, 1869-04-01
WAGES AND PRICES,
Letter from Commissioner Wells to
Congressman Kelley.
The Cost of Living in the
United States. = ;"
The Wages Of Laborins Men.
A Crushing Rclolndcr 10 Kcl-
lcy's Speech.
WAsuIsGrus, March 70, 1862.

WAsuRGros, March %, 1862.
To HIM. Y. D. K<l,ty, ". C.:
SIR: have TO acknowledge the receipt Of copy
OF speech delivered BY you in the House Of Rep
resentativcs, February T. 1867, ''ou the report Of
the Special Commissioner OF the Reyenuc," In
which yeu charge that the Commissioner has A.
tempted to sustain the statements therein con-
taned by "doetnred," !" manufactured" "Gar-
bied, maIshal}ed, " or In other words, "nylully-
arranged figures - In such manner a. 70 produce
the eject Of positive falsebood; and 10 substau-
tate The charges thus nade, you subsequently
submit what you arc pleased to term an array OF
faetz-facty "a1ayed" having, 1t would seem,
ao1e virtue which does not belong to laeta when
"ananged-r'
Now, to the extent to which these charges aaect
NE personally ahall Offer no defence or cxplana-
ton.
in reapect however, to the Truth or falaty Of tho
facts and figures presented IN the report Of the
Special Commissioner, the case u different In
this question, from the bearing which It has upou
the policy Of the FUTURE, the public has direct 1u-
tezcst: and this Issue propose to meet, under ali
prupeE circumstances, without concession or eya.
sion.
coT or LIVING.
The nrs1 point Of importance to which you take
exception concerns the comparative prices Of la,,o.
and commodities In the yeArs 1st0-6l and lss7-6s,
The Commissioner Asserts on this head:
t'The result Of long And careful investigations IA
respect TO the retail prices Of the eadlug article,
q domestic eoosumptton by opeEatives Ia the
and some Of the Western States, shows {allon-
Ances being made for II asccrtalned vatyauc ratio
Of expenditure for the several articles eluefste.
thai for the year 1857 and for the rst hair Of he
year 1s6 the average incfeAxa nf the cost Of al the
elements which constitute tho food, eioshinq. and
shsiteT Of family his been about ~ per cent n
compared with the standard prices Of ise0-t1.
"1ne result, In general, Of thls Large increase tn
the prices Of commodities Of domestic consurap-
ton to the iabottnR man bccome1 evident by coli.
pairing such increase with the increase Ia the rates
Of wages during the period under comp1fiSo.--
which rates, for the year 1851 Is compaScd NTH
1sGe61, were rs foli6wa: For unskiLle4 mechsuI-
cal labor, to Per cent; for skilled mechanical L.
bor, 90 per cent"
Thta statement you lmpeach In the following
language:
u pause for & moment to deny the correctness
OF these tgurcz, mad to assert that the pr1cxa of
tho neccssarca Of lie enumerated Ia these tahles
arc on an average not more than % per cent hiGner
than In 1s6J, while skilled labor Is no iueasuta.
bly, more fully employed ut "a advance Of icom 50
to lou per cent over the wages Of that year,
Al this con}olnt denial and asscEtton Is unaccom-
panied By the slightest direct connsualorJ data II
only remains for me to briefly ask attention to the
sources and natu.c Of the evidence which led the
Commissioner tn the dlschasge OF his duties To the
conclusions which yon, on the 1oor OF The House
OF Representatives., have pronounced to be NhoIIv
incorrect OF lraudu1ently presented
TIE EVIDENCE PRfsfSTED.
AFH "a ~ h,nf fpN+A