The independent., 1903-04-02

600 factories with an aggregate Of be-
tween five and six millions employees.
The average wage was s438 year.
That is less than $37 month, or
about nine dollars week. So much
for factory workers. Since wages, like
water, tend to seek level. We should
expect this average to be maintained
in other occupations.
That expectation is realized In the
case OF the miners.
Very many miners receive less than
80 week. In his argumen, before
the coal commission, Mr. Clarence
Darrow showed that only one-third of
Mr.. Baer's employees receive over S33
a month. He showed that while per
cent received $500 and over, per year,
yet there were 40 per cent who re-
ceived less than 5000 These two-nun-
drea !ellar men did net have STEADY
work.
Mr.. Darrow in his estimates took no
account of the irregular employees
whose annual earnings were as low
as 5000. He left out or consideration
also the per cent at the top who re-
ceived $500 year and over.
What, then, was the average wage
of those miners who fell between the
S100 and $500 mark? After deduct
ing $40 year for tools and supplies,
Mr.. Darrow found the average annual
wage OF these middle class miners to
be $436 or 50 a week.
The laborers about the mines re-
ceived 81 a week. The breaker boys
received $3.50 week. Some received
less than that. There were boys who
worked from o'clock in the evening
to 6 o'clock in the morning for cents
an hour. Ii the wages of these
wretched creatures had been taken
ceived irregular employment, the gen.
eral average would have been brough:
far below So week. So we have the
assurance that 50 week is a liberal
estimate of the wage received by the
men who work in the mines as well
as those who work in the factories.
That wage is not sufficient to keep
the average family Of five That wage
will not permit man to live in
comfortable house, and have whole
some food on the table and clothes
and school books for his children. to
say nothing of a bank account for a
rainy day.
A living wage ought at least to en-
able an American citizen to maintain
his family in health and comfort by
his own labor. But the children of a
man who receives no more than SO a
week are obliged to leave school at an
early age. They are obliged to deny
themselves that course Of training
which I'VE intended for all. That
means arrested mental development
for the children. 1t means citizen
ship with low grade of intelligence
It means trouble for the republic
We might speak of the high death
rate of people who work for such low
wages We could show by statistics
how dangerous are their occupations.
We could show how deadly are the
quarters where they are compelled to
live. But we could not show by fig
ures the mental and moral depression
of these people. We could not tell the
story of all those blighted aspirations.
We could not give voice to the voice
less sufferings OF those who toll with
out hope.
What are you going to do about it?
Some preachers and church members
viii. say: ''That is not our affair. |
That is an economic question. That Is
a political matter. That is outside the |
domain of religion" The people who
say that are the priests and levites of |
today. They pass by on the other side |
and leave humanity to its fate.
Erin Has Her Own