Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1892 — Wages and Cost of Living. [ARTICLE]

Wages and Cost of Living.

We publish In another column a most interesting report from Carroll D. Wright, the Commissioner of Labor, on wages and the cost of living in certain industries of the United States, Great Britain and several other countries. The following table shows tho average wages and cost of living per family in the cotton and woolen industries according to his statements: United States— Cottons. Woolens. Inoome *659 *683 Expenditures fill 804 Net Inoome $47 *269 Great Britain— Income.. *576 *616 Expenditures. 602 482 Net Inoome *54 *B4 Germany— * Inoome. *302 *275 Expenditures. 288 282 Net inoome. *l2 **7 Franoe— Inoome. *366 *424 Expenditures 894 884 Net inoome *92 *4O Bwi tier land— Inoome *358 .... Expenditures 847 .... Net inoome. *ll .... ♦Deficiency. Theie Is apparently an error in the cost of living for families engaged in the Amerioan woolen Industry, as their expenses are doubtless about as great as for those engaged In cotton manufacturing. The net results of tho cotton trade arc, however, interesting. The surplus

earnings In the United States oro $47 per year; in Great Britain, $64; In Germany, sl9; in France, $32; and In Switzerland, sll. It is also worthy of note that In this industry the annual amount spent per family for amusements is $9.30 In the United States; $16.02 In Franoe; $19.33 In Germany; and $36.02 in Great Britain; and that the British cotton operative spends more for intoxicating liquors than any other. So far as the cotton trade is concerned, the net results are more favorable to operatives in Great Britain than to those of any other country, a fact supported by the light immigration of that, class to this country.—N. Y. Daily Commercial Bulletins, May 12, 1692. When we consider that money will go muoh farther In Europe than In Amorioa; that, according to Secrotaoy Win. M. Evarts, “ono workman in tho United States does as muoh work as two workmen in most of the countries of Europe;" and that, according to Secretary Blaine, “the inequalities in the wagos of English and American operatives (in the ootton Industry) are more than equalized by the greuter efficiency of the latter, and their longer hours of labor, “ wo are not surprised that English operatives do not emigrate, and that the emigration from Europe to the Unltod is from protected countrb s, where tariffs deSress industry and enhance the cost of vlng. To bo Sure, wo have the meanest | tariff system on the face of the earth, but then, too, we also have more free trade than any other country, except, perhaps, Great Britain. Put a McKinley tariff wall around each of our State* (as is done In Europo), and there will be no need of Immigration laws to exolude Europeans or anybody else. For, when, with our boundless and fertile prairies and our sparse population, we could not mako as oomfortable a living here as Europeans would make at home, and, with unrivalled opportunities, we would be the most cursed nation of the earth.