The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-10-07
LABOR IN NEW YORK.
WAGES HIGHER THAN THEY WE'RE
BEFORE THE PASSAGE OF THE
M'kINlEY BILL.

Labor Commissioner Peck, One of Cleve-
lands Appointees, Tells Plain Truth
to New York workingmen-Benefts of
Protection Made Clear-Greatest In
dustrial Production Ever Known.
Mr.. Peck, the state labor commissioner
tho makes the folloaUing report, is q
Cleveland Democrat. hdving been dp-
pointed to the Office he noao holds by
Grocer Cleveland in 1883.
The following is the official abstract of
the report of New York State Labor Com
missioner Hon. Charles F. Peck. This re-
port has attracted so much attention that
the official abstract prepared by Commits
sioner Peck himself is presented herewith
in full Especial interest attaches to this
report because its author, although a
Democrat, appointed to the Office which he
now holds by Mr.. Cleveland while gov
ernor of New York, commends the Nc
Kinley tariff and shows in his official re-
port that under it there has been a won
derful increase in manufactures, employ
ment and wages of employees. The report
and its author have been most bitterly at
tackled by the Democrats, committee ap-
pointed by the national committee to eX-
anime into it having brought Commits
sioner Peck before the courts because of
his refusal to disclose to them the indi-
vidual business statements made to him
in confidence by manufacturers, upon
which he based his report:
In pursuance of law the undersigned has
completed the work attendant upon the is
suing of the ninth annual report of the bu-
reau of statistics of labor, and herewith
the same. Its completion has been neces-
sarily delayed by reason of the unusual
amount and important character of the
work undertaken. OF all the varied sub
jects investigated and reported upon during
the bureaus nine years existence none has
borne closer relationship to the welfare
of the wage earners of the state or fur
nished the public in general with statistical
data so valuable to comprehensive under
standing of the practical workings of the
one great economic question of the present
day than the tariff Tariff, whether levied
for revenue only" or for revenue and the
incidental protection of American manu-
facturers and American labor" is certain
aquestion of such vast import as to enlist
the most thorough and dispassionate in
veStigation at the hands of the American
people. And while the present report has
under the law been confined to the state of
New York, its results can but be taken as
indicative OF the conditions existing in
every section OF our country where manu-
featuring and industrial pursuits are fol-
lowed. With the exception of a limited
number OF the great Industries carried on
in our country, no state in the Union offers
field so varied or extensive within which
the statlstlcian can carry on his work with
greater assurances of intelligent success
a m iS tp1 Inv + bc tat ON
Within its borders are to be found by far
the greatest number of manufacturing es-
Establishments, the most varied industries
and the largest number of individual en-
ployers and wage earnerS of any of the
forty-four commOnYealths embraced in the
United States. So that whatever the Stats
tical data collected and tabulated may
prove, relative to the effects of protection"
on labor and wages in New York, may just
ly be taken as fairly representative of the
conditions throughout the whole country.
Not for many years had the subject of
the tariff assumed such great proportions
as attached to it in 1888. Always an I'M
portant and interesting question of political
economies for discussion by our statesmen,
yet by reason of the president of the United
States making it the sole subject of his an
nual message to congress in December, 1887
interest in it became general among the
masses, and memorable campaign of ed
ing months of 1883. 1t is not the province
of the undersigned to here discuss the
merits of Il protective tariff" or to pro-
nounce for or against the public policy of a
tariff for revenue only" A majority of
the American people declared by their
votes IN 1883 in favor OF the latter policy,
and yet their candidate was defeated by
reason OF our electoral system, the
minority candidate and a congress in
sympathy with the chief executive
being elected. The canvass was carried on
with relentless vigor by both sides, and
public interest was unusually aroused in a
question of great public policy rather than
as to the personality of the candidates
The selfish business interests of the manu-
facturers and their employees were ap-
pealed to. Larger production, wider mar
kets and increased profits were promised
the employers. More work, higher wages
shorter hours of labor and unexampled
prosperity were among the inducements
held out to the wage earners by the advo-
Gates OF protection" On the other hand,
the advocates of the policy of a tariff for
revenue only" contended that only through
reform" of our tariff laws-i. e., a re-
ductlon OF our revenues to basis of raising
just sufficient money to defray the expenses
OF the government, honestly and economi-
cally admlnlStered-could all of these de-
slrable results be attained. Almost in
Vulnerable queries were made of this
bureau by the great writers upon economic
subjects, the leaders of thought and dis
cussion in our pulpits, on the rostrum and
through the public press, for reliable data
and statistics bearing upon this very inn
portant subject.
And it was by reason of this situation, no
less than with view to establish the truth
or falsity of the premises taken by the
two great political parties of the country,
that the undersigned finally decided to
make the subject of 1.-THE Effect of the
Tariff on Labor and Wages" one of special
investigation. 1t may be urged by some
that the investigation made has not been
broad enough or of sufficient scope to fairly
warrant the deductions arrived at, by rea-
son OF the fact that the cost of living, in
Guiding the necessaries that go to make it
up, have been given no place in the work
1t should be borne in mind, however, that
1t has been my endeavor to investigate
only that phase of the subject which re-
lates simply to the increase or decrease of
production and the rates of wages paid
The period covered by Investigation in
cludes the year Immediately prior to the
enactment OF what is termed the "McKin-
ley bill, and the year Immediately follow
ing its becoming law. That is, the data
upon which the report has been made was
for the year commencing Sept. l, 1889, up
to and including the 3lst of August, 1890,
and the year commencing Sept. l, 1890, up
to and including the 3lst of August, 1891
The methods employed to secure the neces-
sary data were almost entirely those of
the blank system, which has proved so sat-
isfactory in nearly all of the previous in
vestigations carried on by the bureau