The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-09-22
PECK RIDDLED.

A DISSECTION OF THE NEW YORK LABOR
COMMISSIONERS REPORT ON THE
AND WAGES.
Labor Commissioner Peck, of New
York, having made an alleged investi-
CATION of "the effect of the tariff on
wages" has issued a one-sided report in
which he claims that protection is boon
and the Mckinley law blessing. Mr..
j. Schoenhof, a we'll known writer on the
tariff, thus riddles Peck's peculiar re-
port in the columns of the New York
World:
Mr.. Peck's totals show net increase
in wages for 1891 over 1890 of Sc, ST.
925, and net increase in products in
this State during the same psriod of
S31, 315, 1870.
will not inquire into the relevancy Of
the statement to the Mckinley bill or any
other tariff measure. If the increase does
not show more than the ordinary ratio,
the report falls short of its purpose. So
long as no data are furnished, ,as by the
United States Census, covering all in
dustrial occupations, the inference is not
/ excluded that selections are made with
view to covering certain end in view.
Many very important industries are left
out. Cotton, woolens and other tex.
tiles, iron and steel products, etc., are
! not mentioned at all. Did they not
show sufficient increase in wages to
parade them as glorious examples of
tariff bene6ts9 Yet these are the prin-
cipal industries which have received
tariff favors.
1 will show, in round figures, their
rates of increase, under the bene6cent
protective tariff, from the census of 1870
to 1880 Gn thousands):
PRODUCTS.
1870. $780, & Dec
Cotton goods. ........s1l, ,175 S9,7Oo $1,47s
ter terials. iar. ............. anu 1o,7oo $500 5000
! Iron and steel and
manufactures ...... $1,000 $1,000 10000
Here we have the principal industries
which can be classed e-eminently as
! protected industries suffering decline
within one brief decade of $33, 900, 600
from $50, 900, 900 in 1870 to $50, ,000,-
600 in 1880. In the cruder iron and
steel products aud manufactures New
! ) york State, in 1870, contributed over
Is per cent. to the total product of the
United States. In 1880 the percentage
of the State of New York had gone
down to s per cent. in the total of these
industrial products. Under the blight
ing influence of the tax on the raw ma
terial the industries falling under these
headings have become tranferred from
the Democratic State to the Republican
State of Pennsylvania.
1t is not known to the writer that a
perceptible increase has taken place IN
the succeeding decade, which is to be
covered by the expected returns of the
eleventh census. All reports have so
far tended to advertise further decline
in these industries in this State. If proof
were required further than that of the
generally known condition OF these in
dustries in New York State, the omis-
sion Of Mr.. Peck to inclose them in his
tabulations would have furnished it.
Cotton goods have not increased
either, as is well known. Their manu-
| facture becomes more and more concen-
trated in certain favored localities from
natural causes, the same as in England.
In all wool goods the decline is general
and alone due to the tariff on raw wool.
The decline in the consumption of wool
in proportion to the growth of the popu-
lation, and the corresponding increase
in shoddy and wool substitutes to make
up the deficiency, give full evidence OF
the benefits of tariff on raw materials.
The increase in shoddy goods, OF course,
would make up for the difference. But
the silence of Mr.. Peck does not seem to
warrant the assumption that increased
prosperity came to the working people
in 1891 in excess of that enjoyed in
1890, against the general depression in
woollens everywhere else, fact so we'll
known to everybody at all familiar with
the trade. The three branches cited
suffered decline ia wages paid out and
IN the number of work people employed,
according to the census tables, as fol-
lows lin thousands):
WAGES AND HANDS.
--1ss0-
Number Number
Wages. Hands. Wages. Hands
Cotton goods. 81, 625 9,l44 s22lS 300