Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-07
LESSONS IN FIGURES.
The Interesting Forthcoming Reports
of State officials.
WHAT STATISTICIANS WILL SHOW.
Industrial Affairs and Their Growth Dur
ing the Past Year.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TIE FUTURE
rsPrc1ar, TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,


the industrial statistics of the State will
soon appear. Its publication has been
DELAYED in order to procure statistics of the
last census relating to the leading manufac-
lures of the State. 1t was confidently be-
lieved that these could be completed, but so
much of the work in the Census Office has
been suspended from lack of funds that it
was finally determined to publish the report
without these statistics. AS soon as they
are completed, however, they will appear
in separate form.
In this report large space is given to
showing how the values of farm products in
the State have been effected by the rates of
transportation, This is a continuation of
the inquiry begun last year. An elaborate
series of tables has been prepared showing
the prices of the leading products in Phila-
deiphia; the rate for transporting them
from various places to that city; the per-
centage of the selling price paid for trans
portation, and the difference against or in
favor of the shipper since 1880.
The statistics of strikes and lockouts from
1887 to 1890 are also given. The most i'm
portant one during this period was the
strike of the employees of the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad Company, and of the
Reading Iron and Coal Company in 1881.
Leading Industrial Establishments.
In accordance with plan adopted several
years ago. of describing annually some
great industry or manufacturing establish
ment. the sugar refining industry is given in
this report. The outside world has a yery
imperfect idea of the magnitude of our
leading industrial establishments. 1t
knows something of the perfection attained
by the great railroad corporations, but
much less of the great establishments en-
gagged in making iron, steel, carpets, wooden
goods and the like. These concerns are
worthy of profound study, for they are
working complete revolution
in the industrial world. Their
methods of employment, the hours of
labor, the healthfulness of the occupations,
the introduction and effect of labor saving
machinery, the hazards to life-these and
many other questions pertain to these great
establishments. Something has been done
in each report for the several years toward
describing and illustrating these matters.
The report closes with description of the
railroad relief associations of the State.
They have been established bv the Pennsyl-
Vania Railroad, Cumberland Valley, Lehigh
Valley, Philadelphia and Reading and the
Baltimore and Ohio-in short, they include
all the more important lines in the State.
The '-p.a:', of the Factory Inspector also
appears in this volume, though it properly
forms no part Of it, as the Factory Inspector
Is not under the supervision either of the
Secretary of Internal Affairs or the Chief
OF the Bureau of Statistics.
The Changes in Farm Values.
Mr.. Bolles, the Chief the Bureau of Sta
tistics, discusses at great length the subject
Of Changes in Farm Values" He says
among other things: THE farmers insist
that the transporters are very serious him
ORANGES to their prosperity; but are they
getting more than their fair share for the
service rendered by them? Cannot this
charge be as justly brought against the
seller or the laborers who are employed, or
the commission or retail merchants? Have
the farmers looked at the question thus
broadly? We are quite sure that TOO often
they have looked at the remuneration paid
the transporter without much thought of
the amounts or shares the others were re-
ceiving Some facts may be turned on this
question which we think are well deserving
of serious study.
"Of course, we are not criticising the re-
muneration now paid, for with this question
we have nothing to do. We are irving to
find the reasons for the diminished pros
perity of the farmer, and it must be obvious
that if the prices of farm products have de-
clined, and those paid for labor have not
been correspondingly reduced, the profits of
the farmer will be diminished unless, in
deed, he can purchase his agricultural i'm
plements, or his necessaries of life, or his
transportation at lower prices. On the
other hand, is not enough labor saved from
the larger use of labOr-saving machinery to
cover the increased price paid to labor in
rrouorriop 70 rbaf oh inad for
Reduction in the Price of Machinery.
Mr.. Bolles then presents figures to show
that the prices of mowers, rakes, fertilizing
drills, etc, have been largely reduced in
the past ten years. Tables are produced
showing the average yearly price of wheat,
corn, potatoes and butter in Philadelphia
for ten years, the average yearly rate for
transporting them for that period from
various places to Philadelphia and the per
centage of the selling price of the product
paid for transportation, and the following
remarks are made concerning them:
''In general these tables show that not
withstanding the large diminutIon in the
prices OF farm products the cost fo- trans
porting them to Philadelphia from the
various places in the State had been corre-
spondingly reduced. Have the farmers,
then, been unfairly treated by the trans
portation companies? If the low rates for
which Western produce has been carried
have had the effect to reduce the price of it
in the East have not the TRANSFORMATION
companies met this state OF things fairly by
making the reductions in the cost of trans
portation above described? But it is con-
tended that the transportation companies
ought not to have carried Western produce
at the low rates which have been paid for
the service and that thi5 policy has been
e1I 10 TnI fN NJ
ern producers. Admitting that this has
been the effect of their policy are the trans
portation companies to be blamed if they
were powerless to regulate the rates. We
have now reached the heart of this question.
Who is responsible for the Western rates?
Competition Preventing Higher Rates.
'1he four principal trunk lines in our
country again and again have tried to estab-
lish higher rates from Chicago to the East.
but have been prevented by their competit-
ors. They have left nothing undone to
protect the Eastern farmer in order to pro-
tect themselves. They have realized. keenIy
enough, that the injury wrought to the
farming industry in the East was not less
serious to their own interests Suppose
they had refused TO carry grain and other
products from the West what would have
happened? Would they have been able to
stop transportation and dictate terms? By
no means The inevitable effect ultimately
would have been to transfer most of the
freight to the water and Canadian transpor-
tation companies.
1.-The inability of the companies TO protect
their Eastern producers or themselves has
not been in the least improved by the inter-
State commerce law. The water routes hav-
ing been exempted from its operation they
have been free TO dictate rates and thus de-