Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1892 — Peek’s One Sided Report. [ARTICLE]

Peek’s One Sided Report.

Commissioner Peck’s report, like the McKinley tariff, was made by protected manufacturers. Peck himself admits that he sent blanks for replies as to the increase of wages of the employer, only to manufacturers. As it is to the interest of the protected employer that the McKinley tariff should continue to give him a bounty on his manufactured goods, it is to his interest to report to the New York bureau of statistics that the McKinley tariff causes an increase of wages of the workingmen. It must be understood that in filling out the blanks furnished them by the commissioner, the New York manufacturers did not give the names of the employes, whose wages had been increased, but simply made statements, unverified and unattested. If Statistician Peck had desired to make a fair report, one that would have some weight with the workingmen, he should have sent blanks for reports to both sides, the employer and employe. It would have been as easy to send blanks for replies to the various trades unions of the state, as it was to send them to the manufacturers. But it was to the interest of Mr. Peck that he should make a one-sided report, which has been discredited by labor organisations of New York.

The New York World has interviewed the officers of the various labor unions, and thoroughly exposes Peck’s report as a fraud. These leaders show that where wages have been Increased, the McKinley tariff had nothing to do with it, but the increases were accomplished through demands of the unions. In a number of cases it required a number of strikes to bring about better wages. ■ln this state the workman need no “made to order” statistics to inform them whether the tariff has increased their wages or not. Two weeks ago the Indianapolis Sentinel advertised for ithe photograph of a workman whose wages had been increased on account of the McKinley tariff. It received one photograph, and that was from a printer who had been employed extra hours on a county paper to set up sheriff sale advertisements. The fact that Peck refuses to disclose the names of the manufacturers who increased the wages of their employee is sufficient evidence that the report was stuffed to be used as a campaign document. Beck will be rewarded if Harrison is re-elected.