Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1892 — PRICES AND WAGES. [ARTICLE]

PRICES AND WAGES.

At the Truth About * them is - i KnOWS- - —~ Democrats Join Republicans Ist Te*!trying that Wage! Hare Risen end Price* Have Fallen—Wot a Pen Left for the McKinley Price* Liar te Hang a Falsehood On r«fi Rent the Uaaaimow **S Son-Part lee a Senate Report. Until within a few weeks, ao comprehensively scientific investigation Into, tbs Wages question for the period covered by tae new Tariff had bran completed, altbongh one wbfeb promised unimpeachable results bad been inaugurated. But judging by tbe sign* of the times, and the Isolated facie which came under our notlee, we made tbe following statement a good while ago: "The simple fact of tbe matter la that wage* have been higher, work more plontlfuTT*trade brisker,

foreign commerce larger, average duties lower, manufactured commodities cheaper and ev‘ ry class of citizens more prosperous since tne McKinley Tariff passed than they were before in many years. We do not attribute all this to the McKinley Tariff, but we know it to be a fact, and every one of ordinary intelligence and information knows that it is a tact. Why attempt to deny it?” Since these words were Written the Senate Investigating Committee has reported, and verifies our statements in every particular. No doubt the Free Trader would like to shift the argument from the solid foundation of this elaborate, non-partisan, absolutely conclusive report, to the meagre data cited before it was made. But we do not propose to allow him to do so. Bere are the facts, which we will compel him to face: [BtbraeU from Ot Smalt Report on Prieto and Wagu.] "In order to give the statistics collected the weight of undoubted authority, the committee decided at the outset, with entire unanimity, that the Inquiry should be extended only to saoh subjects and be carried on through such agencies and by auob methods os were approved by the unanimous voice oftbe committee, and this plan was scrupulously followed in ail decisions as to the obaracter, general scops and details of the investigation. AH concurred in the view that If the faots could be secured in such manner as to create general confidence in their scoaraoy, a great step forward would be taken in the solution of important eoonoinio problems. There was ho expectation that the members of the oommlttra would agree about the political or even the eoonomio bearings of the facts ascertained; bat all were desirous that hereafter there should be no reason lo question the integrity cf the faots. e e * « *

"The committee consulted from time to time several eminent statisticians as to the scope of the inquiry and the methods by which It should be conducted. Among the gentlemen consulted were Gen. P. A. Walker, Prof. Henry 0. Adams, Prof, Edmund J. James, Hr. Edward Atkinson and Mr. W. M. Grosvsnor. The committee are under obligations to these gentlemen, especially to General Walker, for their kindness In giving valuable time and advice to the consideration of the details of the committee’s work. "In the summer of 1891, Dr. Boland P. Folkner, professor of statistics In the Universltyof Pennsylvania, was selected aa the statistician of chyOoßpUttee, and to him was given entire charge of the work of analyzing the statistics eolleoted and the ascertainment of results. Dr. Falkncr's report, which is annexed hereto (Appendix A), embodies the results of the Investigation, and explains in detail the reasons for adopting the methods by whieh these results are reached. The committee cannot express too strongly Uu lr appreciation of the .great value of Dr. Falkncr’s services in this connection. * "InstaUngthe results of the Investigation, comparisons are made, unless otherwise stated, with the prloe or wages for the months of June, July and August, 1889, the average for these months being taken as a standard. This average Is expressed by the number 100, and the ohanges are shown in the tables sub-

mitted by percentages of 100. Tne results of the Inquiry are as follows.: nm 'The summary for September 1,1891, shows a decline in retail prices of the 214 selected articles of 0.64 ol 1 per cent, by one method of computation, 18-10 per cent by another. WAGES, “It appears from tho report of the statistician that In the fifteen general occupations selected by the committee, wages were three-fourths of 1 per.sent, higher In September, 1891, than in the three months selected as a basis In 1889, and that tha wages In the special Industries selected was 0.81 of 1 per cent higher than at the beginning of the period.” So much (for the Senate Be port. Then, on August 29th, earns the report of the Democratic Commissioner of Labor of New York State, Charles F. Peck, who, by tho way, was appointed to hie present offloe by Grover Cleveland, when he was Governor of New York.

Ur. Peck has been conducting an investigation through his bureau into the effects es the new Tailfl upon wages. Here ore the facts Rediscovered. [Retracts from Vo New York State Bureau of Labor Report on Wages.) "The period oerered by Investigation Includes the year Immediately prior to the enactment of what Is termed the “McKinley bill,’’ and the year Immediately following Its becoming law. That la, the data upon whloh the report has been made was for tho year commencing September 1,1889, np to and Including August 81, 1890, end the year eommenelng Bop ember 1, 1890, up to and Including August 31,159 L 6,000 ooNoxnm xrplt. "The methods employed to soeare the aeocssary data wees’ almost sntirely those es the blank system. It was not tho original purpose, nor la It nqw pretended, that the data and statistics presented present any hut purely wholesale manufacturing establishments. To have undertaken te cover the retell and anatom manufacturing establish meats of tbs

State would have been a .physical and financial lUhraents throughout tbe State, sad ol this number G.QJO, or 73 psreeat., were returned—fully and correctly answered. "From the tables It appears that there was a Uft Increase in wages of $6,377,925.09 to the year 1891, as compared with the amount paid in 1890, and a not increase of production of $31,315,130. 3in the year 1881 over that Of 1830; A simple analysis of tbis table further demonstrates tbA interesting foot that of the sixty-seven industries covered 77 per cent, ol them show nn Increase either of the wages or produot, or both, and that there were no Iras than 89,717 instances of individual increases of wages during the same year. “While the • Industries' are but 67 to number, the iota! ‘ trades’ represented amount to 1,121, and gireemployment t 0285,000 workingmen and women. Of the 67 industries included, 75 per cent, of them show an increased average yearly earning in; the year 1891, while the pital averega increase of yearly earnings of the 285,000 employees .was $23.11. The average inerease of yearly earnings of the employeee to the 51 trades showing an increase wbb $43.96 in 1891, as compared with 1890,

STRIKES FEWEB. **ln addition to the investigation of this npocial subject, the bureau has continued its annual investigation of all la nor disturbances occurring to the State during the past ye r. The total number of strikes reported for the year 1891 was 4,519, as against 6,258 occurring to the year 1890. a dec rase of 1,789. Of the total number, 4,519, 2,375, or 53 per rant of them, were in the building trades, a foot that seems to follow in natural sequence tbe results obtained In tbe special investigation of the effect of the tariff on labor and wages.” The report closed as follows: “It has bran my experience, as, I doubt not, it has been that of every statistician, more or less, that one often finds himself tempted, unconsctonsly, perhape, to pursue an investiuation with a view to establish a preconceived theory. How often failure and positive discomfiture follow I can saiely leave to those who have engaged to tbe faecinating study of statistics. “To the true statistician, however, uninfluenced by social or political considerations, the profession is an enviable one, and carries with it duties and responsibilities of the highest order. To him theories are as nothing; without facts to support them they become misleading, and, therefore, worthless. Facta and truth are what he geeks, and baying possessed himself of them ho places them hard and cold as they oftentimes are, before’ the public, satisfied that ho has done bnt his duty, and thereby attained hia highest ambition.” Thesa are facts reported—not by a sensational newspaper or prejudiced Congressmen—but by the economists and statisticians of world-wide fame whose names are mentioned, by a committee of United States Senators, including two prominent leaders of the Free Trade "reform” crusade—Senator Carlisle of Kentucky and Senator Harris of Tennessee—and by a Demooratle Labor Bureau of a State administered and controlled by Democrats exclusively. So Free Trade "reformers” might Just as well recognize first as last that any demagogic compilation of alleged facta whioh they ran make, no matter how conspicuously headlined or audaciously blazoned forth, will not affect to tbe least the integrity or value of the unimpeachable official reports here cited.