The representative., 1900-11-08

Dmplre ;A1A Labor.
The effect upon labor of annexing
countries overrunning With the cheapest
kind of labor is evident enough to any
one who will consider the question dis
passionately. but perhaps brief account
Of what have seen with my own eyes
in Egypt may serve to illustrate it. We.
hear gree deal OF the political bene-
fits conferred by the British government
upon the Egyptians, but little or moth
ing is said of the Industrial results of
expansion, and yet these results are the
most important.
Some years ago. while was living in
Egypt, visited one Of the cotton mills
at Mansourah, the commercial center of
the cotton region. These mills are own
ed by English, French and German capt.
talists and operated by native labor.
In the main room of the factory the air
was so thick with cotton dust that
found it difficult to breathe. A row of
Arab girls II or 13 years of age were
; standing there before a series of tubs
manipulating the raw cotton
What are the hours of labor of these
girls?" l asked the foreman, who was
acting as my guide.
From o'clock in the morning to 6
o'clock at night, with .intermission for
dinner" he answered.
"And what is the pay?"
Twelve and half cents day"
l could hardly believe that and the
next time met the English manager of
one Of these mills l cross questioned
him on the subject.
WILL WE COME TO THIS?
"Is it true" l asked, that you work
your girls from until 6 for 12k cents
a day."
YES" he said, rather reluctantly, 81
didn't quite like it when first came to
Mansourah. but the girls don't seem to
! mind it,
Don't mind IA hours work day."
| cried
"Oh, that is not ALL he replied
When we are busy they stay overtime
from till 10 o'clock in the evening, and
we pay them an extra piastre (2A Or
cents), and sometimes young mothers
come with the babes at the breast and
put them down on the floor in the corner
| and go to work with the rest
And all this. mind you, in an atmo-
sphere which you can almost cut with a
knife, so thick is 1t with cotton.
One thing has saved Egypt, and that
is the absence of coal. ItscQsts too much
to bring it there for it. to pay to intro
duce factories on. a large SCALE. But
there is plenty of coal in the Philippines
Coal can be had at the entrance of the
! mines in Japan for 13 cents a ton, am
informed, and It will be as cheap in the
Philippines. With coal at this price and
girls and boys ready to work for 12h
cetns day, what is to prevent the. i'm
mediate flow of our capital to these is
lands and the inauguration of a compe-
tition such as we Lave never known be-
fore?
A HOPELESS ALTERNATIVE.
Either wages will fall here to the 1914
cent level or our factories will be moved
bodily to our new possessions and our
working men left to starve.
Bishop Potter, of New York, has lust
been in the Philippines, and he tells us
that the Filipinos take kindly to our
factory system. Poor Filipinos! So do
mice taken kindly to cheese in trap.
The system will prove curse to them
as 1t has already proved to the girls of
Mansourah, and at the same time it will
impoverish our American wage earners
at home. 1t may be said that the ma
t1ves are not forced to work But this is
not true. When their cupidity is not
sufficient to make them toll, means are
found to compel them. This has already
been done in the mines of South Africa,
and the British government imposes
taxes upon the natives there with the
avowed object of forcing them to seek
employment in the mines for the purpose
OF raising money to pay the tax, that
being the only way open for them to earn
money. The same plan will doubtless
be adopted by our capitalists in the
Philippines if it turns out that Bishop
Potter is mistaken and that the Filipi-
nos do not take kindly to factory work.
WARNING 10 WAGE FARMERS.
We are told that we ought to estab-
lish stable government in the Philip
pines That is precisely what we ought
| not to do. 1t is the lack of stable gov
ernment which prevents capital from go
ing to countries where people are willing
| to work for starvation wages. 1t is an
automatic arrangement of nature that
in uncivilized or partly civilized coun..
tries franchises and monopolies are not
we'll enough protected for capital to risk
| itself. If this were not so all manu-
! featuring industries would seek at once
the country of cheapest wages, ouner
| things being equal and the srarvaJlon
| OF the home population would follow. It
! is best for the world that the govern
| ment of such countries should not be
too stable, and by insisting upon a
stable government in the Philippines we
o hos 70