Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-07-22
The Effect of the Mckinley Law.

The Effect of the Mckinley Law.
The most interesting contribution that
has been made to the science of political
economy in many years has been given to
the public this week in the guise of re-
! port to the Senate from the committee on
finance. In March of last year this com
mittee was instructed to ascertain, in every
/ practicable way, the effect of the tariff
/ laws upon imports and exports, the cost
of living, the growth, development, pro-
ducton and prices of agricultural articles
at home and abroad, and upon wages, do
mestic and foreign. These comprehensive
| duties were committed to a subcommittee
consisting of Senators Aldrich, Allison,
HiScock, Jones, of Nevada, Harris and
/ Carlisle. OF this committee four are Re
/ publicans and two are Democrats. At the
outset it was agreed that the investigation
/ should not be conducted on partisan lines.
or any effort bc made to gain party advan-
/ tage from it. There was to be no minority
report made, for the majority agreed not to
report any fact that was not so clearly cs-
tablished as a fact as to be conceded 10y the
minority. NO expressions of opinion were
to be made in the report concerning the
economic or political bearings of the facts
! found. In other words, the facts, and
nothing but the facts, were to be sought
and presented.
The committee went about its work with
/ the aid of such eminent investigators and
statisticians as Labor Commissioner Car
roll ID. Wright, eN-Superntendent of Cen
sus Francis \. Walker, Edward Atkinson,
and DR.. Roland p. Falkner of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, who was appointed
to be the official statistician of the COM
mittce
Mr. Aldrich has now presented to the
Senate the first results in the shape of
! partial report. The committee decided to
! divide their work into two parts The first
part to include the investigation into prices
and wages on the first of each month for
the period from June /, lNN9, to September
l, 1891, inclusive. The report of the com
mittee now submitted. relates exclusively
to this first part of the investigation. The
investigation covered a period from June.
lNN9, to September. 1891. The results are
embodied IN the voluminous tables accom-
/ panyinS the report. Briefly stated. they
show that in seventy cities 2l4 articles. in
Guiding all the necessarieS of life, have de-
/ clined in average retail prices G4-lOO of one
| per cent: that the average wholesale prices
have declined 33-l0O of one per cent that
| agricultural prices advanced Is. 90 per cent.
and that the average of wages has advanced
81 of one per cent.
That there might be no mistake about
the course of retail prices, they were again
collected on May l. 1892, in three cities far
apart and dstinctively representative of
/ the manufacturing, the commercial and
the agricultural consumers-Fall River.
1 Chicago and Dubuque and they showed
! that 2l5 articles had declined an average
| of "a per cent, as compared with June.
| July and August, 1889. The articles of
which the retail prices were grouped were
! classified into food, clothes and clothing.
fuel and lighting, metals and implements.
lumber and building materials, drugs and
| chemicals, house furnishing goods and mis-
! cellaneouS nece>saries The committee an
nOmces as the result of its computation
/ Che higher prices of farm products appar-
entity not cutting much igurc) that 1.-THE
| cost of living of a family in ordinary cir
cumstances was 44-1OO of one per cent
less on September /, 1891, than on Sep
tember /, 1850
In fifteen leading occupations selected by
the committee average wages were found
to be 10 of per cent higher in September
1891, than during June, July and August,
1889. Care was also taken by the com
mittee to secure new and reliable statistics
of wages and the cost of living in Great
Britain. 1t was found that the cost of liv-
ing in Great Britain had increased o per
cent between June, 1889, and September,
1891, and that bakers, blacksmiths. cabi-
net makers, carpenters, laborers, machin-
lists, iron molders, painters and plumbers
get, on an average, II per cent more wages
here than in Great Britain
Such are the facts reported by six repu-
table members of the United States Sen
ate, Democrats uniting with Republicans
in efforts to secure their correctness, and
ndOrsing them as correct. The full report
can be obtained and these facts verified by
addressing Senator Aldrich or any other
member of the subcommittee.