Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-11-28
WAGES AND PRODUCT
PROPORTION OF FORMER TO LATTER
 HAS GREATLY FALLEN OFF.
How the Workers Earnings Are Cur- tailed, While the Nation,s Annual Outpat of Wealth Hns EnormousIy MwfffuIied.

0utpat of Wealth Has EnormousIy
 MuItfpIied.
 The chief direct and practical aim of
 government bureau of labor statis-
 tics, writes J. w. Sullivan i'll the
 Weekly Bulletin of tue Clothing
 Trades, ought to be to indicate whetn- CT the changing methods of the nation in the production and distribution of wealth bring with them gain or loss to the industrial classes.
 When pressed with the question Car roll D. Wright has never contended that the proportion of wages to prod uct has risen during the period of transition ill industry during the last half century On the contrary, MT, Wright has repeatedly said that the proportion of wages to product has greatly fallen of.
 Mir. Sullivan then proceeds to show how curtailment in actual wages has been effected This is the process:
 By tue doubling of rents.
 By the increase in prices of certain commodities. especially provisions in industrial centers. The "cost Of living' has often outrun advances of even un- ion wages.
 By the enormous inequalities in the system of indirect taxation, developed almost wholly within the last forty years. The late Dr. Charles B. Spahrs conclusion of study of this subject is Distribution of Wealth. page 143). ''The wealthy class pays less than one tenth of the indirect taxes, the well to do class less than one-quarter and the relatively poorer classes more than two-thirds." Again he says page 15al taxation places upon the property of those struggling for an independence burdens fourfold heavier than upon the property of those already rich.''
 By the granting of monopoly or other special privileges to corporations, the latter as whole exerting a taxing power on labor far greater than that of the state itself
 By the increased outlay necessary under the new conditions of social life. Presentable clothes in the cities. for instance, are costly item as com pared with a decent country garb. Rents advance with neighborhood. l By the almost total deprivation of the home earnings of various members of the family The old time artisan had 8 garden, poultry, pigs and often cow. He could gather part of his fuel himself. Even today, as Dr. Spahr says, lin rural Arkansas, as almost 8 century ago. $4O0 means more comfort than $500 now means in our eastern cities"
 By the loss of side earnings. In coun- try town life. where there are homes, neighbor exchanges services with household help while social equal. The boy gets odd jobs and has his own small home enterprises.
 By the lessening of the possibilities for household thrift Tenement house life permits no storage of provisions. Potatoes are bought by the quart. the price quadrupled because there is no means to keep them by the barrel. At the rural home on the contrary, fruit and potatoes are stored in the cellar, preserves and nuts in the attic, and cabbage is earthed in the garden.
 By the rise of new difficulties in be- coming home owner. The free fed arai public domain is settled. The fac tory town barrack has replaced the rural cottage home. His $2OO now in he savings bank might once have placed the wage earner under roof soon to become completely his own.
 By the workingman's fear of becom- ng home owner in his uncertainty of 
 By the competition of immigrants having lower standard of living.
 By the displacement of skilled me .hanics to make room for machines with relatively unskilled attendants who have only fraction of trade.
 Thus the principal processes by which 1 he proportion of wages to product 1 1as been reduced are to be traced one " one. Behind these processes, carry l ng them on. are men pursuing inter ,sts opposed to those of the wage earn l ,rs-to wit: O Employers, buyers of # abor. actively seeking to cheapen labor ! n the market. to reduce the cost of 1 heir output: @ capitalists substitut- ng cheaper industrial and commercial methods for dearer, incidentally lower ng the cost of human labor; (3l nonop- { dies. grasping naturaD opportunities, ] holding men off from work or over harging for the commodities they com. i nand: t4l promoters of such legal class advantages as lie in negotiable taxa ion.
 Payroll of the Steel Trust.
 4 booklet just issued gives the mum ger of employees of thes United States 'teel corporation at present at approxi { aately 150,OO0 men. Of this number | yer 100000 are engaged in various