Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-12-21
AMERICANS IN ENGLAND.
Wages and Cost of Living in Great Britain and the United
 States.

|
 States.
 The statement of certain American workmen, tube welders working in my district. that they did not find, as they had anticipated before coming here, that living was cheaper in Eng land than in the United States, has attracted, judge from the clippings have received, a great deal of atten- tion in the United States, and, as anticipated when reported 1t, has not been accepted as correct by all who read the statements, and has been cause of much surprise to some. One newspaper urged that if living in Great Britain was not appreciably cheaper than in the United States there was no reason for protecting the highly paid American workman. This is not matter for me to decide. That papers proposition to lower the scale, of living of the American working man had better be addressed to the American workingman direct I only state very plain fact, that if the English workingman lived as we'll as his American brother workingman his living expenses would be as great or greater than the living expenses of the American. Surely there is noth- ing objectionable in stating fact so plain and so easily verified. Every body knows that the American work man is, by comparison, highly paid. I can only state the fact that the Eng lish workman cannot and does not live as we'll as the American. It is within my knowledge that the major ity of people in the United States be- 1ieve that living is much cheaper abroad than at home, and it seems to me therefore that I might well supple ment the statement of those American workmen, who, it must be understood, have lived here number of years, and knew the condition of the United States before they came here, and are therefore better qualified to express an opinion than tourists, whether they be Americans in England or Englishmen in America, even if they arc special com missioners Investigating living condi- tions.
 In the American" factories also, and ] in the factories where orders for Amer , ican world contractors have been exe- cuted, when our manufacturers had more work than they could attend to, there are often number of Americans employed. Those in the better paid positions find their situations, on the whole, comfortable and agreeable; yet practically all these, and nearly all other working Americans living here whom have met, have claimed that they did not find the cost of living, as they had expected it, low.
 Many of the working Americans in England, including those Americaniz- ing factories and those selling our man ufactures here, accepted their foreign positions at the same Gin some cases lower) salaries than they had been re- ceiving at home, persuaded and be1iev- ing that they were obtaining an increase i, because they would be able to live more cheaply than at home In the lower wage grades the stay Of the imported American workman is seldom one of great duration. In one factory where there were nearly 50 American and Anglo-American workmen a few years ago there is only one, a foreman, re- maining. A few are still in Great Britain. Most of them returned to the United States. They were, some of them told me, disappointed in finding the cost of living higher than they an ticipated.
 Dozens of Englishmen have told me
 they call occasionally that they were doing better in the United States than they had ever done or could do in Eng land, but returned because their wives were homesick or would not. join them when they had succeeded sufficiently in America to establish homes, Some have | told me of friends who, by resisting long enough the demands of their wives to return to England, have been able to stay and prosper, and make their fam flies happy. Some of the returned wives have told me that they wish they had held out longer, and that English wom- en known to them, in the United States, who, as newcomers, were as unhappy as they were, now write how glad they ] are that they stayed.
 A few sentences from letter which appeared recently in the Birmingham Post relating to the cost of living in the United States and in England places the question in a very plain light The writer in his letter says that he is a commercial traveller, who travelled in England for IA years, and Is now travel ing in the United States and Canada. The sentences select read as follows:
 "Contentment reigns everywhere. It is nonsense to say the American works harder than the Englishman, that he has more brains, that the circumstances are different find great amount of sameness. The only difference find is that it is ten times easier to make a. living here than at home. The people are doing we'll, consequently they are better buyers. No man here, if he is worth his salt, will work for bare liv- ing. If he is a skilled man he gets thor ough protection for his labor by his union. and the manufacturer has to pay in a fair proportion to his profits He is protected from outside competition, and can charge accordingly. used to hear, to refute all this, that in America living was so expensive it neutralized all this high-wage benefit. contend