THE RATE OF WAGES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7507, 15 September 1902, Page 1

THE RATE OF WAGES.

♦ This, subject has afforded miatter for dispute from the day when first- one man hired another, and will prabably continue to da so until we have developed into creatures as unlike what we are now as our present, state is unlike that of the jellyfish. \ka& yet, stripped of sentiment (with. which it has really nothing to do), the case is simple enough.. The labourer sells his labour for the most money h* can get for it, and tihe capitalist sells his money for the most labour he can get for it, tlhe natural rate of wages being found midway between • these two antagonistic forces. But many will not have it so, importing into the argument all sorts of irrelevant considerations. It is the custom of a certain London merchant to refuse an increase of salary to an employee who- presumes to ask for it, regarding amy.suoh request as impertinent,, wihile those who don't ask lie says don'ti need it. Tlhat merchant is difficult to deal! with ; yet there is a way to deaft with him and (his like. The employee who is full of energy, with a thorough mastery of the affairs entrusted to him^ will never want for employment and fair pay. . W<bere 01^ tl employer will let him go, ten others wiH be eager to grip hold of him, for there are 1 none too many of his kind. Why are such men scarce? The answer is ready : Energy can co-exist only witib health. Take the case of Mr August Jausan, ofl Karabury Station, near Hay, N.S.W., aai unquestionably industrious man, who used to be laid aside from time to time. Writing on Jan. 20, 1902, Mr Jansan says n "Towards the dese of 1899 we h!adi extremely hot weather in, thi* part of Rdverina, day after day the thermometer registering lOOdeg to 12Od©g Ptahr. in th« shade. My occupation (that of stabum carpenter) oomgellea me to spend the greater portion of my. time exposed to th» sooreh!ing heat of tihe sun, a 'fact to which H attribute my subsequent sufferings. Tie first' symptom was a sensation of stckniess at the stomach on rising in the morning, and a distaste, almost amounting to a loathing, for food of whatever kind. Then I became alarmed by acute pains in the region of the heart. The bowels, too, were very irregular in their actiott, extreme costaveness alternating with violent purging. I could not eat, and for want of proper nourishment became so weak that I could hardly stand. Frequently I hadl to lay up entirely^ xteglecting my work for days at a time. "Each week marked a change for the worse in my condition!, and 1 to my other symptoms were soon adlded sick: (headaches and terrible pains about the chest, all of which mades me neryous r low-spirited, and! irritable. After ineffectually taking as nmoh. patent medicine' as would fill a shsep tatak, I placed' myself in the care of at. doctor, who informed me that I was suffering from acute indigestion, and! that my nervous system was shattered. He attended me for twelve months, at tihe end o£ which time I was worse titan when I first consulted him. Although only a lifctte over fifty years of age, I felt like a worn-out old man, and had not the strengtib of at ten-year-old 1 lad. I began to think I was beyond the aid of medicine, when a friend of mine, who had used Mother Seigel's Curative . Syrop with much benefit, persuaded me to try it. / 1 agreed, and found relief from almost the first doee. By the time I had taken two bottles I knew tihab I wa» fairly on the road to heaHfeb. My strength returned much quicker than iti had departed. Before the sixth bottle waa emptied I was restored to a thoroughly ■healthy and robust condition. I could eat, sleep, and work without distress or even' discomfort. It is now six! months .sinee 1 my cure was completed, when I gave mpl talking the Syrup regiularly j but, as a precaution, I still take a couple of doses every week. Many otiber persons in this district} have taken it on my recommendation, and! in no case has it failed." 3