The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1903-09-19

What are Wages and how arr
they Determined.
Continued from last week.

Wages thera:ufe. are NOT the
workers shat, Of cnfnmodit. e. Whi-
CD he has pr ,dnced, With which 'hr
empower p"r' hase's certain amount
of productive lab L.
Labor is, thes efJre. a commodity
VII Oh its owner, the wage Worker,
sells to capital WHY does he sell 1t:
In erder TO 1--we. Blu, labor is the
pecaiar expression Of the energy of
the laborers life. Aud this energy
be sells 10 another party, in order
to secure for himself the means OF
living. For him therefore, his ener-
gy is nothing but mean of insur-
ing hts own ex Silence. lie works 10
live. He does not court the work
lt.elt as part Of his life, rather it
is a sacrifice Of his life. 1t is com
modity which he has made over 10
another party. Neither is Its pro
,luct the aim of his activity. Which
he produces for himself is not the
silk he weaves nor the palace that
be builds, nor the gold that be digs
from The nine. What he produces
for himself is his wage; and silk,
gold, and palace are transformed for
him into a certain quantity of
means Of existence-a cotton shirt,
some copper COINS and lodging In
cellar. And what of the laborer,
who for ten hours spins, hores, turns
builds, shovels, breaks stones, car
RES loads and 50 on! Does his ten
hours weaving. spln,ng, boring,
turning, building, shoveling, and
stone breaking represent the active
EXPIRE ssiou of bis life. On the con-
trary, life begins for him exactly
where this activity of his ceases
at his meals, in his bed and during
the few hours be has of rest. His ten
hours work has no meaning for,
him as weaving Spinning, loving,
etc, tut only as earnings whereby
he may obtain his meals, his bed,
and few cheap amusemeuts if the
s,lkwcrns object IN spinning wereto
prolong lis exlstences as a caterpiller
it would be perfect example Of a
wsge.worker.
Labor was not always q commo-
dity. The slave does not sell bis Ia
Dor to the slave-owner. The slave
along with his labor, IS sold once
for all to bis owner. He Is a commo-
dlty which can pass from the hand
of one owner to that of another.
He himself Is a commodity but his
labor is not his commodity. The
Serf sells onlY portion of bis Ia
Dor. He does not receive his wages
from the owner of the soil; rather
the owner of the soil receives a tri.
butte from hin. The free laborer, on
on the other hand. sells himself, and
that by fractions. From day to day
he sells by auction, eight, ten, twel-
We, fifteen hours of his life TO the
highest bldder--to the owner of the
raw-material, the instruments of
work and the means Of life; that lie.
10 the employer. The labo:er him.
self belongs neither to an owner nor
uor TO the soil, but ten, twelve, 6f-
teen, hours Of his daily life belong
10 the man who buys them. The Ia
boref leaves the employer to whom
he has hired himself whenever he
pleases; and the employer discharges
him whenever he thinks fit; either
ss soon as he ceases to make q profit
out of him, or fails to get 80 high
profi. as he requires. But the labor.
er, VIII ose only source of earning IS
the sale of h,s labor, cannot leave
the whole class OF Its purchases.
that Is, the capitalist class, without
renounclng his own existence. He
does not belong to this or that par.
,,cular employer, but ne does belong
to the employing class; and more
than that 1t il bis business TO tind an
employer; that is, among this en-
ploying class, 1t is his business to
to discover his own particular pur.
chaser.
Before going more closely into
he relations between capital and
Tage-w0rk, il will be we'll to give
bret survey Of those general Re.
atoms which are taken into copsld- |
ration in determining the amount |
i wages.