Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-10-14
LABOR IN NEW YORK..
WAGES HIGHER THAN THEY WERE
BEFORE THE PASSAGE OF THE
M'klNLEY BILL.

lands Appointees, Tells Plain Truth
to New York Workingmen-Benefts of
Protection Made Clear-Greatest In
dustrial Production Ever Known.
Mr.. Peck, the state labor commissioner
Who makes the folloavtng report, Is q
Cleveland Democrat, huvdng been ap-
pointed to the office he noW holds By
Grocer Cleveland in 1883.
The following is the official abstract of
the report Of New York State Labor Com
missioner Hon. Charles F. Peck. This re-
port has attracted so much attention that
the official abstract prepared by Commits
sioner Peck himself is presented herewith
in full. Especial interest attaches to this
report because it's author, although a
Democrat, appointed to the office which he
now holds by Mr.. Cleveland while gov
ernor of New York. commcnds the Nc
Kinley tariff and shows in his official re-
port that under it there has been a won
derful increase in manufactures, employ
ment and wages of employees. The report
and its author have been most bitterly at
tackled by the Democrats, a committee ap-
pointed by the national committee to ex-
I'LL lIOo ~ hhSluS DIOuHuU OOmmlS-
sioner Peck before the courts because of
his refusal to disclose to them the indi-
vidual business statements made to him
in, confidence by manufacturers, upon
which he based his report:
In pursuance of law the undersigned has
completed the work attendant upon the is
suing of the ninth nnu report of the bu-
reau of statistics of labor, and herewith
gives a brief summary Of the contents of
the same. Its completion has been neces-
bsarily delayed by reason of the unusual
amount and important character of the
work undertaken. OF all the varied sub
EJects investigated and reported upon during
Ithe bureaus nine years. existence none has
borne a closer relationship to the welfare
iof the wage earners of the state or fur
Inished the public in general with statistical
data so valuable to a comprehensive under
standing 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
facturers and American labor" is certain
q question of such vast import as to enlist
the most thorough and dispassionate in
vestigation at the hands of the American
people. And while the present report has
under the law been confined to the state of
indicative of the conditions existing in
every section of our country where manu-
featuring and industrial pursuits are fol-
lowed. With the exception of a limited
plumber of the great industries carried on
In our country, no state in the Union offers
a Held 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-
Establishments, the most varied industries
and the largest nnmhar IF ,J;Y;l, 49,.
ployers and wage earners of any of the
forty-four commonwealth embraced in the
United States. So that whatever the statis-
tlcal data collected and tabulated may
prove, relative to the effects Of protection"
on labor and wages in New York, NAV lust
ly be taken as fairly representative of the
condltlons throughout the whole country.
Not for many years had the subject of
the tariff assumed such great PROPORTIONS
as attached to it in 1888. Always an i'm
portane and interesting question of political
economies for discussion by our statesmen.
yet by reason of the president of the United
States making it the sole subject of his an
nual message to congress in December, 1887.
interest in it became general among the
masses, and a memorable Campaign Of ed
ing months of 1883. 1t is not the province
of the undersigned to here discuss the
merits of Il protective tariff or to pro-
nounce for or against the public policy of a
tariff for revenue only" A majority of
the American people declared by their
and yet their candidate was defeated by1
reason OF u electoral system, the
minority candidate and a congress in
sympathy with the chief executive
being elected. The anvass was carried on
with relentless vigor by both sides. and
question OF great public policy rather than
as to the personality of the candidates.
The selfish business interests of the manu-
facturers and their employees were ap-
pealed TO. Larger production, wider mar
kets and increased profits were promised
the employers. More work, higher wages.
shorter hours of labor and unexampled
prosperity were among the inducements
held out to the wage earners by the adyo-
lcates Of protection" On the other hand,
itne advocates OF the policy of a tariff for
revenue only contended that only through
q reform" Of our tariff laws-f. e., a re-
ductlon OF revenues to a basis of raising
just suf1clent money to defray the expenses
or the government, honestly and economi-
,caily administered-could all of these de-
lslraDle results be attained. Almost in
Vulnerable queries were made of this
bureau by the great writers upon economic
subjects, the leaders of Thought and dis
Icussion in pulpits, on the rostrum and
Through the public press, for reliable data
.portant subject.
And it was by reason of this situation, no
less than with aview to establish the truth
or falsity of the premises taken by the
two great political parties of the country,
that the undersigned finally decided to
make the subject of 1.-The Effect of the
Tariff on Labor and Wages" one of special
investigation. 1t may be urged by some
that the investigation made has not been
broad enough or of sufficient scope to fairly
warrant the deductions arrived at, by rea-
son of the fact that the cost of living, in
Guiding the necessaries that go to make it
up, have been given NJ place in The work.
1t should be borne in mind, however, that
it, has been my endeavor. to investigate
only that phase of the subject which re-
.lates simply to the increase or decrease of
production and the rates of wages paid.
The period covered by investigation in
cludes the year Immediately prior to the
enactment Of what is termed the "McKin-
ley bill" and the year Immediately follow
ing its becoming law. That is, the data
upon which the report has been made was
for the year commencing Sept. 1, 1889, up
to and including the 3lst of August, 1890,
and the year commencing Sept. /, 1890, up
to and including the 3lst of August, 1881.
The methods employed to secure the neces-
Sary data were almost entirely those Of