The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-04-05

BIS facts are so fresh; they are collected from
30 large circumference of investiS Sstion are
arranged in such lucid order, are so pertinent
to pending questions, that, interpret them as
We will, we are behind the intelligence Of the
age IL we do not study them. Kven when they
merely confirm opinions which we previously
held, they SO relieve those opinions of vague
ness aud give them such life, freshness aud
force and such satisfactory de6niteness OF
outline that our oldest and tritest impress
sions acquire something of the gloss of no
velty.
The copious array of facts and statistic, iu
Mr. Wells recent letter bears chiefly upon lhs
opinion which he expressed in his annual
report (and which Judge Kelley had the hardi-
hood to dispute) that the rich are growing
richer and the poor poorer; that the wages
OF labor bear a smaller proportion to the cost
OF living than previous to the war. This is, of
course, a different question from the beneficial
or detrimental effects Of the present tariff; but
Judge Kelley is high tariff man, the mouth
piece and advocate of the Pennsylvania pro-
tectionists, and, despairing of a plausible at
tack on Mr.. Wells exposure of our absurd
tariff, he tried to diminish his credit by an
attempt to show that he had misrepresented
the present condition of the laboripg classes.
Even If this attempt had been successful, it
would have been little to the purpose; for Mr..
Wells might have been entirely correct in his
exposure of the tariff, even though he had
been mistaken in his opinion that the dstri-
button OF wealth is different now from what it
was before the war. But he has borne down
and demolished Mr.. Kelley on the collateral
question, with an accumulation of facts which
must make that gentleman repent his temeri-
ty. Never was pretender to statistical aoou-
racy more thoroughly riddled.
In production of which every part is 80
thorough and able, it may bs difficult to say
which branch of the evidence is most cOucu-
sive; but 1t strikes us that we have seldom
seen anything more skilfully done than the
refutation of Mr.. Kelley's argument founded
on the deposits in savings banks. Kelley had
argued that, because the amount of deposits
in savings banks is greater than it was in
1861 it therefore follows that the laboring
classes are more prosperous. Mr.. Wells does
not dispute the fact of increases; but he shows.
by exact statistics, precisely what the increase
is, and proves that is altogether less than
would have accrued from the interest Of the
money, If the deposits of 1860 had been left
without dollar of addition. II there had not
been a single new depositor; If the depositors
of 1860 had not put an additional dollar in any
savings bank, and had merely left the money
then deposited to draw interest, Mr.. Wells
shows that the amount in the savings banks
would be much greater than it is at present.
This alone would explode Kslley's reasoning,
and turn his facts against him; but Mr. Wells
| the motives for making such deposits are much
greater, where the laboring classes have been
able to make any savings, than it was pre-
| vious to the war. Mechanics and other thrifty
people naturally buy houses and lots so soon
as they have accumulated enough to make
their first payments. They take their money
from the savings banks for this purpose, and
use their future earnings to pay off their
mortgages. But the price of houses has been
SO exorbtant of late years as to discourage
that kid of investments by the poorer classes;
| and the consequence is, that nearly all who
have had any surplus have deposited it in the
savings banks. 1t follows that the pro-
portion of their savings thus deposited
is much greater than at any former period,
and yet the total deposits are less than
they would have been if the amount in 1860
had been left to draw interest and not dol
lar added since. But Mr.. Wells does not leave
the argument even here. He shows that the
depositors in savings banks are no longer
confined chiefly to persons in moderate cir
cumstances. The exemption of those insti-
tutions from the taxes which fall SO heavily
upon other species of property, enables
their depositors to get better returns than
they could from any other form OF invest
ment. The consequence is, that great
deal of money takes this direction which
formerly went into other channels. Now, II
we deduct from the money in savings banks
the amount put in by these new classes OF
depositors, and the amount which has been
kept out Of houses and lots, and the amount
which represents the interest which would
have accumulated on the deposits of 1860 il
they had not been withdrawn, we shall find,
after making these deductions, that the labor
ing classes have not half the means ahead
which they had in 1860, Notwithstanding the
large growth of population in the intervening
period. The conclusion is inevitable that the
laboripg classes are not nearly SO well off as
they were eight or nine years ago-a conclu:
sion which is supported by such variety and
accumulation of other facts presented by Mr.
Wells as to render doubt absurd and denia
ridiculous.