Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-05
LABOR NOT DECEIVED
PEck's FIGURES REJECTED BY
WORKINGMEN.

hoPuDucau expectations Doomed to Dis
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Know That
Mckinley Has Not Helped Them-what
They Say About Peck's Figures.
Evidence is multiplying that Commits
sioner Peck's report is failing of effect
in precisely the quarter where the Re
publicans had hoped that it would
strengthen their cause most. Republic
an editors hailed the publication of
Peck's figures with headlines suitable
for announcing the arrival of the mil
lennium. and framed to catch the eye of
the workingmen, but the workingmen
are far too well informed as to their own
condition to be imposed upon by figures
given under pledge Of secrecy by pro-
tected manufacturers. Workingmen do
not need to wade through pages of sta
tistics to find out whether their wages
have been increased.
We are beginning to hear from work
ingmen in many trades, and they utterly
reject Peck's figures and particularly
his conclusions in favor of the McKin-
ley tariff. Thus Matthew Barr, tin
and sheet iron worker Of New York,
says: "What strikes me as very peculiar
is the figures on the building trades.
They seem SO incongruous that l must
pause before go any further. There is
scarcely a strike in this line but has
bettered its condition since 1889. And
yet with all this the returns show de-
crease in wages of $96,829.
"This industry is ouside the reach Of
the tariff, and whatever figures may be
Yyt down there is only one thing that
hi Ngained it any advantages, and that
is its organizations. Every concession
has been fought inch by inch. Where
the tariff does affect any branch of the
trade, such as mine, we have certainly
suffered. No tin and sheet iron worker
in the city, to my knowledge, and l
know them nearly all, has yet used a
sheet of native tin. Before the McKin-
ley bill was passed we had considera-
BILE work on tin roofs. In many cases
gravel roofs had an equal competition
with us, but since the higher duty on
tin was imposed in every case where
gravel roof can be utilized it takes the
place of tin, and there is less work for
MS. We have been injured by the tariff
and our wages may have decreased, but
the other trades are not 30 affected, and
I believe they have been individual
gamers
George Warner, of the Housesmiths'
union and the Central Labor union,
says: "You can make figures prove
anything you like; am looking for the
men of some trade who will show me
that their wages have been raised by
the tariff. If any trade has increased
its pay you can rely upon its being on
account of organization. Look at our
trade! We work on the buildings and
are not affected by the tariff, but the
men who manufacture the iron and
steel are highly protected. During the
past four years the men who have been
protected have been reduced in wages
and we have been obtaining an increase.
Mr.. Peck's returns scarcely seem con-
sistent. He gives decreases in wages
and production in building brick, tile
and sewer pipe, but in cement, lime and 4
plaster there is a vast increase. As the
business Of one is totally dependent ON
the other, and one could not be brisk
without the other, his figures certainly
need some explanation"
James p. Archibald, a prominent
leader in the Central Labor union, says:
ellis statistics of the trade am most
interested in-the paper hanging trade
have been to me ludicrous. There is
not thinking man in the labor circles
in this city today, particularly in the
building construction line, who cannot
refute, so far as his own particular trade
is concerned, the statements Of Mr.
Peck. I know of my own knowledge
that in the most skilled branch of the
trade of manufacture of wall paper,
which is block cutting, and which is
very highly protected, the men who
formerly earned twenty-one to twenty
four dollars per week are now, and
since 1880 have been, working at con-
siderably less than twenty dollars. The
Mckinley bill has had a deleterious
rather than beneficial effect on the
wages in this branch of the trade"