Workmen's advocate., 1888-12-22
HOW FIGURES LIE
UNDER AN ATkINSON'S MAGIC
 MANIPULATION.
Capitalistic Spectacles for Amateur Arithmeticians-The Workers Stomach and Hide in Re.
 lati0n to Fat, Sugar
 and Housing.

Whatever Cleveland may or may not be, he seems to have at least par italy grasped the situation, for in his message he does not hesitate to warn men of the possible culmlna- tion of the present cloudy nature of our social question. Matters are rapidly approaching crisis; the centralization of wealth means the concentration of power, which means simply denial of the rights of the people and an assumption of undue control by a minority, so that from a political standpoint this is dan- gerous,
 But there Is another side, and that Is the one represented by the social istic thought of to-day. Nota rant ing, clamorous demand, but deter mined presentation of logical facts.
 The solution of the whole problem is, in the eyes of Atkinson, obtained in this way. It is assumed by sta tistical comparisons that out of every three persons two of them have to support the other one. That out of 60,000, ,000 population in this country 20,000, 900 live upon the labor of the remaining two-thirds. Now the to- tai earnings of each producer aver ages s4o0 per year, giving Sl.38 for every day in the year, including Sundays.
 Now, Atkinson says "Profits amount to fraction under five and one-half cents day, taxes to a frac- tion over three cents. The cost of the excess of fat and sugar in one standard nation IS seven cents out of twenty-five. If this were saved and applied to shelter, the housing of the working people would be solved. '
 This then is the solution, that a prescribed proportion of nutritious food sufficient only to preserve standard strength, winch must be able to raise the standard amount of production (lO3 pounds), Is the limit of the food of the laborer, the rest of the values produced goes as profits to swell the National wealth.
 Now the proportion per capita each producer would receive annu- ally would be only S54. 75, not more. But consider this sum in a bulk of $l, ,095, 1000, ,000, and also that 1t is applied continually to already exist ing capital and the total applied to the extension of the profit system which concentrates the means of production, which gives birth to trusts, monopolies and corners, which by reason of its power can determine each day the price of labor, then you will see the import of Cleveland's warnings.
 Now comes the other side: Ninety per cent. of our entire population have to spend all their earnings in order to exist, yet their purchasing limit is but fifty cents day; and yet the average wages per diem are only Sl.38.
 Again-given a problem as fol- lows in round numbers in 1,000,0 producers there would be 5000 un- employed, the dependency being a little over three: thus this would give l8,000 persons without visible means of living.
 Look to the other slde. Car negie in one year drew as his share of profits $l, ,50O, ,OO0; 5000 a day. The Lowell machine shops lately de- clared a dividend of 40 per cent; they actually paid to the holders of stock the full amount of the capital invested, s9O0,OOO; and s360,0 ,0O0 besides. The Hamilton Woolen Co.,, Massachusetts, paid forty-three and one-half per cent. on a capital of s1,000,000. The Lancaster Manu-