New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-17
THE GAINS or LABOR.


Another investigation Of tho condition of IN
due,ries has been made by the Tariff Ienguc.
and returns have been received from 2.229 cs-
Establishments. employing "G9,32o hands. tn"
labor Of COMPARISON and editing has been per
formed by Representative Robert w. Taylor. 81
tho NVIIT,h District. Ohio. and his comments
in presenting the report arc instructive" II VIII
be remembered That the Same organization TOOK
n census two years ago. which showed the con
dltlons prevailing in 1890 compared With those
In 1892 under the Mckinley law. AZ that tim"
the returns showed n decrease Of nearly 30 per
cent in the employment Of labor and decrease
OF 2fi per cent in the amount Of wages plld.
The figures have never been seriously contro-
vertod or placed in doubt 10y other evidence.
md. In fact. they correspond sngularly wei!
with the record Of exchanges through oil clear
ing houses. The wages Of labor constitute the
basis Of so largo n share Of all business don"
that it's volume is practically controlled by their
rise or fall The exchanges in March, lS!,'.
were pa per cent smaller than In the same
month Of 1899 under the Mckinley law
1t is n wcll-known fact that tho rate Of
wages does not rise as quickly with rcyiylng
prosperity it falls when disaster comes. The
latest Industrial census taken 10y the Tarif
League, Of which the results are now made
public compares the conditions In March. $50
seven months after the Wilson law becnmc op-
crativc. with those I'm March. 1898 after seven
months under the Dinglcy act. The 2.22o estab-
lishmcnts reporting employed 2o5,5SO hands In
1895 paying Them in the month OF March
$1.O79323. But in March. 1895, the same estab-
llshments employed 2G9320 hands. and paid
them SiO10Sl3G This showed an increase in
the amount paid per month Of 400 per cent.
No frce-trnder is advised to dispute the accl-
racy OF those figures. or their value IA fairly
representing the condition OF industries ms II
whole For the advance In ali exchanges
through clearing houses IN March. 1898, com
pared with March. 1895, WAS ;9.S per cent. The
correspondence is close enough to be con-
vincing.
The increase I'm number of hands employed
was 321 per cent. When It is considered how
large q proportion Of the families dependent
upon wages are affected In their earnings AMI
purchnses by such n change the vast difference"
between prostratIOn and prosperity may be
portly real,zcd The 100000 hands engaged
eight years ago In manufacturing and mcchanl-
cal industries and large proportion Of the
1900 600 engaged In trade and transportation.
ore directly affected. besides the 2S1O00 miners
and aunrrymen, and the whole number was ut
least $500, 900 in 1892 averaging wages of $3.50
per year, making In all about $i,275,0 100000. The
rate Of wages in March. 1895, averaged, nccord-
ing to the figures given by the League. only
s34 GO per month or s415 yearly but had in
creased in March. 1898. to S3I SO per month. or
s4b3 O6 yearly almost 81 moro than was paid In
1907
The Increase In number Of hands, II proper
tional to that shown by the League would
alone nc count for an Increase Of s9G5 ooO0oO IN
annual expenditures Of labor. There is the fus-
Their increase in rate OF wages per hand. ex-
tending 10 those employed in 1875 also. Near
ly 81, 200 900 increase In the earnings Of that