The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-04-21
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.


1t is often said that the compare.
tive cost OF the production of various
manufactured articles and commodities
cannot be ascertained as a basis of
comparison between cost Of production
IN this country and in Europe, so as 10
form tariff that will fairly protect
American labor. This, however, is
largely fallacious idea, for informa.
ton at hand goes long way toward
solving that very question, and other
information can easily be had by an
effort to got it. But this effort is
willfully neglected or refused, as when
the L. s. Senate, as will be recollected,
IN 1909 not only refused to avail it.
self of the statistics of the cost of
production courteously furnished by the
German government to our State De.
partmeut at its request, but insultincly
referred to the furnishing of such in
formation by Germany as an effort by
the German government TO influence
the legislation of this country. As
long as that sort of determination not
10 obtain information prevails in our
Congress, it can always be said that
the facts are not available But the
facts are not available because we re.
fuse TO get them. That is all there is
about it.
We are reminded Of this general
subject by a Government publication
to which Mr.. George W. Ritter of this
city calls our attention, in which the
comparative level OF weekly wages in
building trades and engineering trades
and some others IN various European
countries are compared with correspond
ing wages in the United States. This
showing takes the wage scale OF Eng.
land and Wales, excluding London, and
puts that at the standard of 100 The
wages Of bricklaycrs, stone masons,
carpenters, joiners, plasterers, plumb
ers, painters, and hod carriers and
bricklayers' laborers in the building
trades; of filters, turner's, smiths, pat
tern makers and laborcrs in the en-
gineering trades; and of workers in the
H''hh'hS 'i1NtSi 1l' otb lOIln III ueIdlI,
and then the whole are combined in an
arithmetic mean of ratios for all these
trades. Here also the standard of 100
is continued for England and Wales,
excluding London; Germany, excluding
Berlin, is put at So; France at 75 Bel
GUM at 60; and the United States at
232. That is, the average wages of all
these workmen is two and onethird
times rs great in the United States
as in England and Wales, almost three
times as great in the United States
as in Germany; and greater yet in ex-
cess of France and Belgium.
Very properly, as a corresponding
exhibit, there is compilation Of the
cost Of commodities consumed per week
in an average British workman 8 fam.
ily compared with the like in Germany,
France, Belgium, and the United
States This showing includes sugar,
bacon, cheese, butter, potatoes, flour,
bread, milk, beef, pork, and mutton.
In this the total cost in England and
Wales, including London, is given in
American money at $3.317; in Ger
many, including Berlin, at S3s94; in
France, including Paris, at $3.2Sl in
Belgium at 1924; and in the United
States at S4.755, The index number.
that is. the average for the whole, is
taken at 100 in England and Wales,
excluding London; ut LII in Germany,
including Berlin; at 80 in France, in
Guiding Paris; at 90 in Belgium; and
at l43 in the United States.
The report quotes tho report of the
British Board of Trade on the cost OF
living in the principal cities Of the
United States, as follows, which may
be fairly considered a summing up of
the showing as made:
Comparison OF wages. hours OF labor,
rents. and prices in the areas OF lnves-
ugatiOn IN the two countries has been
made on the assumption that an English
workman with an average family main
tained under American conditions the
standard OF consumption as regards food
to which he had been accustomed. Under
such conditions the workman's wages
would be higher In the United States b.
hours. while on the other hand his ex-
penditure on food and rent would be high |
cr by about 81 per cent
II is evident from this and the fig
ures given, that the American work
mon s conditions are vastly superior to
those Of the English or other European
workmen, ,and the truth of the British
report. which concludes as follows, IS /.
abundantly evident:
The margin lover expenditure FOR rent |
and food) IS clearly large, making pos |
sible command OF the necessar!es and I
and minor luXurles OF lie /
that Is both nominally and really greater
than that enjoyed By the corresponding
class In this country. tEngla nd. ] although /
the effective margin is Itself In practice,
curtnllcd by scale OF expenditure TO ,
some extent necessarily and 10 some OK
tent voluntarily adopted In accordance
Win different and a higher standard I
OF material comfort
San Francisco Chronicle: "'There
were lll4 merchant vessels OF 26O. .265 /
gross tons built in the United States