The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-03-05

| "orals for Clerks: ORGANIZE.
| Hut That Would be Copying After
] the WorkinEmen, and Pride Alone
VIII Not Permit That to Occur.
| A very young man asked a much
older and wiser man once if he could
afford to get married on 50 a week.
my son." replied the elder that is
the only thing you can afford to do on
| IS a week."
But the young man did not work in
a bank
| The discussion about a bank clerks
marrying on $1,000 year, a trifle
| less than $40 a week, brings up the
| question of classes in this country. The
| weekly wages Of the skilled artisan in
| the building trades in Chicago are es-
! tlnlated at a little less than ST.
week, taking the year through, and his
| wages are increasing rather than DIM
lnlshlng in amount, though not neces-
sarlly yet In purchasing power.
! This country would be in bad way
it it's artisans found it impossible to
marry and bring UP a family on $3.50
a year.
The policeman is paid in Chicago
exactly $1,000 year. 1t is on his de-
| Votion to- duty that the safety of every
bank in the city really depends.
If the policemen could not marry
and bring up a family on their little
old 1888 month" the country would
be in a pretty poor way.
The average earnings of all wage
earners-men, women and children
in this country do not come to $400 a
year. In many trades it is only posi-
BILE for family to maintain itself by
the combined earnings of husband,
wife and children. Coal mining is a.
notorious instance.
What would become of America If
her working people generally stopped
perpetuating the race? For President
Roosevelt has found that the rich and
comfortable are generally guilty Of
race suicide.''
The Massachusetts statistics prove
that $3.50 year is the bed rock price
for keeping family Of usual size dur
ing the year, covering all expenses.
> any man who is willing to see his
children and his wife dress as the
average American dresses-Which is
not the way the average banker dress
es- and have them help him in bread
. winning, can "afford" to marry if the
family income equals that sum.
1t is worth remembering in this con-
nection that it is not regarded as COM
plimentary i nthe United States to- day
, to say of any person that he dresses
, like a Workingman". If an unidenti-
; fled body is found the general run of
, better dressed men will say: "Fron
, his dress, which was very poor, he
: Unjust have been a Workngnan.'
81; isThesone, encoura ging* feature Of this
h tsitua ton E1sS that the work. ina j
Esensef enough to organize labor I'M
i ions, and as a result his wages are
trendingr upward instead Of down.
: ward. It has been estimated that
since Mr.. Hearst began publishing his
newspapers in Chicago the wages OF
about $4,000 working, people have been
raised in Chicago alone. This means
a higher standard Of living for full
? quarter Of the population of the city.
But your bank clerk cannot dress
like a workingman,' either on $1,000
a year or any larger sum which or:
binary limits, whether hi ihrading fl
= a year Or any larger sum within Or
binary limits, whether he has family
: to support or he is alone. He has tc
I wear good clothes, or he cannot hole
= his. position. The Workingman could
not live on his earnings and support {
family If he had to be, what the bank
clerk is expected to be, well dressed
I seven days in the week.
=. Your bank clerk cannot live as thu
workingman does, on cheap, plain ant
- | n0urishing food. He would have dys'
. pepsia in a month if his fare was no
h more delicate and more expensive
n | That would soon spoil his mind TO-
e figures.
He cannot live in the tenemen
Il where the workingman lives. He ha:
to find what is called RESPECTABLE
, neighborhood," where rents are high
a err. This requires little explanation
: Rents are not really higher for the
: amount Of space occupied, for tn
h workingman pays far more proportion
l. ately for what he gets-or does no
d get, but the clerk has to have NOR
4 room and more luxuries and so has t.
| pay more out.
And, finally, the bank clerk with al
| his pretended Superior intelligence
has not sense enough to organize, a
the grocery clerks have, SO his wage
are going down instead of up, and vii
go much lower before he wakes up.
!, The employing bankers who say tina
a clerk in their great financial insti
tutions must not marry on $1,000
r. year knew what they were talking
- about. For the temptation to steal i
: greater than ordinary in bank, an
} men have been known to steal in or
{ der to support their mafil1es in dec
} ency.
And a bank clerk cannot keep hi
) family decently on $1,000 a year.