Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-09-02
THE TARIFF AND WAGES.
A BOMBSHELL IN
THE DEMOCRATIC CAMP.
A Democratic Labor COmnissioner Pre-
sents cha ptrr q stubborn Facts.

A Democratic Labor COmmissioner Pre-
sents n Chapter Of stubborn Facts.
A bomb has been dropped into the camp
of the free traders this week by the publi-
cation of the official report of Charles f.
Peck, the commissioner of the bureau of
labor statistics for the state of New York.
Mr. Peck is Democrat and has held his
Office for nine years. In view of the facts
which he adduces it will seem Ike the IRONY
of fate to Mr.. Cleveland that Peck is one
of his own appointees, Mr.. Cleveland hav-
ing put him into the office in 1888, when
he was governor of New York. The pc
riod covered by the Investigation includes
the year imme diately prior to the passage
of the Mckinley act, and the year imme-
diately following its enactment. That is,
the data upon which the report has been
made was for the year beginning Septem-
Der l, 1889, up to and including Aug. 81,
$780, and the year beginning September /
$780, up to and including August 81, 1891.
The facts were gathered wholly from
wholesale manufacturing establishments,
because to have undertaken to cover the
retail and custom manufacturing establish
ments of the state would have been phys
ical and financial impossibility. Some
5000 blanks were addressed and mailed to
as many separate establishments through
out the state, and of this number 6OOO or
20 per cent, were returned-fuly and cor
rectly answered. The statistics thus gath
cred are carefully tabulated, and in the fol-
lowing paragraphs Mr. Peck summarizes
the deductions gained:
From the tables it appears that there
was net increase in wages of S6,377, ,925.-
on in the year 1891, as compared with the
amount paid in 1890, and net increase of
production of 31,3l5, l30.GS in the year
1891 over that of 1890. A simple ANALYSIS
of this table further demonstrates the in
teresting fact that of the 81 industries
covered II per cent of them show an in
crease either of the wages or product, or
both, and that there were no less than So
III instances of individual increases of
wages during the same year
while the industries are but 81 in
number the total trades represented
amount to l121, and give employment to
2S5, 900 working men and women OF the
81 industries included IS per cent show an
increased average yearly earning in the
year 1891, while the total average increase
of yearly earnings of the 2S5, 600 employees
was SPILL. The average increase of year
ly earnings of the employees in the u
trades showing an increase was S43.96 in
1891 as compared with 1890"
Commissioner Peck's bureau also inves
tigated the subject of labor disturbances
and found that there was a decrease of
1879 in 1891 as compared with the year
1880. OF the total number of strikes in
1891, which was 1919, 2375, or 53 per cent
of them, were in the building trades. "a
fact that seems to follow in natural Sc
quence the results obtained in the special
of the effect of the tariff on
labor and wages
The report says, in conclusion, that the
was made strictly on nom
partisan lines, with no purpose in view eX-
cept to get at the facts. ITO the true sta
tistician theories are as nothing; facts and
truth are what he seeks, and having pos
sessed himself of them, he places them,
hard and cold as they oftentimes are, be-
fore the public, satisfied that he has done
but his duty, and thereby attained his
highest ambition"
The publication of the report will have
a marked effect upon the workingmen of
New York and throughout the country.
The Tribune's despatch says that "Sena-
tor Hill and his admirers look upon the
caused by this unanswera-
Bile statement with grinning countenances.
They bear no love for Mr. Cleveland, and
have not forgotten the insults heaped upon
them at Syracuse and Chicago by the
Cleveland faction. They look with evident
relish upon the true statement which Mr..
Peck presents of the prosperous condition
of affairs, feeling that the statement bris-
ties with stubborn facts which the Cleve-
land men cannot shake.n