The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-23
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ley.
The following extracts are from the
latest report of Charles f. Peck, demo
cratic labor commissioner of the stats
Of New York:
In pursuance of law. the undersigned
has completed the work attendant upon
the issuing of the ninth annual report
of the bureau of statistics of labor. and
herewith gives brief summary Of the
contents of the same. Its completion
has been necessarily delayed by reason
of the unusual amount and important
character of the work undertaken. OF
all the varied subjects investigated and
upon during the bureaus nine
years existence, none have borne a
closer relationship to the welfare of the
wage earners of the state or furnished
the public in general with statistical
data so valuable to comprehensive I'M
Outstanding of the practical workings
of the one great economic question of
the present day, than the tariff
Tariff, whether levied ''for revenue
only" or for revenue and the Incl
dental protection Of American manufac-
luTtTS anu AIltTiCd1 ldDDTs II Ger
tainly question of such vast import as
TO enlist the most thorough and dispas-
sionate investigation at the hands of
the American people. And while the
present report has, under the law. been
confined to the state of New York, its
results can but be taken as indicative
of the conditions existing in every see
ton of our country where manufacture
ing and industrial pursuits are fol-
lowed.
With the exception of a limited num-
Der of the great industries carried on in
our country, no state in the Union
offers field so varied or extensive
within which the statistician can carry
on his work with greater assurances of
intelligent success, than is presented
by the state of New York. Within its
borders are to be found by far the
greatest number OF manufacturing eS-
adjustments, the most varied indus
tries and the largest number of indi-
vidual employers and wage earners of
any of the forty-four commonwealth
embraced in the United States. So
that. whatever the statistical data col
lected and tabulated may prove, rela-
tive to the effects of protection" on
labor and wages in New York, may
Justly be taken as fairly representative
of the conditions throughout the whole
country.
The period covered by investigation
includes the year Immediately prior to
to the enactment of what is termed the
Mckinley bill, and the year immedi-
ately following its becoming law. That
is. the data upon which the report has
been made was for the year commence
ing September l, 1889, up to and includ-
ing August 81, 1890, and the year COM
mencing September l, 1890, up to and
including August 81, 1891. The methods
employed to secure the necessary data
were almost entirely those of the blank
system, which has proven so satisfac-
tory in nearly all of the previous inves-
legations carried on by the bureau since
1888 1t was not the original purpose,
nor is it now pretended, that the data
and statistics here presented represent
any but purely ,rh0tesaLe manufacturing
Establishments. To have undertaken
to cover the retail and custom manu-
featuring esta blishments of the state
would have been a physical and fnan-
cial impossibility in the present status
of this bureau. Some eight thou
sand blanks were addressed and mailed
to as many separate esta bllshmentS
throughout the state, and of this num-
Der 1000, or Is per cent, were returned
fully and correctly answered. The fig
ures contained in the tables are based
entirely upon returns furnished this
bureau by over six thousand substan-
tial, representative and leading business
firms of this state.
1t Is needless to comment upon the
separate figures or the totals included
in these tables; they tell their own
story simply and with absolute truth.
1t appears that there was net in
crease in wages of So, 81, 925 90 in the
year 1891, as compared with the amount
paid in 1890, and net increase of pro-
duction of S31 ,315, 13O.6S in the year
1891 over that of 1890. \ simple analy-
sis of these tables further demon
strates the interesting fact that of the
sixtv-seven industries covered - per
cent of them show an increase either
of the wages or product, or both, and
that there were no less than S9,T
instances Of individual increases of
wages during the same year.
OF the 6S industries included, rs per
cent. of them show an increased aver
age yearly earning in the year 1921,
while the total average increase of
q .
was s33 IL. The average increase of
yearly earnings of the employees in the
81 trades showing an increase was
SAB % in 1891, as compared with 1890.
In addition to the investigation of
this special subject, the bureau has
continued its annual investigation of
all labor disturbances occurring in the
state during the past year The total
number of strikes reported for the year
1891 was 1919, as against 6,25S occur
ring in the year 1890, a de rease of 1, 40.
OF the total number 4,5i9-2,315. or 53
per cent of them, were IN the building
trades. fact that seems to follow in
natural sequence the results obtained
in the special investigation of the
Effect of the Tariff on Labor and
Wages"
It has been my experience, as, | doubt
nor. il has been that of every statisti-
clan more or less, that one often finds
himself tempted-unconscious per-
haps-to pursue an investigation with q
view to establish a preconceived theory.
How often failure and positive discom-
future follow / can safely leave TO those
who have engaged in the fascinating
study of statistics To the trae stats
tician however, uninfluenced by social
or political considerations, the profess
sion is an enviable one, and carries with
:. A,4;o. nrd rnSncn ) ilitieS of the