The San Francisco call., 1903-12-16
ENGLISH DECADENCE.

T, L. ot;ced the proposed Parliamentary in
A/ quiry into the Of industrial and physical
decadence in England writer expert III SO
olo has long observed the effect and finds the cause
in the permanent labor class, in winch organization mas
develooed the idea that men abide with their class
and not pass and
OF every hundred men in London over o5 years OF
age nineteen are paupers and OF hundred women
twenty-five are paupers 1t IS estimated that the hquo
bill of the English laborers is $55ooooooo year. ana
that an English workngman spends four times as much
money for liquor as the American The fires OF amb
Ton ~ o,encbed in drink and the children follow in
the class footsteps of their sires Such conditions must
work out in industrial decay.
The economic ideas OF English labor leaders seem
to be defective 1t is economic law that more produc
tion means more wealth and cheaper prices lasting
out all other features wage of labor is measured by
its productive power; rise and prices 1a as IN
dvidua production increases Some people hnd 1t dif
cult TO reconcile higher wages with lower prices In the
cloth mills of New England seventy ago hve work
men made eight yards of cloth day and their wage was
20 cents dav or ST for the hve making the labor
cost of the cloth I2H cents yard The annual product
of the five workmen 24oo yards OF cloth Now by
the use OF machinery and power and processes, hve
vorkmen in the New England cloth mills produce in
year 100000 yards of CLOTH but the labor cost has fallen
to one cent and eight-tenths per yard
The policy of organization in England seems to be
productive capacity The labor unions OF Great
Britain address themselves to this abrdgment
of production Thirty years ago English brckayer
laid twelve hundred bricks day; he is permitted
TO lay only four hundred, and public work only three
hundred thirty This system extends all produc
labor and of results in raising the labor cost
of buildings which upon labor in the rent, and
in the of every manufactured product which the
aborer has pay the extent of his
use of such products In other words, by limiting pro-
ducton he lowered the purchasing power of his
wages. Here, then is the of the of the
American manufacturer in competing with Great Brit
ain The American pays largely in excess of the
Engshman but his of production makes its labor
less and raises the purchasing power of American
wages, that the American workngman gets not only
actually higher wages but relatively higher the price
OF products.
There is much in this for the American workngman
to study when he is melted support the limitation
of production He must beware of the faults that have
caused British decadence Economically, greater pro-
ducton means greater wealth. less labor cost, lower
prices and therefore larger command of his wages
what the laborer produces and of this the
better conditions of life in this country and the oppor
tunty of the individual aborer achieve independence
The influence of the English idea has already been
felt in this country. There influential advocates of
the theory that labor is benefited by limiting production
These advocates are not satisfied with the reasonable
limitations effected by shorter day. but insist
upon the right decrease the product of the shorter
day Such propositions have the singular demert Of
working grave injury to the workmen in whose interests
they supposed be advanced If worked into prac
tice they higher higher clothing food and
fire, and finally industrial decay, which by injury to
the country's commerce Injuries also its labor
Such propositions appeal the large foreign mm-
grafton which is rapidly filling industrial vacan-
ces, the exclusion of native labor, and this makes
all the necessary that proper economic views be
incucated here This country stand temporary
mercal and financial panics They pass away
But it cannot stand the sow-moving and permanently
destructive influence of the theory and practice of linn
tied production as proper economic theory. The
counter is felt the better it will be
for American lahnr and American commence