St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-20

in 1850, on account of the war demand
for iron and coal. Cotton and tobacco,
on the contrary, were lower. This
shows the different influences operat-
ing on prices of different articles col
lected in the same columns, added up,
averaged and demonstrated OH. On the
whole, the year 1860 would give the
most normal basis Tor comparison. 1t
was year of
Peace and Tranquility
| and general business activity. 1t shows
us $40 in the price aggregate, against
262 for 1885, Not a great difference, it
must be admitted, to build labered
theory on. rs
have taken here articles of great
magnitude in international commerce
and in home consumption. Two are
agricultural and three industrial prod
ncts. The difference between 1850
and 1885 is only As, on basis of 3l0.G If
we take the year 1890, with high iron
prices. we get 290, difference of 20
only. .He,
A collection of 45 articles, food.
textiles, minerals and Sundries tor
| which 1867 is taken as 1907 averages
only IS for 1851; but for 1854. OH the
contrary. 1O2; for 1878 they show Ill;
for 1881 they show So, and for 1SS5sfall
to 73. This Is not much below the level
of 1851, when silver was at a premium
over gold, and few of the revoutioniZ-
ing Improvements IN productive meth
DDS had been set in operation. A.
Sauerbeck. whose computation from
the Statistical Society journal serves in
this instance, gives the average price
| level (taking as basis 100 for lS67-76)
follows: 6
1913 to 1852 81
1898 TO loo2... ........... ................. ~
1856 TO 1875 ... 101
1876 to 1885. -. ....... ................... So
Whatever we may say of the method
OF obtaining them, the Index numbers
of the different compilers show the
present price level to be not very differ
ent from that prevailing before the
Crlmean war.
But how about that commodity which,
according to all the schools, is the chief
lcemaker-labor?
Labor is the only commodity which
has constantly been rising. From 1850
to the present time the rise has been
continuous, and has maintained itself
all over the modern industrial world.
Labor is Higher
today than in the sixties and seventies,
certainly so per cent over the low
priced period of 1850 in Germany, France
and England. 1t is 100 per cent higher
in the United States.
II the fall i'll silver Tor It's equivalent,
the appreciation in the price of gold
were the cause of the fall in prices, the
rate of wages would have been affected
likewise. A general cause must have
general effect. What is of greatest i'm
pOrtance is the fact that wages have
risen in so high ratio only in the gold
paying countries. In the countries adj
herring to the silver standard the rate of
wages has been stagnant, or undergone
but slight changes. All this can be
demonstrated to certainty, from which
1 must abstain now for want of space
The rise in wages is absolute proof
that the fall in the price of commod-
tiles is due 10 invention and science. to
the most forcible application of mind 20
production the world has ever seen.
This has made labor so productive that
1t can demand and obtain higher pay,
and at the same time produce at greatly
reduced cost. To show this conclusive
ly we must abandon Index numbere"
and averages. and follow the safe road
OF comparison by concrete cases.
To find case calculated to cover all
the elements in the discussion we have
only to fall back upon cotton and cotton
manufactures, and show their price re-
lations in the two periods mentioned:
Raw cotton. per cwt., shilIings.. SGT So
Cotton, plain, per 1916 yards. ...... $50 10
Cotton, printed 100 yards. 80. .... $40 25
The gold price of cotton is the same as
before the war. The price of the
goods made out of the cotton, i. e., the
cost of the labor expended on turning
the cotton into goods. shows the remark
able fall indicated above. The greater
the proportion of labor TO the value of
the material, the greater the
Decline I'm the Price.
The raw cotton is equal IN price. In
the yarn we note a fall of per cent: in
the plain goods, of "a per cent, and in
the printed OF ~ per cent. The cotton
is subject to the competition of couun-
tries which are on the silver basis.
India has been the chief competitor.
The decline in the value of the rupee
has haunted to no small degree the i'm
agination of the cotton planter in Amer
lea. If the fall in the price of silver
were the cause of the fall in prices, then
certainly cotton ought to have fallen
correspondiEgIY. Silver was over Cid an
ounce i'll 1854; it was only 42d in 1889.
The price of cotton, however, had not
varied. No one can deny that the de-
cline which has happened since 1889 is
due exclusively to the two phenomenal
crops or 1890 and 1891, which left an
unconsumed surplus on hand, after the
low crop year of 1892, of nearly 3.500,O 600
bales. But the labor and cost of turning
the cotton into yarn, the yarn into
cloth, the cloth into prints, is all added
in gold-paying England. which regu-
lates the price Of manufactures for all
other exporting countries. If the the
cries which have been at the root of all
this silver agitation were sound, then a
rise ought to be manifest il that part of
the prices which Is added by labor.
earning daily rates varying from so to
100 per cent higher than in the early
years of the fiftieS.
No better proof need be given of the
economic fallacies generated by blindly
following statistical compilations than
in this illustration of prices of cotton
and cotton manufactures. This is fur
Their illustrated by holding the results
OF this examination of a concrete case
against what have shown as the usual
statistical method, that of averaging
prices of a large number of commodities
entirely unrelated and discrepant in
their Importance as articles of cOusump-
ton, ana drawing comparisons from
them without regard even to war and
other extraordinary influences on prices
If experience must be the basis for all
reasoning, facts must be the basis for
economic deductions. But what are
facts? Mere statistical tabulatlonS: and
the indiScriminate use made OF them is
not an unfailing guides to lead the legis
lator. j. SCHOENHoF.
New York, July Z, 1898.
Twin City scandinavian Singers
Excursion to the Worlds Fair
On July 25th a special train will leave
Minneapolis at s p. NJ, St. Paul at $3.50
D. m, for Chicago, via the Wisconsin
Central line. Tickets on this excursion
are good to return any time up to Nov.
18th.
The committee in charge of this ex-
cursiOn urge their friends to accompany
them on this occasion, as a good time is
assured. and the rate will be as low as