Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1884 — REAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. [ARTICLE]

REAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

: of Hon. N. E. Worthington, >f Illinois, in the House of lffepresentatives. being in committee of the House on the state of the Union, (Ting under consideration the bill 340) to establish and maintain a of labor statistics, Mr. Worthington jHAiBXAX: lam In favor of any legisla- * Trill throw light upon the great quesivolved in this btl. No investigation is ter importance than that which seeks to n what policy will best secure to men men, willing and anxious to work, fixed, Me, and remunerative labor. There is per spectacle than to see laborers unemiwho want to work, or to see them toiling jtwn to darkness for a miserable pittance (rely affords the" necessaries„of life. God Intended that life should be a perpetual e for mere existence, without hope of adtent nor chance of improvement; that it ! be a constant fight to keep the gannt f want and famine from the door, rayromy, and shadowed from the cradle to Lye. We live in a land of wonderful re- , of Unsurpassed fertility, of nnequaled .of climate and productions. The fruits tins of both the tropic and the temperate Ipen beneath our flag, land wheat, the vine and the olive, in ttes far beyond the range of the conon of onr own people, are annually proj Land Is cheap. Our Government Is vet in the history of nations. No other r in the world offers such natural advanb industry, economy, and labor. And file only in the beginning of the second f of our national existence, we are al--1 confronted squarely with the perr problems of labor and capital, of men (men, out of employment, and of wages aely keep soul and body together. This, she faoe of that other unhealthy fact in 1 Government, that immense fortunes, pus to the liberties of the people and injible with a just administration of law, hen accumulated within an ordinary lifenrithout corresponding labor, but by htion and combinations of capital. I do pw that legislation can cure these evils, nay be to some extent inherent to civilbiety. |he information that the bureau proposed bill will furnish, or can furnish if its are discharged in an intelligent and nonn manner, must illuminate many disquestions that are now being canvas-ed. oses to investigate the relations of labor tel, the means of promoting the material, intellectual, and moral prosperity of g men and women; to inquire what >een the effects of tfae division of and the improvements and Inst use of machinery in all departments of T! to ascertain the number of those emin the various branches of manual labor, (res they receive, the hours of daily work, %rage time they are annually employed, i difficulty of securing remunerative emsnt; to report the effects and prevalence truck system of payment of wages, towith the ages at which children are em- , and the influence upon their health of mployment; to inquire into the effect of i labor, methods of taxation, the cost of comparing wages and the costs of the Jtries of life, the accidents peculiar to it kinds of employment, and the means r prevention, the inspection of factories, mines, and tenement houses, and all natters and things that relate to or affect ndltion and prosperity of (he laboring , and to cause a report to be made anby the chief of the bureau, with recomtions, to the President and Congress, onoraic questions that will be touched by tatistics are the most important that can ' the attention of either a State or a »1 legislature, or that can affect the conof the millions who live by the sweat of rows. e Is at present, upon the basis of the mans, a population of about eighteen i that is engaged in the various profesand industrial occupations of this y. Of this number about twelve million or day’s wages. Two-thirds, then, of the (g classes of the country are directly ind in the information which this bill seeks inally secure. But it is not the working alone that are interested. Our hanks, ad-holders, our manufacturers, onr land1, our merchants, and, In fact, business ! every kind and character, are deeply ind in the practical solution of the great ms to which this bill refers, stability of the Government, the order of •, the execution of the laws, and the ab>f mob violence and public tumults delargely upon the employment, the comad the prosperity of the working people, nnot close our eyes to the fact that the of communism, scattered broadcast in or centers of European countries, hav# ion sown in many of our large cities, and danger of producing fruit. It is easier to the spread of communism by removing (see which tend to produce it than to put !n and stamp it oat when men and women Lddenc i by hunger and want of employ - ! The sword and the bayonet are dangerritrnments and cat both ways when against the bone and sinew of tho land, he part of wisdom, then, Mr. Chairman, ly to investigate thorougly every agency recta the toiling millions but also to conhat investigation in such a thorough, , and impartial manner as shall convince workingman that the Government is in tin making his condition s tolerable and irons as legislation and an impartial adration of the law can secure, n not be denied that at present wagers have a just cause of complaint, in both md national affairs. They do not-ask asse from the Government. They do k subsidies, nor protection, nor special ges. They are not asking to feed at the crib nor to be supported at the public ie. They are not asking even that this ament shall enter upon great works of al improvement, as some European imenfcs have done, for the purpose of hing employment to those out of work, hey do ask, and have a right to demand, ley shall not be handicapped and weighted for the benefit of other classes of society, lat they shall have a fair start and an ihance in the race of life, c, for instance, at the relation of convict ;o free and honest labor. The expenses of ills and workhouses and penitentiaries to be borne equally in proportion to propy all classes of society. In theory they are ■ne. The laboring man payß his tithe of or their support; but after having so he In every trade that he must compete with $ labor farmed out, at rates that w ll not rt a free man, to contractors, who put Vares thus produced In the open market ga petition with the products of honest laSociety, for the sake of saving expense in r care of its outlaws, pays for their board lothes and sets them to work at half-price *k down the means of livelihood of that |of its members that receives the lowest .and has the hardest struggle for an honintenance. ;he facts, then, Mr. Chairman, be brought it, and let statistics gathered by a departof this Government show how many conl our jails, workhouses, and penitentiaries tag farmed out at from 20 to 40 cents a compete with the honest laborer, who he fruits of his toil must support himself, le, and his children. And let us cease to ment that shrewd business management makes onr public reformatories self-sus-f at the cost of our hardest worked and |t paid iabreors. re is another line of inquiry, Mr. Chairman, should be embraced in this bill. That is entand effect of the importation of laI Under the contract system. It ha < always ur boast that our doors were open to the trodden and oppressed of every clime, welcome the active and enterprising who ndently seek homes for themselves In a nd is a very different thing from receiving rants by hundreds of thousands who mder contract to work at low wages, imfor the express purpose of displacing our •tizens or of compelling them to work at toes dictated by their employers. To tolhia forced and purchased immigration Is w capital to take advantage of the distress w wages of European operatives, to the injury and suffering of our own. (her broad soope of Inquiry is the subject ttion. No more difficult problem is preto legislative bodies. All agree that taxes be levied upon a basis just to all, and ted in proportion to the property of the s taxed. But no system has yet been dehat in its practical workings accomplishes d. It is a notorious fact that the poor and In moderate circumstances pay more than Hroportion of the expenses of government, tate and national. Visible property can be d by the assessor. The household furniad homeste d of the laborer, the farm, the of tlie merchant, the shops and wares of mufaoturer are all in view of the taxgathmd. if he does his duty, are made to coni ratably to the revenues of the State. But Ith accumulates and hides itself in stocks onds and notes and mortgages it largely 8 the vigilance of the most careful assesud no oath has yet been fonnd that bo c« the conscience as to bring it honestly assessor's book for taxation, result is, Mr. Chairman, that the

class of capital that is most securely invested by its owners, and that pays the surest returns, and that ought to bear to the fullest extent its share of the expenses of government, Is taxed least of all. Labor is oppressed by unjust taxation to the extent that capital escapes taxation, and the tendency of capital thns invested to increase and double upon itself is promoted by the failure to secure from It that fall bat just measure of taxation that capital so invested, more than any other species of property, is able to pay. This is one of the causes that help to the colossal fortunes that men of moderate wealth are able to accumulate. When a certain stage is reached further accretions are practically untaxed, and the richer the capitalist becomes the less tax he pays in proportion to his wealth. I believe. Mr. Chairman, that aoenrate statistics bearing upon this subject of taxation will lead to an income tax, as the only method by whi h the wealth of the republic can be made to pay its just proportion to the public Treasury. Another fruitful subject of investigation, and one no doubt contemplated by the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania who introduced this bill, is the effect of tariff dnties upon wages and the expenses of living. The friends of a tariff for revenue only will welcome any fair, thorough, ana honest investigation on this subject. They wili be glad of the opportunity of pointing to nndoctored statistics that will show the dollars that a high tariff pats in the pockets of the manufacturer and the cents that he drops in return into the hands of the laborer; that will show how an artificial stimulus leads to overproduction, and overprodnciion to low wages, and low wages to strikes, the closing of factories, the lack of employment, and all the evils that follow In the wake of willing labor Inadequately paid or standing idle because no work Is to be had. The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. BnsseU, on Thursday last ÜBed the following language and gave ns the following table, lor which I am under obligations; There are articles consumed largely by tne rich, not absolutely essential to comfort and sunpsrt, upon which to impose dnties for revenue. A list of a few of such articles I give below, the table showing value of goods imported and revenue derived last year under present rates of duty;

Article. Value. Duty. Beer, ale, and porter. $1,146,796.74 $511,46151 Diamonds, etc 7,603,75161 761,886.41 Fancy articles, (alabaster, etc.) 1,665,680.71 641,467.71 Fancy feathers and artificial flowers.... 4,399,294.46 1,378,309.63 Musical intruments.. 1,486,251.15 446,099.79 Paintings and statuary 3,088,673.34 313,584.75 Silk, piece goods and manufactured 33,307,112.37 19,677,999.53 Spirits and wines.... 2,296,734.27 3,358,463.12 Champagnes and wines 4.C03.723.61 2,219,672.18 Other spirits, etc„and still-wines 5,679i969.10 3,152,267.85 Tobacco and cigars.. 10,515,806.00 7,700,458.34 Braids, laces, etc., for ornamenting hats.. 2,297,962.00 701,890.66 Laces, cords, braids, gimrs 6,392,257.90 2,237,348.06 Chinaware, decorated 2,587,545.03 1,294,337.06 Cotton embroideries. 4,928,776.37 1,725,607.78 Meershanm pipes.... 38,306.74 32,671.11 Fire-crackers 265,023.97 281,148.08 Fruit and nuts 18,157,686.79 4,609,883.38 Fine cut-glass ware.. 1,017,677.84 407,075.04 Firearms 1,336,327.28 467,738.72 Total $112,815,356.28 $51,992,431.74

The increased importation of this class of goods has been for the past two years at the rate of $10,000,000 per annum. Here are $61,992,431 collected as import duties upon artioles that are mainly luxuries, and which are proper objects ot taxation. Add to this sum tne amount of internal tax which is collected upon spirits, beer, and tobacco, under existing internal-revenue laws, and you have a total sum which, with slight import duties upon other goods, will meet the annual expenses of the Government, pay the interest upon its public debt, and its principal as rapidly as it oan be economically discharged. Reduce taxation, then, by a substantial lowering of import duties upon all other 1-nported goods and take from the shoulders of lab «r the excessive cost which a war tariff now places upon almost every article that is necessary to life, even on the plane of economy that the wage laborer is compelled to occupy. Let the reports which this bill proposes be thorough, and show that under so-called protection the manufacturer not only dictates the wages of his operatives but also dictates the prices that they pay for the wares that necessity compels them to bny; that it leads to irregular and uncertain employment, to an expensive system of taxation that is deoeptive in not showing its cost to the people, and unjust in not being apportioned according to the property of the tax-paver. Let us have, then, all the statistics that this bill proposes and all the Information that they can afford. The advocates of revenue reform will take all the risks of defeat that are liable to follow, upon any proof that figures can offer, to show that taxation enriches auy country or makes Its citizens more happy and prosperous. And If the statistics collected by this bureau when established shall help to blaze the path and turn the course of legislation.to that bread highway of unrestricted commercial liberty where no taxation is laid nor subsidy levied upon any class of citizens, section of country, or business interest for the benefit of some other, they will do more, In my judgment, Mr. Chairman, for the relief of the wage laborers of the United States than any special legislation that may be asked or that can be devised.