Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-30
LABOR NOW AND THEN

The union carpenters OF Los Angeles
are preparing for q general strike on
or about September f. Their demand Is
four dollars day for eight hours work,
together with Saturday half-holiday
at full pay. extending throughout the
year. Another demand, still more Inn
portant. is that none but union car
penters shall be employed in Los An
geles. Every builder who employs nom
union labor will be boycotted.
The arguments upon which the fore
going demands are based may be re-
solved to these points; Carpenters can
not support their families comfortably
on less than four dollars a day; the
Saturday half-holiday is necessary for
recreation, and two dollars gratuity Will
be nice for the expense account; no
man who does not belong to the union
should be allowed to earn bread for
his family.
Compare these demands with condi-
tlons prevailing in the good old times
of the fathers and grandfathers of these
carpenters. Before the Civil War a
days wage of two dollars for skilled
mechanics in the building trade was
high water mark. Such indoor
mechanics as tailors, shoemakers. etc,
were we'll satisfied with a dollar and
a half a day, and common laborers
were glad to get dollar for days
work.
Then compare living expenses in those
days with prices now quoted. Wheat,
the food staple, ranged in price from
one dollar to two dollars or more a
bushel. In the average, flour cost double
the present figure. White sugar rarely,
II ever, sold below ten cents a pound.
Taking the whole line of groceries to-
gether, the average price probably was
one-third more than it is now. In
staple dry goods, muslins, calicoes,
woolens, and the like, prices ranged
from one-fourth to one-half higher than
current figures Following the subject
comprehensively and allowing for some
what cheaper rents in the former
period, it is unquestionable that living
expenses are much lower in the United
States than they were fifty years ago.
Wages now are double the figures
that ruled before the Civil War, the
work day averages one-fourth less in
hours, and living expenses generally
are far below tie former prices. And
yet the union carpenters of Los An
geles complain that they cannot sup
port their families on less than four
dollars a day. and that in addition to
the eight hour system they must have
Saturday half-holiday with full pay.
The fathers and grandfathers of these
local workers would have thought
themselves in paradise under such con-
ditions. The weeks wages that a
skilled Los Angeles mechanic now
dumps into his wife's lap would have
amazed his mother or his grandmother.
The "good old times" that we hear
about, so far as the condition of labor
is concerned, were times of grinding
poverty as compared with the situation
at the present day.
Labor, skilled and unskilled, never
in the history Of the world was so
literally remunerated as it is today
in the United States. In no other sec
ton of the country is the remuneration
so liberal as it is in Los Angeles TAX
ing all circumstances into account.
These are golden days for labor, af-
fording a splendid opportunity to "lay
up something for rainy day."
And the serious question for every
thoughtful worker to consider is wheth-
er it would be wise to jeopardize
a continuance of the golden days by
impetuous action, almost certain to be
followed by bitter subsequent regret.