, 1900-01-10
THE WAYS OF A l. l.

Puck double-page cartoon his week
pictures what is by far the most sig
nilCauL phase OF our Industrial de-
yelopment. The fashion in pessimism
has long been to say hat the rich grow
richer and the poor grow poorer; and
tina, laOor-saving machinery and the
modern tendency to combination work
tc the hurt of labor. These assertions
are bluntly contradicted by facts.
Twenty-Five years 6 n dollar easily
earned from seven to ten per cent in
ItereSt. Today it is doing well if it
earns four. In other words, the dollar
of the investing capitalist has been re-
duced to so cents. But, when it comes
to spending, the dollar of today buys
twice as much as it did in 1875. That
is, while the capitalists dollar mas
been marked down to so cents, the la
borers dollar has been marked up to
two dollars. The explanation is as
simple as he facts are plain. 1t is
found in that law which explains most
puzzles: the law Of supply and demand.
The capitalist has to take three and a
half and four per cent for his money
simply because money is more plenti-
full now han it was twenty-five years
ago. BY the same token the laborer
can now get more inc better food,
clothing, shelter, transportation, and
other necessaries and luxuries because
they have become more plentiful. And
this increase in the supply of things
notwithstanding the increase in the
supply of money-has come chiefly
through machinery and economical
business methods, the two agencies
that labor has most bitterly fought.
The dollar itself is a machine, produc-
ed by other machines. AS the other
machines and business methods i'm
prove these two inseperable phenom-
sna occur: the supply of dollars is in
creased; and the efficiency of each sin
gle dollar is increased. The capital
lists suffer by the former; the laborer
benefits by the latter. And there you
may find a promise that, some day, this
world will be a credit to it's Maker
Puck.
When applies to this particular state,
how true is the foregoing. In 1875
money loaned in the State of Wyoming
for two and three per cent per month,
the price OF all commodities were very
high and the wages Of w%orkingmen
were not as high as they are now.
For illustration, take a locomotive
engineer on the Union Pacific. In 1875
engineers upon all classes of engines
received $685. per hundred miles and
they considered themselves extremely
fortunate If the average months pay
at that time was SIPS for the regular
men. Now nearly all freight engineers
receive more than $685., and an aver
g OF all regular engineers would be
perhaps $3.50 per month. How many
remember when a scalper Harry Ad-
amsonl used to buy time at a discount
of two and one-half and three per cent
per month. Now an engineer, or any
one else, can borrow small sums of
money at not to exceed n per cent
per month, and in large sums on good
security they can secure it for eight per
cent per annum. A suit Of clothes can
be bought at the present time in the
Gem City for $40 that would have cost
SOS in 1875. Sugar costs about half
what it did in those days. Flour has
fallen in proportionate ratio, and all
other necessities have kept pace.
Meats are still high, but then it is to
the advantage OF the people of this
state that they should command a big
price. We have cattle to sell. Wool is
high, but we are sellers of wool. When
compared with what they will pur-
chase, the wages Of the w~orkingman
have Amos doubled in the past TWEEN
ty-1ve years.