Evening journal., 1900-10-10

The comparison OF the numDer OF Ia
borers, both skilled and unskilled, en-
; ployed by tho trusts with the num
] Der employed by the companies which
formed the trusts is even more in
teresting 1t was found that the tota
number of skilled laborers employed
by the companies which formed the
; fourteen trusts was 3S,637. After con
, solidation the combinations were able
to give employment to 40,2l7 skilled
Ilaborers.
AS to unskilled laborers the bulletin
shows that before the individual com
panies were united they employed
ali told 1860 men. Since combi-
nation they have employed 54,-
2l4 men. With the unslilled
laborers the number receiving less
than IS a week has considerably in
creased, for, to quote the bulletin, "the
same combination is now putting out
its products in a form which requires
a great many low-paid laborers for
packing, wrapping and labelling"
AS to the average annual wages of
skilled and unsldlled labor before and
after the formation Of the fourteen
trusts, the bulletin states that twelve
OF the trusts have Increased theirwages
while two report a decrease. For un-
skilled laborors. thirteen OF the trusts
have increased their wages, while only
one has decreased them
by the way Of showing what indlvid-
ual companies have been doing with
reference to wages from 1897 to and
including 1899, three instances were
taken, and the result is recorded in the
bulletin. In 1897 these three companies
eployed 11,007 skilled laborers, ana
In 1899 they employed 1869. or un-
skilled laborers the same companies
employed in 1897, 10,599, and in 1899.
1860. This, of course, shows an in
crease in the number Of men employed,
but a comparison Of this increase
with the increase OF the number Of
men employed by the trusts during the
same period will show that the PER-
centage Of increase was much greater
with the combinations than with the
individual companies.
It is interesting to note that while
there has been a great growth Of cor
porations, labor organizations have
greatly increased In membership dur
ing the past three years. As some one
has put it, while capital has been
concentrating its power, labor has been
simply another proof of the increased
demand for labor II anybody wants
figures, here are few:
In the American Federation Of Labor
the enrolment, reported on January / y.
1900 was 100000, Up to the present
time, and since january /,
tnere has been a gain in
the membership OF 100000. This
The gain in membership for the entire
year on 1899 was 5000 It NAV be 81
interest to quote from the reports OF
President Gompers, Of the American
Federation of Labor for the years 1893
1897 and 1899. In 1898, President Com
pers has this to say in his report:
Since August Of this year we have
been in the greatest industrial depres-
sion this country has ever experienced
II is no exaggeration to say that more
than 100000 Of our fellow toilerH
throughout the country are without
employment and have been so since
the time named This lamentabla iu-
| dustrial condition Is attributed by
many 70 various causes. and it seems
TO me that the accurate statement Of
them here, is both requisite and ap-
proprlate, so that we may be better
enabled to so frame our LEGISLATION
that 1t may tend to a proper solution
Of the problem dependent upon the
wage workers for solution. Never in
the history OF the world has so large a
number OF people vainly sought for an
opportunity to earn a livelihood and
contribute TO the support Of their fell
lows In a society where such abnor-
NAL conditions prevail there must Of
necessity be something wrong at the
basic foundation"
In 1897 after the election of Will
liam Mckinley. Mr. Gompers made the
following remarks:
THAT terrible period for the wage
earners Of this country which begun In
| 1898 and which has left behind it such
a record Of horror. hunger and misery,
practically ended with the dawn of the
year 1897. Wages had been steadily
| forced down from 1893 till toward the
end OF 1895, and 1t was variously esti-
mated that between two million and
two and a half million wage earners
| we're unemployed Il is agreed by all
that the wage earners are the principal
consumers of American products, and
it necessarily follows TINT a reduc-
lon in wages involves a diminutiCI
! III tilt HOWtl vi tNuSQiliAtlDls anu CON
sequently a proportionate decrease in
production and, naturally, also In the
force OF labor required for the produc
tion. A reduction Of wages, therefore
, results in an increase in the army d
the unemployed, and any circum
stances or combinations or circumstance
that will check reductions in wages
{ and hence the diminution of consump
} ton by the masses, is a humane act
based on the soundest laws Of ecOnOm
les and of progress"
In 1893, this was what Mr. Gompar
Q had to say:
THE revival OF industry which w
: have witnessed within the past year
one for general congratulation, and
a should be our purpose to endeavor {
prolong this era of more general EN-
: ployment and industrial activity. l.
y this effort no power is so potent as or
J. | ganized labor, If we but follow a righ
and practical course 1t is beyon
question that the wages OF the organ
lied workers have been increased, an
y IN many instances the hours Of labo