Powderly on What Americans Consider Fair Wages
In an interview in Chicago, September 15, Terence V. Powderly, formerly grand master of the Knights of Labor, and now United States Commissioner of Immigration, speaking of fair wages for work, said: “What an American thinks fair is what he can get. It is in the air. The spirit infects not only the older Americans, but all who come here.” That is the truth; and being stated on such authority puts it beyond all question as the truth. And from that it follows that whatever means that needs to be employed to get what he can, is counted honest and just. Mr. Powderly further remarked that “this accounts for much of our progress.” And that is true: it is the very spirit of the latest steps in “our progress.”