The Portland daily press., 1869-04-02


ABSTRACT OF LETTHR BIZ DAVID A. wLLEs
SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS OF THE REVENUE.
Hon. VIM. D. Kelley, Member of Congress,
rom Pennsylvania, having, in his speech of
Feb. 4, contradicted the facts and assailed the
arguments contained in the report of the Spe-
cial Commissioner of the Revenue, Mr.. Wells
replies at length in letter dated Washington,
March, 1869. The first point to which MT.
Kelley took exception was the statement tnae
while the leading articles of consumption py
operatives in our manufacturing towns have
advanced 78 per cent. since 1860-61, the remu-
neration of labor has advanced only 30 or 60
per cent. Mr. Kelley places the advance in
the price of the necessaries of life at 30 per
cent, and of pay for labor at 80 to 100 per
cent. Commissioner Wells states that his es-
Inmates were made with perfect fairness from
statistics furnished by the leading manufac-
furers of the United States, to the number of
1900, in all sections of the country Had the
wages of day laborers been in eludsd, the ta-
bles would have shown even greater wrong
to the poor from the joint effects of an inflated
currency and unequal taxation Continuing
the discussion, Mr.. Wells takes the items of
flour and salt, showing, by transcript form the
books of the Subsistence Department of the
United States Army, that the advance in the
cost of -four from 1860 to 1868 was 88 per cent;
also, from the report of meeting at which
Mr.. Kelley himself took part, that salt has ad-
vanced from IS and 20 cents a bushel before
the war to 60 and 20 cents at the present time.
Upon the subject of rents Commissioner Wells
produces a table, furnished by prominent
real estate agent in Mr.. Kelleys district, en-
bracing list of 26 houses which rented in
1850 to laboring men at from So to $16 amonth
The rents for this year show an advance of
more than 100 per cent, the lowest being 12O
per mt. For more expensive houses the ad-
vance has been over 135 per cent. Further,
this advance is in a most undue ratio to the
advance in the value OF real estate. La other
words, the capitalist receives from the labor
ing classes a return for his investment 100 per
cent. greater than what was netted him in
1860. This may be balanced by increased tax
es, but not entirely. From the official report
of the Guardians OF the Poor" in Philadel-
phia, it is shown that the increase in the price
of beef, mutton, coffee, rice, -four, sugar, &c.,
from 1860 to 1867, was 50 per cent. With re-
gard to the increase in the compensation for
labor, Mr.. Wells presents table made by the
architect of the u. 8. Treasury, showing the
comparative prices paid for ordinary laborers
anu Sklii0u WOFkIueu III 1oOl anu 1000. 1ue
general average increase in the wages of skill
ed workmen is So 1-2 per cent. 1t is well
known that the day-labor employed by the
U. s. government is paid at the highest rates
of the trade AMI class to which il belongs In
the manufacturing cities of Lowell and Law
renee, the average advance in the price of lead
ing articles Of domestic consumption exceeds
81 per cent, while the increase of wages is
from 80 to rs per cent. In practical confrma-
ton of these figures, Mr.. Wells presents let
ters from mechanics and working men testify
ing to their personal experience of the disprO-
portion in the advance of the price of living
and the remuneration OF labor. To show that
the country as well as the city is affected in
| this manner, Mr. Wells gives letter from
Amassa Walker, containing tabular state
ment of the prices of necessaries of life, and
the wages of boot and shoe operatives in th {
town Of North Brookfeld. This shows the ad-
vance in the cost of the former, from 1860 to
1868, to have been over 98 per cent. while wa
| ges have advanced 81 per cent. The report oi
| the Oneida community shows o constant in.
crease for several years in the cost of living,
| until it now averages from three to four dol.
| lars. Now, considering that each American
/ workingman, married, supports four persons
beside himself, Mr. Wells asks how large a
/ proportion earn the amount necessary to sus-
tain their families according to the scale of the
community, which is certainly neither luxur
GUS or extravagaut Mr. Wells does not claim
that these conclusions apply equally to tht
| West, but that like causes have produced like
| effects. In one instance, in the town of Can
| ton, Ohio, in 1867, wages had advanced 30 or 6(
| per cent, and the cost of articles of domestic
| consumption about 230 per cent. Mr.. Kelley
however, asserts that labor is now immeasule
bly, better employed than in 1860. In reply te
| this, Mr.. Wells quotes the report of the Guar.
dians of the Poor in Philadelphia which show
that, out of q population of about 720, 600
there were last year 108, 260 persons wholly OF
partially incapable of self-support The Sec
retary of the New York Association for I'm
proving the Condition of the Poor, in report
of its operations of 1865 also calls attention to
the evidence OF increased destitution among
all classes of workingmen, including the skill
ed laborers and some professional men. From
| the same authority we also learn that although
the past winter has been exceedingly mild in
1 the city of New York, the distress has been
| greater than during the severe winter Of
1867 68, although the distress during this later
| period had never then found parallel in the
| experience OF any previous years. letter.
| from extensive manufacturers throughout the
| country also attest the fact that laborers and
workmen are more plenty than in 1860.-
| With regard to the statistics of Life Insur-
| ance and Savings Banks, to which Mr.. Kelley
appealed as showing the prosperous condition
| of the working classes, Mr. Wells says that
the former affords no basis for calculation, be-
| cause of the great multiplication of companies
| and the fact that SO few of those who work fol
day wages take out policies; and that the sta
tistics of Savings Banks indicate anything but
prosperity, ;nasmch as the laboring classes, Sc
far as they are represented by the depositors
of 1860, have not been able to keep at interest
the sum (reckoned in gold) which at that time
they had laid by. Besides this, formerly the
deposits in these institutions represented in
great part the hard-earned accumuations
of persons who were entirely dependent for
support upon the wages received for the per-
Torrance of daily routine labor. Now, ON the
contrary, all the evidence tends to show that
exactly the contrary condition of affairs has
been establi shed.
Thus, for example, in the manufacturing
city of Lawrence, Mass, with population of
ployed in the mills, 1868 persons are returned
as savings-bank depositors in that place for
the year ending October, 1868; but of this
number only one-fourth, we are officially in
formed, were operatives. In short, the recent
increase of savings-ban deposits in the Eas-
tern States is chiefly due to the fact that they
are more lightly taxed than any other kind of
invested property. The single fact, therefore,
of recent rapid accumulation in the deposits
Of savings banks does not, of ITSELF to use
the language ef the Bank Commissioners of
Massachusetts,, in their report for 1867, afford
any evidence that they are performing the be-
neficial work expected of them" What has
thus been found to be true Of Massachusetts,
will, undoubtedly be found to be true of every
other State where system of sayings-banks
has been established. In conclusion, Com
missioner Wells protests against che unfair
ness with which his former report was receiv-
ed. He says that when it became evident that
the facts which he presented would necessi-
tate the enactment of lower tariff ON certain
articles, the many wealthy and powerful man
ufactursrs whose interests were threatened,
instead of attempting to disprove his dsduc-
tions, sought TO divert attention from the real
issue by assailing and criticising his statement,
with respect to wages, rents and the price of
commodities.