The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1903-09-16
WHAT LABOR DOES.
MAKES AND UPHOLDS AMERICAN IN
DUSTRlAL SUPREMACY.

Complete Answer TO the Cry of
Our Capitalists That Labor Costs
Too Much - The Same Whine Is
Heard Even In China.
Fair wages, a short hour workday
i md improved conditions adding to the
] health, strength, Intelligence and eff
| slency OF labor increase rather than
| Impair the efficiency of capital. The
I life Of labor does not mean the death or
even the Gripping of capital. The
clamor of wrong headed alarmists that
the cost of labor is toe high is growing
louder and more and more partaking of
the order of Intelligence which usually
accompanies unnecessary noise. Every
new turn In present systems which
adds a new competitive piNch TO the
individual business, particular industry
or a nations industries squeeZes from
these alarmists the cry that labor costs
too much While we We're steadily talk
Ing the foreign market away from for
elgn competitors our success WAS at
tributcd to the Intelligence and eff
cheney of our wOrkmen, the wonderful
economic systems perfected by capital,
improved machinery and our great in
Yentivc genius With all of these nd
yantaCeS our manufacturers were able
to wrest the foreign market from their
foreign rivals in the industrial field,
but during this time our inventive gem
ius In the form of improved machinery
and methods has as steadily been dis
placing the antiquated machinery and
wastcful methods of foreign Compel
itors resulting in foreign manufacto-
ries in so far a. equipments and meth
DDS are concerned occupying n better
position to compete successfully with
ours than at any time since we gained
Industrial supremacy.
The greed of American manufacture
ers Of machinery Is equally great with
that of American manufacturers of
other commodities to secure the foreign
market The one must Interfere with
the other, and the transplanting of
American machinery and methods In
foreign soil Is gradually leveling
great industrial advantage heretofore
enjoyed by this country. If our ma
chnery Is really better we can hope
In the future to enjoy this advantage
only temporarily, and our inventive
genius must constantly be called upon
to give us the first advantage of new
and improved machinery We possess
one advantage which has not abated,
has not essened In the least. That is
the American workman. He cannot be
transplanted In any considerable mum
Der and certainly not to endure worse
conditions or to accept lower wages
than he now enjoys. He IS not made
offsuperior clay, but is industrially SUI
perior because of traditions, superior
condition, environment, government,
greater freedom of action, and the
knowledge that 1t is not beyond him to
leave labor's ranks and join that of the
employer. although the opportunities to
gain this last ambition are narrowing.
All of the improved machinery and per
fected systems we may export to for
eign countries Will never make the ill
fed working people Of monarchy rid
| den country the industrial equals of the
working people of free country. The
cry that tho cost of labor IL too high is
not peculiar to this country alone; the
same plteous appeal is heard in every
| land. There Is not II country on the
| face of the earth that is not suffering
| from the drend disease of too high Ia
Dor cost. England Germany and
| France, our greatest rivals, are SINH
larry afflicted. Austria, with an aver
age factory wage of 81 for sixty hours
work, is grooming under its high cost
labor Italy and Russia, with even
| lower wages, are in the throes of the
| same monster. In the Philippines,
where the wages are so low the natives
cannot earn enough to clothe them
| selves, Cinnamon are being imported to
reduce the cost of labor and in China
where the wages paid are so low it
would require powerful microscope
| to detect them, the same state of af
fairs exists There is no mcaner COM
| petitor than the Chinaman. Even the
| beasts of burden are better paid for
! their labor. When we reach the Chi
laman we have arrived at the last
| trench. Our industrial supremacy Is
! threatened by the high cost of labor!
! Is II that the cost of labor IS too high
/ Or Is 1t that the cost of capital Is too
| high? How are we to determine the
worth of labor? Shall we take the
american standard as basis. or IS 1t
to be the Chinese? II our industrial
supremacy does not mean more for
capital the writer Is at loss to know
what 1t means, for he Is not yet recon-
ciled to the belief that capital is de-
81 Of OF Int al sNI-
premacy because of purely patriotic
reasons, and 1t seems natural for labor
to expect more rather than to accept
less for It's share In creating our indus
trial supremacy. The statement Is oc-
casonally made by some manufactur-
ers that the only alternative open to
them is to establish their plants in some
| foreign country where labor costs less.
| II 1t is simply the American manufac-
turer and his methods of doing busi-
ness Independent of the American
| workman that Is responsible for our In
| dustrial supremacy 1t is very peculiar
| that this method of escape from the eX-
cessive, insatiate demands of labor.
which some writer's are pleased to term
| labors struggle for better conditions,
was not embraced long ago, Certainly.
what is known as the American work
man is made up of Immigrants from
all nations. but he does not become the
| efficient American workman until he
becomes imhued with the new life and
vigor and spirit infused 10y the supe-
rior features OF our land In fact, not
until he becomes AmericaniZed. Any
attempt to Americanize the Italian In
Italy the Hun in Hungary. the Rus
sian in Russia. the Chinaman In China.
must be preceded by Il complete change
in existing conditions. government and
habits of the workmcn of those coun-
tries. They must imhibe the same spir-
it of freedom. independence and the
opportunity to engage in the greater af-
fairs of life enjoyed by the American
workmcn.