Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1895 — An Unparalleled Boom. [ARTICLE]

An Unparalleled Boom.

The New York World of last Monday presented a detailed account of increases of wa-es of over 250,000 workmen within the past thirty days. “Good times,” it says, “in many of the greatest American industries are no longer prospective; they are actually Drssent and realized by innumerable workmen and employers. That the latter expect much better times in the near fu* turo is indicated by the uniform tendency of wages—upward. The Wotld printed yesterday—ten months after the passage of tl;e Wilson bill —the entirely harmonious and satisfactory p'rmane t settlement of wages of 32,000 iron workers upon the basis of the recent increase in the bame Pittsburg district where exactly two years ago not and bloodshed foU lowed the effort to reduce Hompsiead wagss little more than one year after the enactment of thp McKinley tariff.” The iron-workers are not the only ones who are beginning to realize the fulfillment of the promise of good times. At the beginning of May there was a general advance of wages of the coke workers throughoat tne eastern district, the advance amounting to about 19 per cent. Tin provement m the iron ,trade since the first advance .has warranted another rise in jthe wages of the Coke workers of the Mohoning Valley. The wages of the workers injthe iron furnaces were quick to follow the advance in tbe coke districts When Carnegie announced a vol*notary advance of 10 per cent in the wages of 24,000 men to take effect June 1, that action was taken as one of the most significant indications of genuin? and permanent bnsiness improvement. The other Pittsburg iron manufacturers immediately followed with voluntary and similar advances There are now not less than 100,000 men in the Pittsburg district who have practically felt the improvement m business which is so sharply reflected throughout the iron trade. The division of industry which has been next in importance in receiving practical illnstraticnof the coming of a season of prosperity

is the fabric workers. Among the i New England cotton and woolen ; mills the advances Lave been general. The increase theie has, as e. rule, been at the rate oi 10 per oent and has affected 50,000 or more employes. The wages of not less thaa 250,000 men in the United States have been advanced materially within the last ninety days Careful inquiry throughout the country indicates an advance averaging nearly 12 per cent The World has compiled a list which embraces more than 250 firms which have within the last few weeks advanced the wages of their tmployes. A notable feature of this great industrial improvement is that the wages of tl ese 250,000 men have, with h rdly an exception, been advanced voluntarily by the employers The season has been remarkably free fiom strikes. Employers have shown a spirit of wilhnguess to share the results of the era of general prosperity which seems to have set in without waiting for any clamorous demands from the workmen and without delaying the division of profits until labor grew impa'ient. Austin, Hollmgswortli & Co. are now the proprietors of the only complete set of Abstract Books Jasper county, And are prepared to lurnish Abstracts of Title on short notice and reasonable terms.