Year: 1868

Cu1NEhG UEON WAGES


In a former article, we discussed the effect
upon the relation existing between capital
and labor, produced by the increasing use
of labor saving machinery. Our present
purpose is to show that the substitution of
machinery for manual labor has greatly in
creased the rewards, or wages of labor In
our former article we endeavored to show,
that in their effect upon the aggregate
amount of labor required to supply the gen
eral demand, improvements calculated to
decrease the particular amount of labor nee
essary to produce a single article of neces-
sity or luxury, were rather, on account of
the demand for greater quantities of such
articles caused by the reduced cost of their
nrnduetion IN he called labor creating ma


The history of all improvements sbou.
that the introduction of macbinerv -
ted to facilitate and cneapen production,
has increased the demand for labor. This
increased demand could, notwithstanding
the increase of population, never have been
met, if some of the improvements referred
to had not been so great as to almost entire
ly remove the necessity for manual labor in
certain occupations, and thus transfer the
laborers from those fields to others where
their services were needed. Another way
in which the increased demand for labor has
been met, has been by the creation of en-
tire new classes Of laborers. The employ
ment of children and females to operate the
machines which have created certain branch
es of labor, has been the only way in which
such machinery could have been proftably
introduced and worked. Should these and
other classes of laborers. that labor saving
machinery has created, be withdrawn from
the general stock, the effect upon industrial
interests Of the world would be crushing.


The increased demand for labor has rails
ed its price in the market The law of sup.
ply and demand applies to this as to every
thing else; but if the effect of mechanical
improvement is to increase demand, wages
must increase also with every advance in the
arts. We believe that in the future the
march of improvement will be no Iesss rap
ID than in the past, and consequently, from
this cause alone We argue confined increase
of wages.


But there is another law of increase that
is just as potent as the law demand and sup.
ply, and which should not be overlooked in
forming correct opinions upon this subject.
Wages, or rewards for labor, should not be
estimated by current value in dollars and
cents. Operatives never fail to see this
point clearly when prices of provisions,
clothing, and rents rule high, that Is, they
never fail to perceive it in its particular ap-
plication to their own circumstances. When
one dollar buys only two pounds of butter
where it formerly purchased four, and when
other articles have advanced in proportion,
they at once realize that two dollars per day
is no better than one was when prices were
only half as high. But they fail, generally,
10 see the more general advance of wages
estimated by the amount Of the comforts OF
life that can be obtained for given sum,
that has been going on steadily in accord
ance with the constantly decreasing cost Of
manufacture. We have shown that with
each new invention which enables a given
amount of labor to increase its rate of pro-
duction, a corresponding decrease of price
takes place This decrease of price has
been so great within the last fifty years, that
ordinary mechanics are now enabled to live
in style that formerly was possible only to
the moderately wealthy. Fifty years since,
a mechanic wore the coarsest fabric, and ate
the plainest food, because he was obliged to
do so. His house was destitute of carpets;
its furniture was such as he now would be
ashamed to exhibit to his friends A piano
would have been beyond the most extrava-
giant hopes of his ambitious daughters
Books were few and costly; newspapers were
so rare that when one was obtained the
whole neighborhood congregated to hear it
read, Facilities for travel were few and ex-
pensive Family portraits entirely out of
the question. The most limited education
was all that he could hope to give his child
rem and the long hours of his daily toll
were uncheered by the ameliorations which
are now considered essential in every we'll
ordered workshop. All these things are
now within the reach Of the mass of me
chanics. and it is not too much to say, that
if the things which were formerly consider
luxuries, but which are now from long habit