Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1892-09-09
A ADe,,,oc,.at's Report.

The ninth annual report of Hon.
Charles +. Peck, commissioner of flabor
for the state of New York, has just APP
peared in print. Mr.. Peck ia q demo-
crat in politics. was appointed as
democrat by u democratic governor,
and retained in Office through demo
cratic influences. 1t is accordingly
easily understood that unless the facts
and figures were iniisputable and the
deductions made from those figures
unavoidable, Mr.. Peck would have
found some way to avoid the publica-
ton of them or to evade the conclus-
lens to which they inevitably point.
We quote from the report:
The period covered bv investigation
includes the year Immediately prior to
the enactment of what is termed the
mckinley bill,' and the year ilnmedi-
ately following its becoming Il law
That Is, the data upon which the report
was made was for the year commencing
Sept. l. 1889, up to and including Aug.
81, 1890, and the year commencing
Sept. l, 1890, up to aud including Aug.
81, 1891. The methods imployed to
secure the necessary data were almost
entirely those of tho blank system,
which has proven SO satisfactory in
nearly all of the previous investigations
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 wholesale manufacturing
establishments. 10 have undertaken
to cover the retail and custom manu-
featuring establishments of the state
would have been physical and tinan-
cial impossibility in the present status
of this bureau. Some 5000 Blanks were
addressed and mailed to rs nlaay sep
arate establishments throughout the
state, and of this number 6,O00 or rs
per ccnt:, were returned fully and cor
rectly answered. The figures contain
ed i'll the following tables are based
entirely upon returns furnished this
bureau by over 5000 substantial, repre-.
sentative and leading business firms of
this state:
TELL THEIR OWN STORY.
1t is needless to comment upon the
separate figures or the totals included
in the above table; they tell their own
story simply and with absolute truth.
1t appears that there was net increase
IN wages of $5,377, ,925.OO in the year
1891, as compared will, the amount paid
in 1850, aud a net increase of product.
ion of $31, ,3l5, ,130.65 in the year 1891
over that of 1890. A simple ANALYSIS of
this table further demonstrates the in.
tcresting fact that of the 67 industries
covered, u per cent. of them show an
ixcrease either of the wages or product,
or both, and that there wer. no less
than 60,717 instances of individual in.
creases of wages during the same year.
DECREASE OF STRIKES.
The figures included in the table
showing the increase and decrease Of
wages seem to be, ard they are, III
strict harmony with the fact established
by Table No. 1. Of the sixty.eight in.
dustries included, Is per cent. Of them
show an increased average yearly cam.
ing III the year 1901, while the total
average increase of yearly earnings OF
the 285.000 employees was S2312. The
average increase of yearly earnings oi
the employees in the fifty.ene trades
showing an increase was $45. .9G in 1891
as compared with 1890,
In addition to the investigation OF
this special subject, the bureau has con.
tinued it's annual investigation of all
labor disturbances occurring in the
state during the past vear. The total
number of strikes reported in the year
1891 was 4,51S as against 1858 occurring
in the year 1900 decrease of 1 ,74O.
OF the total number 4,5l9-2,375, or So
per cent. of them were il; tho bnildinc
trades. fact that seems to follow in
natural sequence the results obtained in
the special investigation Of tho Effect
of the Tariff on Labor and Wages"
CHARLES F. PECK,
Commissioner