The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1903. WORK AND WAOES IN AMERICA.
■Mr Mosely c Commiseicn of British Work»jn?n, seat to America to study th« manufacturing methods of t.hn.t ootmtry, 'have been impressed with t-he highoes* of the wage* paid. It ix, according to "The Time*" «pmal comeefxwkient with the >.«m----miesJon, t«he most (striking feature of American ittduetrial prodoctoon. Same interesting facts in coiMMctioD mith. the price of labour in th« UnMed Statue have been elicited -by ta» delegatee in the cotrrse of their iDve*tigatk>M. At the great Oarnegia eteel irorks, near Pitteburg, it was awertained <iat tJw mgular workmen earn from 16e up to £4 for the day of 12 hoars. The ordinary labourers get 7e for a day oJ 10 ihonre, ■ixA there are only 300 of these in a total of 6000 employees, manual labour having been dieplawd co largely by mechanical appliancte. In some factories toe ? wag«i of any employee are seldom lew 'than 4s a dsr. Fifty tsbillings a -vreek wm the average w*ge ie ooe boot factory visited, cutters receiving from three guineas up to nearly £5" a week, and jgirle doing attaching from 25a up to three guinea*. "On "the whole," say* "The xisaee" correspondent, "warn* are probably double bhoee given "in KngUnd to workmen performing " eimilAr anvicee." But if the American » brttef paid than bis Englkh fellowworkman, he worbi longer hourtj and on ! tfye average he probably works harder. Wearers ia tie Fall river district, for instance, «n earn £4 * w*ek for attending : to ftutomatio looms, but each has some j I twenty machlnte under hie charge. Bride-1 I layer* in New York earn as much *s 17* a day, but they lay on an average three times the number o! bricka with wbiek the English, bricklayer ie credited. In American, factories a man will work two, tfiree, four or even eight machinC-toola, whereas ~w> British workman still appear? to look.askance at mechanical coatrivaocef to him in his work. The ■' prottttit* tariff and the '.cheapneas; • :of.
fnctois in the maintenance of the high ■•nvgeH ruling in America, but apart from these conditions there is reoeon to believe that the American employer, by getting more work out of his men, gets his labour quite as cheaply as the Englishman, although paying higher wages. It is a truism that the labourer is worthy of his hire; but the American employer takes care that if he pays well hie m«n must work well, and in their increased efficiency he recoups the extra expenditure involved.
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Press, Volume LX, Issue 11495, 30 January 1903, Page 4
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418The Press. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1903. WORK AND WAOES IN AMERICA. Press, Volume LX, Issue 11495, 30 January 1903, Page 4
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