Show I lABOR IN AMERIA Industrial Conditions Seen Through British Glasses WHAT EXPERTS HAVE TO SAY Iron and Steel Industry Taken as a Text for a Report by the Commission Commis-sion From the British Iron Trade Association Which Visited United States a Few Months Since Workmen Work-men Enjoy a Larger Measure of IndependenceThey Arc Encouraged Encour-aged and Rewarded for Inventions TRIBUNE SPECIAL Washington Sent 27 Labor conditions condi-tions In the UnIted Stats Is the subject sub-ject of a chapter In the recently published pub-lished report of the commission from the British Iron Trade assoclallon which visited I the United Stales a few months since and reported upon industrial in-dustrial conditions and especially those relating to Iron and steel Discussing Dis-cussing this Important question of the condition of labor In the United States as viewed from the standpoint of the English citizen and manufacturer the report says The conditions of labor in the United States is another mater that has received i re-ceived a good deal of attention as being be-ing fundamental In the progress of I American Industries If not also In the relative progress of some of our own The Influence o trade unionism Is not nearly So strong nor so aggressive In the Unllcd Slaien as In Great Britain The reason Is I largely capable of math cmallcnl I demonstration A recent report by the New York Department of Labor shows that while In Great Britain al a recent dale there were lnuOOO trade unlonlslM there were only lCOOOOO in the United Stales and Canada for about twice the pop ala tion while Germany Is credited with P3n000 or about onehalf the Brltlshs Jlgure fUreFHEEDO r OF lu BOn Tho almost nlwolute freedom of labor la-bor has been lie I chlof I Instrument whereby It has won surh conquests In the Held of industrial economy during the last quarter of a century In nil countries Industrial processes have been greatly cheapened during that period but In America the cheapening appears to have boon carried further than anywhere any-where elso WAGES OF IRONWORKERS According to figures recently made public by Mr William Garrett a rail roller I In an uptodnlo rail mil Is I paid Jess than 1 per cent per ton for rolling roll-ing against 35 cents at f nol very remote re-mote dale WIthin that tlm again I wire rod roller bus seen his earning per ton reduced from S 2 12 to 12 centS per ton and yet he earns larger wagon al the lower figure while f cents IK paid today for heallngblllols to make wire rods agalnsl SO oeiHs during hA period referred lo If roc rollers says Mr Garret wore to receive the same wages per ton that they did twenty years ago they would earn H21 per aso day WHAT MEN PRODUCE The average output t per worker ban in all cases Increased enormously At the nine Edgar Thompson blast fur miccs I was told that 1600 men are employed em-ployed for an output of 21500 tons per week Including all tho hands employed em-ployed In handling and stocking raw materials transport etc This gives I an average of 15 H ton 0 pig Iron pet I man per week or 7nrii tons por man per annum The minimum wage paid at the I blast furnaces Is 51 1EO por day of twelve hours I did not pet the average wage paid nt these work but Mr A C Dinkey the manager of the Homestead works recently testified that the average av-erage earnings of the workmen then excluding officials Is W7T per clay while the earnings of rollers and healers heal-ers rise to ld Ier day Wages in short arc generally so good and the men have their futures so much In their own bands that they have every encouragement to do the best Ihoy cnn I both for their employers and for themselves them-selves WORKMEN INDEPENDENT The human factor and the personal equation appear to count in the United States for more than they generally dp In Europe Workmen appear to I enjoy a larger measure of Independ CMiee based on the knowledge of the fact that work Is more easy to obtain than In older countries thai they are all as IL rule to save money and aro therefore less dependent than When living aa Is not unusual In Europe from hand to mouth and that they are living under a political regime which is found on democratic t principles Two features of the relations nf employers em-ployers and employed may be named as exercising a powei ful Influence on the amity of their connection tho first the encouragement and reward of workmens Inventions and the second sec-ond the readiness with which workmen of exceptional capacity can themselves become employers and capitalists |