The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-09-08

hours was conducted throaEh sew
eral working class quarters OF the
city. Such squalor, such composites
| of all things to be classed as dirt
such indiscriminate heaping together
of human beings. have never seen
elsewhere. And their dwelling places
cost the miserable poor occupants
more per square foot Of space than
is paid by the prosperous artisan in
any American city for his home,
with all its accommodations. The
common type OF dwelling houses in
Budapest. as in several Austrian and
German cities have visited, is the
French fiat, the apartments being
ranged about an interiar courtyard.
"As to the cost of clothing. we had
with us a highly intelligent young
man, an Hungarian labor leader
who. having spent a year and a half
| in America. was qualified to make
comparisons. He now buys Ameri-
can shoes regularly. because of their
comparative cheapness, their COM
Portable At, and their neat appear.
ance. though he IL of course obliged
to pay more for them than he would
in New York. Suits OF clothes and
hats, he said, we're of better make
and. quality considered, just as cheap
in America as in Hungary. Our in
quiries did not end with him, but
from all sources accessible, obtained
the same testimony.
"The general run of wages in Bud
apest may be inferred from these
rates: bricklayers. paid by the hour
and losing even part-day time
Through bad weather, and with four
OF five months loss in winter, re-
ceive 81 to 81 20 a day; carpenters
working under the same conditions
get s1.1O to $1.5O for day of ten
hours. In the milling industry re-
Gently the rates ran from So to So
cents a day for laborers. some OF
them partly skilled. with the men in
the more highly skilled positions get
ting $3.50. Under a trade agree
ment. made in June last, wages were
standardized and Increased by a few
cents. The printers OF Hungary have
95 per cent of the men and women
in their occupation organized. In
Budapest the minimum union scale
for day compositors calls for 81 a
week. But on the average the wages
reach a little more than IS"
Like most honest and painstaking
observers, Mr.. Gompers' facts are
more valuable than his theories. He,
of course, attributes American work
lingmen's high place in the industrial
world TO the Unions, and he is right
as far as he goes. The value of
wages. like everything else, depends
upon the relation of supply TO de-
mand, and when this Relationship
contains the additional factor of an
Organization ready to take advantage
of the situation, the highest possible
scale under the existing demand is
secured.
But the selling price of the manu-
featured articles has much to do
with the wage scale. For instance
| II the wage scale is placed 50 high
that added to the other expenses, the
cost of production exceeds the sell
ing price in competition with more
cheaply manufactured goods from
abroad. the result will be one OF two
4 things: the wage scale will be cut
or American manufacturers will &C
Tout of business. leaving the laboring
men to seek employment in channels
other than their regular trade.
But with a tariff, which prevents
foreign goods entering this country
to compete with American goods on
la selling price fixed by the European
wage scale plus the cost of trans
portation. American markets are left
to American made goods, enabling
the manufacturer to increase the sell
ling price to a basis fixed partly by
the American wage scale.
Critics have declared the Protec-
tive tariff is mother of the trusts
We would say rather. it Is the nurs-
ing bottle OF the trades unions
THEY are Complementary, and we
doubt whether the one could we'll
stand without the other, at least In
their present satisfactory arrange.
ment, and as to the comparative
cost of living. Samuel Gompers. finds
that the American working man, can
save money and still live in an ele-
gance OF style undreamed Of by his
Euronean brother