The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-30
PAPER TRADES INCREASE
ITS EVIDENCES or THE PROSPERITY
NOW ON THE COUNTRY.
One Company's Figures Showing I'M
prOyement of Conditions Among
the WOrkingmen.

The Hartford City Paper Company. of
Hartford City, Ind, makers of news and
wrapping paper. has submitted a very in
| teresting statement of the labor conditions
at its factory during the last four years.
| The market for manila wrapping paper is
| about as readily affected by hard times
any one thing Such paper finds use in
| every branch of business, not merely for the
| purpose of protecting goods sold at retail.
| but in inclosing every class of manufact-
| ured article when it leaves the factory.
Furniture. stoves. bicycles. buggies, har-
ness, and, in fact. almost everything is at
some time wrapped in this paper, so that
decrease in manufactures soon affects the
manila paper market The table that fol-
lows is furnished by A. d. Schaeffer, man
ager of the Hartford City Paper Company:
1885, 1896 1894.
Number of employees :. so 60 80
Monthly pay roll .....$S,0O0 $3.50 A.SS
Months in operation... II .
In this case, as in many others, the rela-
tive figures given for the monthly pay roll
do not tell the whole story. In 1888 the
company will pay out $1,000 a month for
twelve months, or $4,000, all of which goes
to its eighty employees. This gives them an
average, including boys and girls and UNI
skilled labor, of $3.50 a month"; or $3.50 a
to sixty employees for eight months, and for
the other four months they had to shift for
themselves the best they could, in most
cases doing nothing, for at that time the
man who was out of work remained out of
work. Thus in 1896 sixty men received
$4,000 in wages from this company, or just
one-half what was paid in 1898. While the
rate of pay per month was the same ($37.5O),
the men worked only eight months, so that
their average yearly wages was only $500
year, instead of $3.50 this year. In 1894 the
men received the same average month
and year as in 1885, but there were only
fifty of them, so that the total wages for
the year was only $4,000, against $4,000 in
1886 and $4,000 in 1898.
THE EVIDENCES OF PROSPERITY.
A. d. Schaeffer manager of this company,
in letter to the writer, comments on the
conditions. He says:
"It is with great satisfaction that we in
close you a short synopsis of the business
conditions of this plant since 1894. We were
hardly able to work two-thirds of the time
from 1894 to 1885, but since December, 1897,
business has been gaining steadily. no doubt
due to the confidence instilled in the public
and from the fact that our manufacturers
We're preparing to do better business. From
December 1897. to the present time, the
| mills in our line have been very busy, hav-
| ing increased our number of employees 80
! per cent, with a corresponding increase III
| pay ROLL The policy of the officers of this
| company has been never to cut wages or
any of its employees, but economize in other
| lines
I'm my estimation, labor will have
! greater field than at any time since 1892.
new. institutions starting up and capital
| looking for investment, ana being satlsned
| at low rate of interest.
'One of the best evidences of labor condi-
creased of our daily s papers Dur
| ing times Of depression ii is a rare thing to
find the laboring man buying his daily pa
| Mckinley things have materially changed,
and it is no uncommon thing in driving
| through the streets of the city on a summer
| worl1men contentedly smoking their pipes
| and reading their evening paper. This may
not have attracted your attention. but. be-
| ing q manufacturer of paper, these things
| are brought to our observation and create
| an extraordinary demand"
| The analysis of the figures given by Mr..
Schaeffer makes it very easy for any one to
understand why it was that, in January,
February and March of 1894 there were
thousands of people in TINS city-honest,
Woodworking men and women-who were
forced by the pangs of hunger to patronize
the pubic food market which was estab-
lished here for the benefit of those who
needed assistance. When the total amount
of wages paid was less than half what it
ent conditions, distress, want and misery on
all sides must be expected The public food
market was opened here Dec. 80 1885, and
the next morning the Sentinel described the
| scene. 1t said:
1.-THE members Of the relief committee
made no idle statement when they said that
| there were thousands of deserving people in
| Indianapolis who without the neces-
saries of life. They told the truth, and, if
| there are still persons in indianapolis who
lsdoubt their word, all they have to do is to
| visit the food market which was opened
| yesterday morning
Long before o'clock Pearl street. in the
vicinity of the market, was crowded by peo-
| pie who came for relief. They were of ev-
| cry nationality and from every walk of life.
| The sturdy mechanic, who a few months
/ ago was able to support his family and
| keep it in comfortable circumstances, was
| there Old men and women, scarcely able
| to stand, middle aged men and women,
whose actions bespoke palmer than words
! OF the reluctance with which they sought
| assistance, thronged into the building all
/ day long. The room is a large one but it
was not sufficient to accommodate the
! crowd, and it was found necessary to send
| for a policeman to keep the crowd from
breaking in the door and tearing down the
! counters. Back in the rear of the building
was piled great stacks of provisions and it
| took the combined effort of four or five
| men to wait on the applicants Registra-
| ton Clerk Lane and his clerical force were
1-rre.w anarr lfof Iowa