Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-09-15
STANDS BY HIS REPORT.

generation and school to which he be
longed.
STANDS BY HIS REPORT.
Cleveland Leader.
Labor Commissioner Charles F. Peck
of New York, not only stands by hi
annual report showing the beneficial
effects of the Mckinley tariff upon th'
wages of employees in the protected in
dustries of that State, but he strikes
back at his Democratic calumniators il
a way that will make them wish they
had left him alone. Mr.. Peck has beer
in New York since the publication Of
the advance statistics taken from his re
port, and while there he talked freely tC
a reporter. AS is well known Mr.. PecE
was appointed to the Office he now holds
by Governor Grover Cleveland, in 1888
and he declares:
81 am Democrat, and, emulating the
Democratic standard bearer in 1884,
believe that public office is public
trust. The truth should be told at al
hazards"
That settles one point in controversy
The Commissioner is Democrat, and
strange as it may appear, he is an honest
man. To a New York Advertiser re-
porter he said, referring to the attacks
on the accuracy of his report by Demo
cratic newspapers:
"No, if 1 had distorted facts and made
a report to suit the occasion, would
have been lauded to the skies instead of
being abused and declared incompetent
and untrustworthy as statistician. But
my report will be out in three weeks or
month, and it will more than prove
everything in the summary. 1t will 60
into more detail and show that have
not overdrawn or enlarged the facts In
the summary a particle. l court the
fullest scratiny, and l am perfectly
willing for both the Democratic Ma
tional Committee and the Republican
National Committee to appoint COM
mittee of one OF dozen to 60 to Albany
and investigate the accuracy of the re-
turns upon which l base my report.
They will be shown the blanks, and
nothing necessary to the investigation
will be kept from them. In making my
report have not been biased at all, and
politics has had nothing whatever to do
with it."
That ought to silence the Democratic
press if they desire to be fair. Either
they must cease their attacks on Com
missioner Peck or they must accept his
invitation and appoint committee to
investigate the accuracy of the returns.
They will do neither, however. That is
not the Democratic way of doing things.
Every Bourbon newspaper will try to
make it appear that the report was
manufactured for political purposes and
that it is utterly unreliable. Commits
sioner Peck, in reply to the insinuation
that the publication of the statistics was
a trick put up by David B. Hill, declares
emphatically that neither Senator Hill,
Chairman Edward Murphy, Jr., Lieut.
Governor Sheehan, nor anybody else
knew anything about the report until it
came out. He says the blanks were pre-
pared with great care, and that there
was no suggestion about politics in any
of them. In reply to the question
whether he wished to find out if the
protective tariff actually increased wages |
or not, Commissioner Peck said:
"There had been a great deal of agi- |
tation on the subject of the tariff, and |
my industrial census was to find out |
just what the Mckinley bill had done
Now, as to the result, am frank to say
that there is no one who will deny that |
protection is good thing for the man.
just to the extent that pro-
lection enhances, or rather enables, the |
manufacturers to pay higher wages to
their employees. And must also say |
that the manufacturers would not pay |
higher wages unless they were enforced |
through the demand of organized labor.
So by means of protection organized
labor is enabled to enforce its demands.
If the manufacturers were not able they
would not pay more. Now, if l kept a
shop and paid say SIPS day for help,
would not pay more if my business
did not justify me. If could not pay
more and organized labor demanded it.
would have to shut up shop. Now, |
that is the situation in regard to the |
tariff. Manufacturers would not pay
higher wages nor decrease the hours of |
work, nnless they were able to do so,
when organized labor demanded it."
Commissioner Peck also commented |
on the statistics showing that there were
So per cent. fewer strikes in 1891 than
there were in 1890, stating that he had
a letter from Carroll d. Wright, United |
States Statistician of Labor, commend |
ing those statistics. He also declares
that "the attempt to make anything out
of the strike at Homestead is "the
purest kind of demagogism," for he has
shown conclusively that strikes are
greatly on the decrease"
This seems to be complete knockout
for his Democratic critics, and in con-
cluding his interview Commissioner
Peck says that his work was done thor
oughly and accurately, and that he
courts the fullest investigation, feeling
confident that his figures can not be
ALLOW me to add my tribute to the
efficacy of Ely's Cream Balm. 1 was
from a severe attack of in