Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1898 — OPENINC PROSE ERITY [ARTICLE]

OPENINC PROSE ERITY

No more convincing answer co’d oe made t Secretary Gag '’s chatter about prosperity than the notices of reductions in vages in the New England factories winch took effect with the New Y< tit Just gtance over ilns little list of New Year’s greetings. ;<nd imagine how the thousands of men affei ted must ehjoy Sec’y Gage’s cheerful remains: Manchester, N H., Jan. I—The Amoskeak, Stark au Ax moi y c *tton raaunfactuiing corpor tioua will put mo n tic h of alO per cent, cut, which wer pcstoil about two weeks »go, intoeh'ect on Monday. The 12.000 operutiveH eniployed bv the three corpoiat'on have d ouled tr accept tho reduction and there will buuo strike in this oily 4 Taunton, Maas, Jan I—Notices havo been posted in the Uorr iot on mil a in this c ty that oil and after J n to a redaction ot about 11 percent will bemud in t e wage scale. Jhomi la employ about 460 hands and it is thought they will accept the redaction Springfi Id, Mao, Jan 1 A special from Boston says; “Tre«aurer I’nrHoniof the Lyman mills of Holyoke said to-day that wages in th t mill wib 1 e cut to con form to the wages paid in Nev. Bedford. As the wages wer - out 7 per cent . bout a year ago the cut now will be small." Sancock, N H, Jan 1 -In accordan o with otices which were posted in tho millsof the China,Webaterund L’embr die cotton manufacturing comp ires 2 weeks ago, the reduction ot fOporci nt n wa os of employes v ent into e> Oct lo iny, Tho ent affects all the employes of tho rorporations, the s«ni- as in Fall Rive.. Ths mills manufacture about 1 30lf,'Hio yards of plain prim cloth per week, em> loying about 1,400 hands, und the niontl lv payroll amounts to about 4 27,000. Fall River, Mass', Jun 1 The ulo spinners tonight vo edto accept the wags reduction, consequently fliero will be no strike in any mill. Fall River, Mass, Jan 3—The n< w w igo schedule, 11 1 9 per cent below th v <>. the past thret years, went into e oct i day in the mills of tbiseity, Matthew i!art«mi others, representing the New Dm fordweaver j, visited th s e;tv today and bad an interv ew with : e- retary Whitehaad of tho local weavers'union. Mr. While e ddecided to ' all a mooting o f the weaver for tomorrow night. Prov dem e, R I, Jan 3 otices of a redaction of wg. s e sort to ’ t< i e cotton mil's of the Gad ardv. K tpbts, Lip its and tbos-<.pera*.ei: t»\ thssmull' r corporations in the state, und bine been posted, or wll be tomorrow. Ti e opeiatives will o er no resistance to the reduction in this stute.

Salem, Mass, Jan 3- In tlm plant of the Naumkeag ste tin cotton mills the reduction of 10 percent in wires went Into effect today. About ufteen bundled employes are affected. Manchester,N H.Jau 3 Operiti'esin the Amoakeag corporatio began woik today on a ten per- ent r, du ti . n tn wages At the Stark and Armory mills the reduction will not go into effect till ne>t Monday. Biddeford. M ine, J n 3 The Pepper" e ll ana Laconia cotton mills today announced a reduction in v a es of nbou 1 tn per cent, to t He effect Jan 17. ,iff c , two mills employ 2,Sou hinds. Lewist on Maine, J*n 3—3 he a,cents o f all the cotton mills in Lewi ton and " u bum today received d ie t'ons to make a gener 1 reduction in wa «s o ami after Jan 17 Notices tn tccord .ncewith these instructions have been jot- d. The re- ■ auction of w ig-* included the Lewiston' bleachery and dye works The n forlnuates thus affected j have practically no choice in the i matter. It in a c'tse of work or Starve with tie in, mid. they have emi ha'icalfy dcc'ftreri the i • justice of th" im/iucr.ons find lin£ assert’d that the Thills last vear paid dividends of 15 poreeni they dare not risks stru. gla again.: t the

i*i'uetion by these niannfacturei-s v» ho fixed the tariff schedules to suit themselves. But it is n>t the co.ton employes alone who are thus affected. The New kork Post of .l.says: The tcores of thousands of operatives in New England cotton mills wh received notice of a reduction in wages juet be--1 o-e the end of 1897 were not the only class f people in ihut section to whom such a holiday gii t was made The em- I ploye . in a great shoo factory at North 1 lookfield. Mass, have just been informed that their p.iy will b> cut down after! today, turd t. e operatives in similar eet ib is: m nts elsewhere fear that the ex- I ample thin got will be generally foLowed, 1 he only reason as-igned by the manut’liCtureru is that they a>e losing money, ' and cannot continue in business unless they reduce 'he wage recount. lu this case, however, the shoe manufacturers h ve. no Drift benefits to uecount for. Th« raw rna‘erial of their industry was transf en c'd from the tree t<> the dutiable list, to accommodate the slaughter house prn ces who .•ontribateu to Hanna’s campaign fund. For tho l> nefit of the great.jneat-packeiH, h des were inad-i dutiable and to accommodate other interests taxes w re placed on degras and other mntcrials used in curing leather. It was a conflict of interests in which the shoe and fteathor busiess w ssaenfkt'd. Themanufao urers pr tested earnestly against the ini, osition of tho taxes and showed that they wo’o injure their business, especiniiv the foreign trade which had been built up by years of patient effort, but to no avail. We do not know whether the shoe tnanufucturvrs are justis fled i their wap e reduction or not, but it must be admitted that th ir aetii n is at least consistent w th t heir professions andnotadetinß'ie of t'’e principles to which they deck ed ntihefence, as in case of the cotfoi mill operators. In both cases the operation of the Dingley tariff to maintain the ages of American w rkingmen is shown to be even less successful than its es feet in nrpduci gsuffie entrevenue for the government There was m ver a mor« colossal failure than this first step of the republican party toward improving the con dition of the country. The only thing they Imvo to full back on is the dispeusatiouof Providence, of crop failures in foreign countries and good crops here.