The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-26

Wnere wages are high, there profits
would be low; where labor-saving ma
chinery was the most highly developed,
there profits would be high and wages
low, and that with the Improvement of
llaDor-saving machinery, which added
to the productive power of labor, pro-
fits would increase.
Yet common observation shows that
| this is not true. In England the cap
ltal1st is satisfied with a return of 3 or
] per cent on his capital yet his low
profits are not because labor receives
nlgh wages, for wages are lower than
| IN this country, where the average re-
turn to capital is considerably higher
In new countries or the newer parts
OF an old country wages are COMPARE
lively high, but the profits of capital
are also high. Thirty or forty years
ago when the west was new and be-
fore railways and other labor-saving
machinery were introduced, were not
both wages and profits higher than to-
day?
This is universally true and can be
proven so conclusively that it seems
extraordinary that it should have es-
capped the attention of Marx
| But let US examine the theory i'm the
| light of a more detailed examination
of specific industries. We will take the
printing industry as an example of a
competing industry employing a large
proportion of skilled labor, and where
the employers do not have the advan-
tage of child and female labor, and
in which the union and other causes
have kept wages up.
The Printing Industry.
According to the census report there
were, in 1905, 26,442 printing establish
| ments in the United States. with an
aggregate capital of 1885, O06, 6O4, They
employed 250,149 wage earners, or an
| average of about ten to each shop
Inc wages amounted to S176, 919 093, or
an average of about 1857 per year for
each emplOye. Other expenses amount
ed to $102, 1885, 40, while the raw ma
terlals cost $123,470,S04 The total out
lay Tor these three items was 1897
o56,307. The value of the finished Dro-
duct was $496.O 1857, leaving a net
profit of $9S,250,050, or about 25 DER
cent on the capital invested, which fig
ures out a profit of S1.40 per day on
each employee. But the great majority
or these printing establishments were
small and the employers or capitalists
were probably also workers Part of
these profits must therefore be consid-
ered as wages. Assuming that there
were two prOprietOrs- Wage-earners for
wage as the other workers, this gives
US a total wage fund of s213, 222. 921.
and reduces the actual profits on ac-
count of capital to SCI, 901, 222. or a lit
tie over Is per cent, which is not ex-
cessive, considering the rapid depre-
cation of printing material. Had the
entire profits been turned into the
wage fund, 1t would have increased the
wages of all the employees, including
the proprietor-wOrkers. by only about
~ cents per day. Certainly the hrint
ers have not robbed their employees 70
any great extent, and probably many
employees actually received more
money In a year than did many of
their employers.
The Shoe Industry.
Take the shoe industry as another
example OF purely capitalistic and
competitive business EMPLOYING a
smaller amount of skilled labor. paving
lower wages and employing more Ia
bor-saving machinery. According TO
the same authority referred to above.
there were 1,316 establishments en-
gagged in making Shoes The canitai
invested was 1922, 526, 09S, the number
OF employees was 15S, 735, and thew were
paid in wages an aggregate sum of
ST|,663y352, an average of $3.50 per wear
Other expenses and cost of materials
amounted to $216, So, 129.or a total ont
lay per year of 1924, 423, 491 The total |
value of the finished product was $500 |
10I, 45S, leaving a net profit of $25. 634.- |
VfS' or about 20 per cent on the invest |
ment. This may seem like a large
pfoht, but had all the profits been
added to the wages it would have in |
creased them only about 46 cents per
day, not an amount sufficiently large
TO create revolution over.
The Cotton Industry.
l will take one more example, that |
of the cotton industry, in which labor
receives the lowest wage Their con-
dltions are the worst, and a large pro- !
portion of the workers are women ane |
children. In 1905 there We're LOT cot
ton mills In this country, with a cap
ital of $685.. 100 1874. There were 317. loo |
workers, who earned in wages s1O4
2SS,463, or an average of about s32S per
year, less than 81 per day Other ex-
penSes and cost of material amounted |
to $S11, 91S, 449, making the total ex-
penses for everything SAG, 267. 912 The |
value of the product was SAP AL 21S |
leaving a profit. of $26, 1873, 306, a little
over per cent, and this during a pe-
Rod when the country was generally
prosperous. Had the entire profit |
have added only $3.50 per year. or a
little over % cents per day, surely not
an amount sufficient to raise these un-
derpaid workers into a condition of
comfort
1 have no doubt that if statistics
were available we would find that the
sweatshOp workers, whose conditions
and wages are even worse than those
of the cotton workers. return even a
smaller profit to their employers.
We have thus proven by statistics
what common observation led us to
believe, that high profits are not de-
pendent on low wages, and that the
higher the wages are the higher the
profits are. Indeed, wages in any
given industry might be indefinitely
advanced without decreasing in any
degree the profits of capital. Take the
business for example If,
through the power of the union ana
other causes, the wages of the print
ers were advanced so per cent II this