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r A A Unit of Value for Labor. The Cost of Living the True Baaia of all Wagea. Strikes, violence, and even blood shed are always likely to occur be tween the employer and the employed, so long as wages are regulated by the law of supply and demand, instead of by the cost of living. To regulate wages by the law of sup ply aud demand, as we do the price of merchandise, is to make merchan dise of workingmen and women. Could man’s labor be separated from himself and be dealt in like so much pork or molasses the law of supply and demand could be justly applied to human labor. But human labor is the human being; they cannot be separa ted ; and hence, to regulate the price of human labor as we r gulate the price of cattle, is to make cattle ol human beings. Strike, seven when successful, result in little or no permanent good, .ro say they are wholly useless would be incorrect in the face of what they have done; even their failure is useful, if only to draw general attention to the Injustice suffered by the working classes. But strikes never have been and never will be sufficiently successful to do away with the necessity of their constant repetition. Neither strikes for the employed, nor tiie law of supply and demand for the employer, can ever so regulate wages that the Industrial classes can all the year round support the civili zation the state and society have obliged men and women to adopt. As citizens, all of us must perform certain duties and conform to certain modes of living. To walk about naked is not sinful; nevertheless, it is forbid den, because to appear decently clothed is a social and state rtquire- rnent. Likewise, our civilization obliges us to pay rent, to pay taxes, to educate our children, to support the infirm,aud to give an equivalent in re turn for our food and drink. In short, the state and society compel us to live up to a standard of decency and morality which they have established ; and punishment, more or less severe, follows upon a failure to comply with this standard. Doec the state, however, while thus forcing men and women to live in a par ticular manner, also protect them from those contingencies over which they can have no control, that keep them from earning the means they must have in order to live in the manner expected of them ? The state says to the workingman, “ Unless your tax is paid you cannot vote; you shall not exercise this right of freemen.” But does the state shield the working man from the necessity of taking eighty cents a day for his labor when he should receive a dollar and a half a day, that he may pay his taxes, his rent, his children’s schooling, as well as the living and clothing of himself and family as required of him by so ciety and the state ? Even a child knows the state does nothing of the kind. Aud yet, the state expects every wi rklngman aud woman to do their duty by it, by soci- ety, by their families, and by them selves, just as if nothing interfered with their getting the means they ought *to have to fulfil their obliga tions. It is because in this respect, the state fails in duty towards the indus trial classes, that these resort to strikes as the only means open to them for self protection. It must he evident that wages should be regulated by the cost of living, if men and women are to earn the means to defray the cost of living in the manner expected of them by sooiety and the state. (Strikes are the efforts made by the industrial classes to have their wages regulated by the cost of living. Bat the industrial classes should not be obligee to resort to such measures ; it is enough if they must labor for their wages besides fultilling their social aud political duties, wit hout being also obliged to fight for their wages To the at vte aione beloug-i the duty of regulating wages by the cost of living. How is tills to be done ? It can be done by est bUshing a unit of value for labor. * There is a unit of value for time, for weight, for measure and for money; known respectively as the second, the grain, the inch, and the mill. These are the unalterable foundation to the various degrees and quantities of time, weight, measure and money in gen eral use. No valid reason exists why the same principles should not be applied to Jabor; vyliy that should not also have value uponjwhich toAuiid the various degrees and quantities of pay for the various kinds of work done. The unit of value for labor must be a fixed quantity of an article in gen eral use; the market price of which quantity equals the daily cost of living to an able-bodied man wh3 does the least skilled manual work, such as digging, lifting and carrying. Such an article is wheat flour. When the market price of this is high, all the other necessaries of life are high or soon become so ; and when the price of it is low other artioles are equally reasonable. Not that the rise and fall in the price of flour necessarily cause a rise and fall in the price of other things, but what affects the normal price of flour also ultimately affects the price of everything else. So that taking the year through from Janu ary to December, it will be found that as the price of flour has been so have been the prices of the other necessa ries of life. A carf ful inquiry extending over the past twelve years has revealed that a grown person who furnishes the least skilled manual work requires in order to comply with what the state and society expect of him, an amount of daily wages equal to the cost of fifty pounds of good family flour. The unit of value for labor, then, should be—the cost of fifty pounds of good family flour in the locality where the work is done. This unit of value may be known as a wage, just as the unit of value for time is known as a second. Then all payments for work other than the least skilled adult manual work, will be as much above or below this unit of value or wage as the present rates are now above or below what is now paid for the least skilled adult man ual work. Thus : The yard hand of a mill would receive one wage; the moulder 0 , puddlers teamsters, clerks and boys would receive two, four or three wages or half a wage, or what ever proportion the pay of these now bear to that of a yard-hand. Then in stead of the question, “How much wages do you get?” the inquiry will be : “How many wages do you get?” It will be readily seen that under this system it will be immaterial what the price of flour may be; the pay re ceived will always buy the same quan tity of it or of other necessaries. Should the price be three cents a pound, then the lowest daily wage will be a dollar and a half; if two cents a pound,the lowest daily wage will be a dollar—but a dollar will, under these circumstances, buy as much flour or other necessaries as a dollar and a half. 80 that let the cost of living be what it may, the pay of the industrial classes under this State or national law, will always be in accordance therewith. The average price of fifty pounds of good family flour in each month could be accepted as the value of the wage for each following month ; should the av erage price of the flour in February be four cents a pound, then the wage for March would be two dollars. Then, when companies water their stock, squander their money, or for want of foresight and skill are unfor tunate In business, or become nearly ruined thr.ugh rivalry; or when fi nancial panic-) and commercial disas ters arise, because of unscrupulous gambling and speculation ; or when thousands of slaves and pauper labor ers flock In from abroad, employers cannot make the industrial classes of America bear their losses or take the miserable pay of workers in foreign lands. The law will step in and proclaim You can no more compel the innocent workers to suffer for your losses, ex travagance or cupidity, than you can give thirty instead of thirty-six inches to the yard, because you have been unfortunate in business. Evtry man must bear the burthen of his own stu pidity, indiscretion and guilt; he can- not cast it in whole or part upon the innocent. Goods measured by the yard may vary in price according to their quality, but the yard measure itself must remain invariably fixed at thirty-six inohes ; so,liki wise, work measured by the daily wage may vary in price according to its quality, but the daily wage itself must remain Invariably fixed at the cost of fifty pounds of good family flour. You can no more alter the one at your peril than you can the other. Had everyone the right to arbitra rily sell by his own standard of weight and measure, there would arise the same disputes and angry feelings be tween dealers as the present arbitrary right of every employer to fix the rate of pay to workers now creates between Labor and Capital. \ Itemical and Statistical. Collin county, Texas, has shipped nearly 800,000 bushels of grain this season. The Texas corn crop will reach 140,- 000,000 bushels, doubling that of iast year. Virginia has 172 tobacco factories, which consume 48,000,000 pounds of the weed annually. A queen bee lays, in the height of the season, from 2000 to 3000 eggB in twenty-four hours. The California wheat crop is put down at 50,000,000 bushels, and that of Kansas at 80,000,000. The celebrated Dummett orange grove has, according to ihe Florida Disvatoh, been sold for $100,000. A gardener of Watertown, Wis., has a grape vine which he thinks will yield one thouiaud pounds of fruit. The cream producing qualities of the milk of Ayrshire co vs is quite as great, and in some instances more so, than the Jerseys. Ohio is cedited by the census with 25.000, ( 00 pounds of wool in 1880, with 3.000. 000 sheep—or eytr eight pounds to the head. The cultivation of mushrooms is a paying branch of gardening in France, where this esculent is consumed every year to the value of $1,800,000. Mattresses made of needles from South Carolina pine boughs are said to cure pulmonary and rheumatic ail ments, and an active trade in them has been established. It is estimated that forests still cover twenty-nine per cent, of Europe and forty per cent, of the vast territory of Russia. Russia’s timber includes two hundred million acres of pine. The chief of the Bureau of (Statistics reports the exports of breadstuff's dur ing the seven months which ended July 31, at $81,150,715, against $131,- 957,684 in the corresponding period last year. Chemists believe that coal tar is to fmnisb a complete substitute for mad der, in the way of c during t+ xtile fab rics red, purple, black, etc., arid for which the cost to manufacturers has been so heavy. Rock county, the garden of Wiscon sin, will raise 6232 acres of tobacco this y^ar. The acreage of wheat is about 10,438—a decrease of 1000 acres. ‘Ihe tobacco crop last year was 4,561,851 pounds ; of wheat, 107,717 bushels. Peter Collier, chemist of the Depart ment of Agriculture, says that sorg hum should not be ground for sugar or syrup until the seed is fully mature, and it is better several days after cut ting. To cut while the seed is in the dough and grind immediately has been generally recommended. The Texas Homestead and Farmers’ Association, of Dallas, has rilled a charier, the object of the assd&iatiou being to encourage immigration, es pecially of the negro race, aud to pur chase subsidies and sell land. The capital stock is $1,000,000. A weed far superior to oakum has been discovered in Putnam county, Fla., which after being put through a process, proved the above assertion. A stock company is being formed for the purpose of utilizing it. The weed is found in abundance. % The Faithful Wives of Weins- berg. Weinsberg is in the northwestern part of Wurtemberg, about thirty miles from Stuttgart. It is early men tioned as a capital city of the bish opric of Wuizbuig, and later we read that in the year 814 Emperor Louis I. established theFreiherrshaftof Weins- berg. About 1129 Freiherr Wolfarm von Weinsberg transferred the castle to the Rhenish Palgravine, Gottfried of Caled. The latter gave it as a mar riage gift with his daughter Uta to Duke WelfVI., who regarded It as a part of the allodial estate of his wife, and refused to deliver it to Konrad III. when this Emperor claimed it as a reversionary fee. An intense hatred existed between the 'Hohenstaufens and Welfs. It began In the time of the unfortunate Empelnr Henry IV., oulminated when in lwO Henry sent for Frederic of HohenstVifeu, and in a solemn speech in whicAhe acknow ledged his loyalty, gi^/e him his daughter Agues iu marriage and the Dukedom of Huabia as dowry. The d-iathof Henry in 1189 brought new complicatious and feuds, aud Konrad welcomed any event that mWht make tiie Welf feel his power. H^ accord ingly appeared with hlB army before the castle, having in the meantime de feated the forces of Welf at Esslijjgeu as they were hastening to the help of the besieged Weinsberg. The attaok upon the castle was begun. After a determined struggle, Welf fell, wound- 1, and the surrender seemednow to evitable. *• Withoutgfimb or mercy,” were tbe words of the Etupe ror, and the town was to share the fate of the castle. The greatest ttrror pre vailed. Then the hi 'li-born Duel ess and the wives of the town officers held a council, and determined to go in pro cession to the Emperor, imploring him to let them escape, and al*o alio w them to carry away with them their most preci' us po-sessions. Toe Euipo ror who had no wish to wage war with women, received them kindly, gave them permission to leave the besieged town, and take with them all that they could carry upon their shoul ders. The women went ’away, night pass ed, and the morning came. At an early hour Konrad’s army was drawn up in file, the gates were opened at command of the Emperor, when Duke Frederic, the Emperor’s brother, turn ing, espied, down in the village street, and along the stesp path that led from the castle, a long line of women carry ing on their backs, not clotning, jewels and silver, but each her husband ; and, behold, Uta, the stately duchess of the i castle, leads 'he procession, the wound ed Duke Welf upon her back ! Had not the Emperor distinctly said, “Take with you all you can carry upon your shoulders?” When Duke Frederic beheld this sight, he like of which has never before been seen since the the world began, he cried out angrily to the Emperor, whose face showed quite plainly that he was not dis pleased by this exhibition of woman ly faithfulness, answered : “A King’s word is not to be broken ;” and while the Emperor and his army looked on in mute surprise, the strange procession wended its way patiently and silently down the road, carrying away the men, and leaving the castle and town to tbe troops. The Emperor gener ously ordered that.nil the treasures of the women should at once be collected and carried out to them. To perpetuate this instance of wo manly fidelity the ruins have ever since borne the name “ Weibertreue” —woman’s faithfulness. The Value of Immigration. Recurring to the money value of an immigrant, the most recent, works on immigration assume $1000 ts tbe worth of each permanent addition to our population. These writers, how ever, have adopted as their basis of valuation, the maxim that an article is worth what it costs to produce it. It is true that the cost of production as an element in computing the true value should not be lost sight of; but we think it is more correct to say, the value of an article is wuat it will bring in the market. The almost universal law of supply and demand governs the labor as well as the produce mar ket. It may cost the farmer of the Northwest 75 cents to produce a b of wheat; but if, owing to a lino! demand, he can obtain but 60 cents for part of his crop and, at a later pe riod, owing to an unusual demand, 90 sents for the remainder, the cost of the wheat continues at 75 cents, while the value is respectively 60 and 99 cenls. So with humau beings regard ed only as instruments of production. The son of a rich man, whose rearing aud education cost $29,000, if not trained to usefulness, is worth far less to the community than the son of a mechanic of small income*? hose whole cost has not exceeded $1500, if the latter be a well instructed and skilled artisan. Transport from Germany to a sparsely settled portion of the North west, two men ; the on* a healthy la borer, with limited education, whose life support end education has not ex ceeded $1500; the other a highly educated man—an architect—-but of inferior muscular development, whose money cost was $20,000. As no de mand exists for flue public buildings or elegant private mansions in that locality, the worth of the latter is far less than that of the former; while in one of the large cities, unless there is an over-supply of architects, his value will greatly exceed that of the other, who can do nothing more profitable than carry bricks and mortar for the erection of a building whioh is design ed and supervised by the architect.— United States Economist. For general we ar dark felt round ha s are chosen iu shapes like those of the velvet. Large thick twists or rolls of velvet trim the crowns of round hats, also of poke bonnets. Guimpes and plastrons will con tinue to be worn to dinners and small assemblages, where the Russian che mise will also be seen, with a tight- fitting corsage open all the way down and showiug the bouffant pleats of the chemise, which seem to be held in plaoe by a bow whioh b| placed on the breed to close tlie^irnage'. , The Jocose. Copy of a notice on the beach of a fashionable Freucli watering place: “In tbe ease of ladies iu danger of drowning, they should be seized by the clothing, aud not by the hair, which generally comes off.” Nothing makes a newspaper so pop ular as the imparting of useful infor mation. ‘ H >w shall I keep the awts out of the RK'ar bowl?” asks a corres pondent. “Fill the sugar bowl with salt,” was promptly responded. A Ban Francisco paper is pleasant reading while one is enjoying his after dinner cigar. Here is ,a para graph : “A Chinaman died of small pox while lying on a heap of tobacco that was afterwards used in making cigars.” “I see,” said old Mrs. Anohovy, “that they are making railioad car wheels out of paper. What do you suppose that’s for, Mrs. Birdseye?” “That, oh, I’ve no doubt they are getting scared about so many people being run over and cut in two end- 1 wise, aud are trying to get soin kind of stuff that ain’t so dangerous,'' It was a warm Sunday nn V,and some of the congregation iu the little church were sleeping languidly ex cept one man who snored in a manner not at all languid. The preacher, ob serving this, left his notes, and said to one of the deacons in the front row : “Will you please ask that brother to stop snoring, or he wiil keep other brethren awake.” Little Freddie was undergoing the disagreeable operation of having his hair combed by his mother, and he grumbled at the manoeuvre. “Why, Freddie,” said mamma, “you ought not tomake such a fuss. I don’t fuss and cry when my hair ik combed.” ‘ Yes,” replied the youthful party, “but your hair ain’t hitched to your head.” The Heliograph on the Frontier The value of the heliograph in keep ing up communication between scat tered detachments of troops was so marked in the British campaign in Afghanistan and South Africa, that the adoption of the system by our forces on the Indian frontier will doubtless prove equally successful. Messages can be sent with the helio graph at the rate of from six to twelve words per minute, according to the ability of the operator, and it is a splendid substitute for the telegraph, should the Indians cut the lines, which they have been doing, and always can do, when on the warpath, while they cannot cut a sun flash. It is under stood that heliograph lines are about to be established by Lieutenant Mans, and partly under direction of Colonel •mmanding scouting op- thCTRld ^ tiou with oneal for couriers or the proxinn graph office. The signalul count of their elevated po^pvns are" enabled to observe with their glasses the movements of the hostiles, and in a few minutes to communicate it to any command in the field, each of which is always to be accompanied by one or two heliographic signalmen. The great advantages of this system of transmitting messages in the moun tainous t*id hostile oountry are self- evident. When the Lover may Speak. As a rule a delicate wornau does not think of a man as a lover or even know whether she should care for him in that capacity or not until she has re ceived some impression of his special interest in her. Then she begins to consider him. Does a long talk bore or delight her ? Does she find her self talking to him freely or entertain ing him with an effort? Is the fes tive occasion from whioh he is absent robbed of some portion of its bright ness? Does she “nee his face, all faces among”—catch his voloe, though a di zeu are speaking ? Then, uncon sciously, do her cheeks begin to glow at ills coming. In her eyes smiles a welcome, timid, yet sweet; and the reverent, waiting lover may speak safely, for his time has come. It U the mark of a great mind to be firm iu matters pf real weight aud im portance, and of weak ones to be in flexible in little things. * —Tb» parades on Tuesday and W d- nesday were larger perhaps than any thing erer heretofore seen In Phila delphia