Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-09-04

- ANe peF.ie however, knew bet
VI l.oiil personal el-pericnce and ol,scrva.
tlon IN Their daily transactions, and ia No
Nehluer' $50 the authors Of tAat tariff 49,
were swept from the house q rcprra.pta.
t'Nes py majority Of more than e0OOo
woes never in the histoty Of the cos,n.
Wy mas There bcen such a stern Of nouular
h'ulshAtieh against any single act of ieris.
i"lion as that which overwhelmed the i'd
VoeAtes OIL this measure in 1890. and as a
result we Eow have the SENATOR from Rhode
lsianu ana all the otter frieads OF tic pro
tectlNe system Who have recently spoken
upon the subieot coniessing that hirh
prices are Rot beneficial to he people AM
that the original and Avowed purpose u
the act was wrong; In other words tbey
now contend that the act LAS been a sue
cess solely because il failed to accomplish
what il was intended to accomplish.
Aidrleh's False Cancellations.
MY purpose here today Is to show that
the tariff net Of 1850 did. ia fact. Interfere
with this natural tendency toward H..
cline In the prices Of commodities and a
rise in the rates Of wages; that II dia ia
fact, make II harder and more expensive
for the masses Of the people OF the United
States to live.
THE senator here read an extract from
the speech Of Senator Aldrlch, who claimed
that prices had so far declined aud waves
so far advanced as to make a total gain TO
the peonle Of sjei go 900 per wear "a a re.
suit OF the Mckinley bin and continued:
Mr.. President, ] admit that on single
day after the passage Of the Mckinley bill
and during the period covered by the In.
yestigation, the retail prices Of the 9i5 ar
ticles selected by the committee, taking
them altogether and giving to each ono
the same Importance, 64.i0lths Of / one
per cent lower than they were at the bo-
ginning Of the period, aud that on the
same day, which was tie last day Included
in the investigation, the cost Of living In
the United States, swing 10 each article
It's relative importance as au element IN
expenditures for consumption, had de.
creased ii-lO0ths OF | per cent, from the
rate prevailing at tire beginning OF the ia.
vestigatlon-thati IS, TIE cost OF living in
gliding rent, which was not investigated
by the committee at all, had been reducrd
4f-leoths of ! per cent. below what II was
during tue first three nouths of the in
yestigation. But that single day has keen
separated by the senator from Rhode
Island from all the other days embraced
III the twenty-vight months, and taken as
the basis OF all the tabits presented mud
statements made by him. a. II ii WIS Il
fair representative Of the whole period.
The investigation beRAn on tho ift day
Of June, 1880, aud continued month by
month Ia seventy Different cities ia the
United States until the ist day Of Septem-
Der 1891, embracing period OF twenty
eight months. The prices % these 2l5 mr.
tiolos for the first three months at these
seventy different places ard at quite a
number Of establishments in each place
were taken as tho basis Of the ihyestiga.-
tion--that is to say, the average prices
which prevailed during the months OF
June, July aud August, 1854 on all tho
articles were taken as the unit Of price,
each unit or index Of price being raprt.
sented by l00 and as the prices subse
quently rose or fell the fact was noted, and
the percentage Of rise or fall was recorded
in the tables. Now Isubmit TO the senate
and the country that no just or valuable
conclusion for any purpose whatever Gun
he drawn from calculations based upon
prices which prevailed on one single day
during those twenty eight months that
day being, as ! have said, The last one On
which an investigation was made.
The Cost of Living Increased.
Senator Carlisle here referred to a
statement Of Senator Aldrich that in the
SAME time the cost OF living Ind Increased
in England. lie declared that the com.
ndtteo had made no such inquiry; that no
such results could be drawn from any
facts before the committee, and that other
statements in Saastor Aidrich's speech
were not In evidence before the c0ramlttee
and continued;
Mr. President, propose TO show, or ut
least endeayor TO show, that the prices of
commodities ia the Uuited States, whether
considered by wholesale or by retail, were
enormously increased by the passage Of
the Mckinley act and the agitation which
preceded It, aud that the cost Of living IN
the United STATES, giving to each ono Of
these articles its proper degree Of itnpor-
tauoe in expenditures for consumption,
was increased during the period covered
| by this investigation more than Sz35, 900,
coo and that over tisi, 0oo,eoo Of that in
crease occurred after the passAgeo thesct
| Of 1870.
venture TO make the stztrmcnt, wbioh
| think nobedy eau refute, that very
| large proportion OF the increase IN prices
| Of manufactured articles and In the cost 81
| living which occurred bufore tho psssa 20
/ Of thT, act WIS On account Of the fact that
/ & was pending in congress with Rn,alTnost
absolute cnowiedgs on the ps-rtof tho pro
| ducers Of protected articles everywhere
that Il would he passed and beconIn a law
| propose 70 show, in the second place
that the rates Of wages IN fifteen SusAStan
TALLY unprotected industries in this coun
try, selected by the COMMITTEES. were IL
i 4. a II.