Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-10-07

Man begins to complain on the day Of his
birth,
It's pretty good world for all that.
S. u. Kiser In Cleveland Leader.
American Wages Highest and Most
Valuable.
In 1895 the Massachusetts Bureau of
Statistics of Labor began an immense
work in a chronological presentation
of graded weekly wages in the United
States and in other manufacturing
countries. In 1896 the work was con-
tinued in the report of the bureau for
that year, and in the latest report, re-
Gently published, the work has been
brought down to the letter o in the
alphabetical list of occupation. AS
some evidence of the extent Of this
statistical task the number of wage
quotations in the report is nearly $780,
900. The number of individuals COW
cred by the report is necessarily beyond
the range of computation.
The main sources of information
from which this compilation has been
made are the United States census re-
turns, the labor statistics of various
states, the reports Of the department OF
labor in Washington and the reports
of American and British consuls.
Much of this information is defective
and chaotic, and it has been necessary
to thoroughly sift it so as to make 1t
valuable as a permanent contribution
to the history Of labor ans wages.
One thing clearly demonstrated by
this report, if such proof had been
needed, is that the rates of wages In all
mechanical and industrial employ
ments are much higher in the United
States than in all other manufacturing
countries. In the scale Germany comes
next after Great Britain, with France
and the low countries close in the rear
until the meager wages of Japan and
China are reached at the bottom. or
course, there are occasional exceptions,
as in New Zealand, Hawaii and some
other countries new to modern indus
tries, in which the wages in some me-
chanical crafts were abnormally high
until the balance was redressed by the
attraction of more skilled labor. But
the rule holds good that wages are
higher and have more purchasing pow
err in the United States than in other
countries. 1t is for the political econ
omist to reconcile the phenomenon of
the highest wages in the United States,
in concurrence with lower cost OF
production, than in low wage countries.
The statistician simply presents the
facts.
Another striking thing in connection
with these statistics is the wide range
of wages in the same employment In
different sections Of the United States.
So great disparity should furnish
cause for reflection to those who be-
lieye in the omnipotency of legislation
and government to control social and
industrial conditions. Take one exam
nile from this report. The medium
weekly wage Of stone mason in 1883
and 1889 was $24 in Colorado, SIS in
Delaware, $12 in Georgia, $19.4 in
Michigan, $3.50 in Minnesota, $21 in
Missouri, 50 in North Carolina and
s16.5O in New Hampshire. In other
occupations the disparity is still great
err in the wage rates in different states.
If legislation could regulate SO i'm
neratiye a. matter some of the states of
this Union would need protection from
the cheap labor of other states quite
as much as from that of foreign coun-
tries.
II is for the workingmen to protect
themselves by a more thorough asso-
citation and by other voluntary means
against unjust inequalities in wages.
Whilst the wages of masons, bricklay-
ers and iron workers are not too high
in Massachusetts and Colorado, the
differences in social and economical
conditions should not be such as to
make the rates twice as high in those
states as in Alabama or North Caro-
lima. While local disparities in wages
will always exist by reason of more or
less favorable conditions of living and
other causes, it is one of the duties of
society to level them up to as great an
extent as possible wherever combina-
lions of capital seek to exploit labor by
taking advantage of its weakness and
of their own power.
In regard to the disparity in wages
the report of the Massachusetts Bureau
of Statistics of Labor Is mine of in
teresting information. But these sta
tistics will not be complete until they
shall also show the relations between
high wages and Ie cost OF produce