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Show CHINESE WAGES Chung meng lui goi' which la Chinese Chi-nese for "good luck." Unskilled laborer! la-borer! in China are rejoicing beeouse their wages have risen to an average of it; oentfl a day, figured in American Ameri-can money Chinese carpenters and bricklayers, Bharlhg in the general wage adance in the Orieni. are "pulling down" 25 to 43 cents a day. Painters wield their brushes for a daih compensation compensa-tion of 25 to 33 cents. Mechanics average av-erage 75 cents to $1 a day. These fabulous incomes are for a work day averaging from nine to elev en hours. Mill foremen and stenographers in hlna are on the same footing finan-cially, finan-cially, making from $20 to $50 a month You, like every other American, at some time or other have said: "In China. ou can lie for a few cents a day." Tim ?aj ing usually is accepted without challenge, like most of tho knowledge that is taken for granted as it is passed from one person to another, anoth-er, after the fashion of group examination exami-nation of a curiously fashioned trinket found In the streets. In a general way. it is true that a few cents a day will sustain life in China. But it takes a lot more than It used to. Cost of living has gone tip over there, same as everywhere else That takes the gold plate off the Chinese wage advances. Another factor that the Chinese workman has to reckon with is Inter mlttent employment, due to an excess of manpower We have a similar problem prob-lem in coal, textile and other industries indus-tries But not aB much as in China, where there are so man;, people that the birth of a baby girl generally causes soitow. in contemplation of the population she will add during her lifetime. life-time. Matters like Chinese wages seem far-away, with no direct connection to our jobs in America. Far be it Irom such, brethren. The menace of cheap Oriental labor was realized years ago when congress pae6ed the Chinese exclusion act Let Chinese laborers enter America in big numpers and they would undersell American laborers and get rich at it, living frugally under a standard of living liv-ing far below ours In years to come, cheap Oriental labor la-bor will work long-distance a similar way Tariffs may keep out their cheap I prloducts. but their competition wil be felt when the products of American factories seek foreign markets in countries al60 sought by China |
