Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27
PROSPERITY IN EVIDENCE.
Nearly a Million Men Made Happy by
Higher Wages.

From the New York Herald
Nearly one million men in the United
States are receiving higher wages now
than they did at this time last year-such
If the tale that IS told of this marvellous
month of May, 1899. Ordinarily May is
the month Of strikes. As soon as the
weather gets warm enough for sleeping
outdoors the insidiOus strike n1icrobe be-
gins to circulate in the systems of wage
earners from the Atlantic to the Pacific
The east side tailors gather in Liberty Hall
and denounce the contractors; the coal
miners come grim and smutty from the
depths To tell their wrongs in open air: the
cotton workers declare that they have
been working for starvation wages and
the steel workers find il more pleasant to
gather in knots on the street corners and
vocally cruelty "sCabs' than to labor for
their daily bread beside the massive rolls
and in close proximity to superheated fur
naCes.
But this year the atmosphere of pros
perity has proved unhealthy for the strike
germs Such strikes there have been.
have been for the most part weak hearted
and short lived. So feeble was the strike
wave this year that a leading commercial
journal in a recent issue remarked:
That the market for skilled labor is in a
very favorable condition at present is at
tested by the fact that the usual wide
spread May labor demonstrations for high
er wages or the redress of real or fancied
grievances are conspicuous by their alb
senCe this year
That this is no rosy hued picture painted
with political brush is shown by the
facts. Hardly a day passes that the. wires
do not bring In the news OF EMPLOYERS of
skilled labor voluntarily raising the wages
OF their employees In manufacturing dis
trlcts the heavy smoke Is pouring from the
factory chimneys day and night painting
in ebon hues upon the skies that all may
read IL:
Work for all who want 1t"
As Lyman J. Gage, Secretary Of the
Treasury, dptly put it on the occasion of
his Last visit TO New York:
With every mill and every workshop
open, agriculture at its best and new for
tunes being extracted from the mines each
day. idleuess is now only thing of choice
Confidence, which had been shaken by
the loud talk Of a sOCialistic few returned
ana was followed by a revival of trade
Debts We're wiped out. \ financial fOunda-
ton for the future was esta blished Now
comes the day Of reward for Intelligent
and loyal labor"
i-abors day Of reward is not of local
celehrat iun- From the New England states
comes tn" news that the cotton workers
two hundred thousand Of them-haye re-
ctiEtu an increase of ten per cent in their
pay, the advance being made voluntarily
by their employers, who two years ago In
order To prevent shutting down the mills
altogether We're compelled To make a 70
ductOn IN the wages expense. Peunsvlya-
a in
crease in their wages governed as fbe,,
are by a sliding scale of from ~ To 80 per
cent In the far northwest the furniture
makers and woodworkers are kept busy
at more remunerative prices PittSburp
m"turrncn. C0HnellsviiIe cukeworkers Ala.
baua coal miners, Cleveland carpenters
and Rockford quarrymen are all sharing
IL labors reward.
Careful estimates based on accurate re-
ports from all the manufacturing centers
PUT the number OF workmen enjoying in
creased WAGES at something more than
five hundred thousand about January
But wages had turned 10 ascend even he
foTe the hrst Of the year. and the reports
since April i have been Of increasing wages
eNerNwherc. 50 that the number affected
Is now nearly one million.
As an example Of some Of these changas
In the first week OF April the wages Of tha
makers Of pearl buttons were raised from,
1o To II per cent. and at most OF the iron
furnaces notices were posted that 81 a TON
would be paid for pudding instead of
SO
The pay roll In the Pennsylvania railroad
shops at Altoona. Pa. reached thu. largest
figures ever known about the middle Of
April, being about $60o.UO for single
week. an increase Of nearly 80 per cent
over the preceding year In the shonS Of
wages were also increased voluntarily nv
the company.
The first week in May found 6nO quarry
men in Rockford, Ill. getting an advance
of twenty-five cents day. Thirty-five hun
dred mechanics in Cleveland. Ohio fnclud-
molders and carpenters, We're made happy
by having their wages raised IL per cent
Coal miners in Alabama. several thousand
OF them. had all thoughts of striking
driven from their minds by a similar ad-
vance.