement that the laboring men Of
the country are the ones who suffer
most from the contraction OF the cur
Fency. This stock argument is that
the reason workingmen do not get on
better is because of their eKtrava-
-gsnce. A writer in the Utica Globe,
considering this, says:
Let us take family consisting of
husband, wife and four dependent
children-surely not a. very large
community. Let us suppose the
bread winner is engaged at arduous
manual labor. Now. would three
cents a meal be reckoned an eKtrava-
CANT sum to enable such person to
sustain his work? That would mean
for him an outlay for food of nine
cents a day. His wife must live, for,
although women talk, they also work,
and they must eat. That means nine
cents more. Children, as anyone who
knows them must admit, consuIae as
much food as adults-if they can get
it. And thus for the family at three
cents meal, we have a daily outlay
of "a cents. Fuel is necessary. Sup
pose we allow six cents a day for it,
or S2i.90 year. This is certainly a
very low estimate.
Men must live in houses, and unless
they own them they must pay rent
for them. Suppose we allow 30 cents
a day, or $9.12 month, for rent.
Then people can't go naked. The
climate as well as the law would pro-
hibit this. For family of six-such |
rs we are considering-15 cents day |
or S45.75 q year for necessary apparel |
for the body and necessary goods for
the home cannot be considered too |
Now people are in the habit of oc-
casionally getting sick. No one is
exempt from that possibility, and so
if we reckon 9 cents day, or $3.50 a
year to meet the doctors bills no one
will grumble except, perhaps, the
doctors themselves. He is wise
man who has himself and his family
insured, for should death overtake
any member, especially the bread
winner, the burden thereby imposed
would be well nigh unbearable. Sup
pose then we allow cents a day to
pay the premium on six lives.
or hot = hi - 1 |
Tor a family of six persons. 1t is pre-
cisely ST. day.
Will anyone claim that the sums
above given are excessive? Surely
jhree cents a meal does not imply
luxury, nor will thirty cents day
enable family to live in a fashion
lble quarter. We have moi allowed
,ne cent for luxury-for tobacco for
he husband, for street car ride for
he tired mother and children, for
books for the latter should they at {
end school, for dentists forceps to
'ull out an aching tooth, for church
for one article of new .
for a broken lamp chimney,
or hundreds Of little things that are
lecessary to the happiness and COM i
ort of a home. I
And yet, excluding these things, al e
lost as essential as food or raiment,
5e have daily outlay of $1.12. \
Taking one workingman with an il
ther in the United States to- day, ex- a
epting professional men, no such a
ate of wages is paid. Even if it were
fe would not be sustainable in com q
'rt, for while the outlay would be ST. q
day for 365 days, the income q
ould be reduced by the ffty-two f
undays and the legal holidays that b
,cur. He doesn't average $1.12, for
le writer has seen it stated that the
ally income of the United States,
professional men and busi-
ass men, is not over 81 a day.
How, then, does the workingman P
We? Reader, you may figure it out
r yourself.