New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-20
THE EFFECTS OF THE TARIFF
AN EXHAUSTIVE REPORT BY The SENATE
FINANCE COMMITTEE.
PRICES LOWER SINCE THE M'KINLEY LAW
WAS PASSED-REsn Its OF PROLONGED
STUDIES BY THE COMMITTEE, ASSISTED
BY EMINENT ECoNoMISTs-COM-
pLErE DIsPRooF OF DEMO.
CRATIC ASSERTIONS
ABOUT THE TARIFF.
rnr TELEGRAPH TO THE rnIBuSRI

rBr TELEGRAPH THE TRIBUSHu
WASHINGTON July Ex-senator Aldrich, chair.
man Of the subcommittee Of the Finance Com
mittec of the Senate, which has been investigating
for the last sixteen months the effect OF tarih
legislation In this country upon prices and wages.
submitted to-day, with the formal Endorsement OK
the full committee the first results Of the long.
patient and impartial inquiry conducted under the
subcommittee direction. No labor of such mag.
nitude or of such economic and political importance
has ever before been undertaken in this country
and the facts established by the present investi-
cation are likely to remain for years the undouDteo
basis of all speculation TO the effect OF tarin
legislation on National prosperity in general OF
on individual earning power or cost OF living.
The members of the subcommittee who have
taken a personal share in the inquiry are senators
Adrich, Allison, IIiscock, Jones, of Nevada; Har-
ris and Carlisle They were assisted by Carrou
d. Wright Commissioner of the Department. OF
Labor; General Francis A. Walker, Professor
Henry c. Adams, Professor Edmund j. James, OK
the University Of Pennsylvania; Edward Atlln-
son and William NJ Grosvenor Dr. Roland r.
Fallxner. of the University of Pennsylvania, was
selected as the official statstician Of the commit
tee. and has made the elaborate analysis of the
figures collected on wages and prices winch are
embodied in the committee report.
The first instalment Of the report submitted
TODAY covers the results of inquiry into prices
and wages for q period Of twenty-eight months
before and after the passage Of the Mckinley Tarln
law-from June l, 1889, TO September l, 1891.
The various lines of investigation pursued involved
the determination on the first day Of each Of the
twenty-eght months:
l. OF the retail prices Of 215 articles Of general con'
sumption seventy cities and towns In different parts Of
the country.
. or the wholesale prices for the articles al
seven principal distributing centres
q or the farm prices OF leading agricultural products
at representative points selected by the Department OK
Agriculture.
4 7he relative rates Of wages in fifteen general oc.
cupatons On cities and towns where price statistics
collected.
3 The course OF wages in special industries.
g. The course OF prices and wages In Great Britain
"a far as lt could followed through Department Of
Labor agents the period Of twentyeight months
The inquiry was prosecuted with great thor.
oughnese and vgor, and with an entire agreement
between the representatives Of the two political
parties upon the committee. The report made is
unanimous and unimpeached in any par
ticular. Nevertheless it demoishes at one stroke
the whole fabric of Misrepresentation and criticism
on which the Democratic campaign af 1890 was
fought and vindicates triumphantly the predictions
Of the advocates of the Mckinley Act. Prices
have not risen in this country as result Of tho
tariff LEGISLATION of 1890. On the contrary, they
are lower than they were before the first drafo
Of the Mckinley bill was typewriter. Comparing
the month OF June, 1880, with the month of
October, 1891, the two extremes of the inquiry,
the committee finds that the average retail prices
in seventy cities of PA articles of consumption,
covering all the nccessaries of life had declined
B4-l 100 of / per cent; that wholesale prices for
the same article had declined 33-l0O Of l per
cent: that the prices of agricultural products
.ol l.,l,- poa1 4 and thot <ba
age Of wages had advanced ga of per cent.
The figures and tables which enforce these
illusions are given in the abstract of the report
below. Their significance cannot be overrated.
They are indisputable commentary on the
actNal and immediate results of the tariff legis-
lation Of the last Congress. Tho committee in
the Introductory portion of the report says
In order TO give the statistics collected tho
weight Of undoubted authority, it was decided
at the outset with entire unanimity, that tho
inquiry should bc extended only to such subjects,
and be carried through such agencies, and
by such methods, were approved by the unan-
imous voice of the committee; and this plan was
scrupulorsly followed in all decisions as to the
character, general scope and details of the inves-
tigaton. All concurred in the view that il the
facts could lie secured in such manner as to
create general confidence in their accuracy,
great step forward would be taken in the solu-
tion of mpOI tant economic problems. There
WAS no expectation that the members Of the COM
mittec would agree about the political or even
the economic bearings of the facts ascertalned
but all desirous that hereafter there should
lie no reason to question the integrity Of the
facts
The first step In the retail price investiga.
tion the preparation of the list of articles
for which prices to be obtained. As the
purpose of this particular inquiry 10 ascertain
the changes, if any. that had taken place within
the period covered by the Investigation in tho
cost of living Of the great mass of the people Of
tie country thosc with incomes varying from
$500 TO $1,000 per annum. it determined
10 make such selection would fairly represent
the entire expenditure by families in ordinary
circumstances, for all the articles entering directly
OF indirectly into the cost of their living. Tho
list adopted made up with great care, after
consultation with the persons most familiar with
the distribution of articles Of general consump-
tion. 1t was divided for convenience into the
following groups /, food; ?, clothes and cloth
ing; 3. fuel and lighting; T. house furnishing
goods; ,, drugs and chemicals 6, metals and
implements; I. lumber and building materials.
1t was believed that the course OF prices Of the
articles selected in each group would fairly repre-
sent the course of prices for the entire group.
The places at which the retail prices were to be
asccrtained were selected by the committee with
the view of fairly covering the entire country!
In the selection of both general and special occu.
pations for which statistics of wages were to be
obtained the committee exercised equal care. In
stating the results of the investigation compari-
SONS are made, unless otherwise stated, with tha
prices Of wages for the months CT June, July
and August, 1889, the average for these months
being taken as standard. This average is ex.
pressed by the number lO0 and the changes ard
shown in the tables submitted by percentages Of
100. The results of the inquiry are as follows:
The summary for September |, 1891, shows 8
decline in retail prices of the PA selected articles
Of IL 90 of | cont by method Of