The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-10-07
OF Organized Labor
Being Felt Over the
Land.
H. Winn Draws
Comparisons From
Olden Days and the
Present Time.

Today there are in round numbers
three and one half million organized
wage earners in America and her in
sular possessions. To this vast army
the very cream of the Drawn and sinew
of the land-America is indebted more
than to any other cause for her wonder
ful Advancement and her superiority ever
competive nations in the field of COM
merce and manufactures
But how about the material advance
ment of the organized wage Garner as
an individual?
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century wages in New York were 40
cents Il day, and in Baltimore SO cents.
The average rate all over the country
was 500 year, with board and perhaps
lodging.
AS late as 1896 the Baltimore weavers
were working twelve hours a day for
90 cents. At Great Falls, n. H., in
lS43, the factory girls labored from ) a.
m until p M, with only 80 minutes
for dinner. What they earned [ do not
know, but l have statistics by me to
show that all they received was from 81 .
% to 50 per week.
Jefferson tells us that the topic of con-
versation at a large dinner party given
by President John Adams was ''the en-
ormous price of labor President
Adams declared that he ha1 hired mon
ten years before for $50 per year and
board, while now he was forced to paw
the enormous sum of $3.50 per year.
The city of Washington was built by
workers who got not more than 80 cents
day The diggcrs, choppers, hod
carriers, etc, got so year and worked,
AS all laborers did in those days, from
sunrise to sunset.
The average laborcr one hundred years
ago had fewer comforts and less con
sideration than Il mule or Il dog has to-
day. lie lived in n house of unpainted
boards and had sand on the floor instead
of carpets. His dishes were pewter in
stead of china, and if he had fresh meat
once week he thought himself lucky.
In 1910 the bricklayers of New Jer
scy were worked II hours per f1day'
and housed worse than the meanest negro
in Birmingham today. A young man
named Michael Mention wrote letter to
n paper describing their condition, and,
although all his charges were found to
be true, he was arrested for libel and
sentenced to sixty days in Jail. To speak
n word in defense of wage earners was
rated Il crime in revolutionary days.
Well, let s see what trades unions have
done since the good old days of the que
and knickerbocker: In 1850 the average
SAG. Wages in cotton mills in 1890
were A cents "A day, in 1890. $2.15
Therefore, had it not been for the la
Dor movement you and I. dear reader.
might be working - hours for 30 cents.
and business might be as dull and slug
gish rs it is in Spain (the one nation
that has no labor movcment), where the
laborer buys suit once in five wears
and lives on rye and garlic.
The high rate of wages in this coun-
try, compared with Europe and Asia, is
not accidental. IT is not due to greater
benevolence on the part of American cap
itaists. 1t is not due to the fact that
this is new country: the Canadian prov
ince of Quebec is "A country, yet
wages are lower there than in England
1t is due to the seventy five years fight
against low wages made by organized Ia
bor
The real Flaw of wages depends up
on the solidity of organization Workers
get about as muck of their product as
their organized intelligence and courage
deserve. An intelligent workman in a
strong union may produce $6 worth day
and get 50 OF it. while 4 submissive Chi
neSe gold miner may find a nugget every
day and get 50 a week for making his en-
plover 5 fortune.
To give an idea OF the labor Iegisla-
tion which has been first thought out in
the union halls and then forced through
the legislatures. the following instances
may be cited:
Fire escapes for factories
Inspection of factories
Protection from dangerous machinery.