The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-09-13
LIVING AND WAGES.

Showing Where the Party of Free Trade
Has put the American workIuEman.
Nsv York Tribune
Tho statement that the cost Of living
has decreased less than 10 per centsInce
1890, when wages were as high rs they
ever had boen except In Z deprecated
currency. seems almost incredible to
some who fail to consider what elements
are included. But facts are stubborn,
and records OF market prices cannot DO
altered TO suit nnybody's theories. The
same quantities Of several hundred ar
ticleS, covering more than nino-tenths
Of the cOst OF living, which cost 500 90
two years ago, cost In the very Same
New York Markets $S4 so last week-a
fall OF Ga per cent. In this statement
tho relative importance OF all articles
quoted, as they onter into the con-
sumption Of the people, Is taken into
account
1t Is often forgotten that the prices Of
1892 were, as tho Tribune repeatedly
declared during the presidential cam.
paigu, about aa favorable TO the con-
sumers as had ever been known in the
country. The general range had been
q shade lower for short time In 1885.
and also for a short time in 1896. But,
on tho whole, there had never been q
year, at least within hall a century, In
which the dollar would buy moro. all
articles considered, than in the year
1902, and that was cheapness con-
sistent with tho highest rate OF wages
ever paid and the highest general pros.
perity ever attained. Enormous pro-
ductlon had pushed wheat aud also
cotton down 10 tho lowest monthly
averages then ever recorded, meats and
vegetables and dairy products were on
the whole abundant and cheap, doinos-
tic competition had reduced tho prices
OF almost all manufactured products,
not to the panic range nor go low that
millions OF the workers sought EN-.
ployment in vain, but lower than they
had over boon in n time OF prosperity.
Without going into details Ut length,
the general statement OF Senator
Aldrich's report may be cited, that food
constitutes about Al per cent Of the coat
OF living, rcnt about 10 per cent, aud
clothing also about Is per cent Rents
nave not yet decided to any extent.
Most articles OF food sell at retail about
as high rs In 1902, and somo are higher.
Clothing has been reduced in cost. and
1t was recently shown that tho average
for various woollen cloths was abou,
"a per cent lower than In 1892. but
print cloths are only IA per cent. lower,
standard sheetings are at the same price
as in 1902, and though ginghams and
some other articles have declined moro
than 90 par cent, tho average for cotton
goods Is loss. But II all clothing, being
is per cent Of the whole. were one-ffth
lower now than In 1892, the difference
in tho cost OF living would be only per
cent
These facts explain why the fall in
wages has not been and cannot be CON-
pensatcd by the cheapness Of products.
j he cost OF food depends largely upon
arrangements for retail distribution.
and largely upon tho crops. Ronts
must in tho end be affected by per-
manent decline in wages, but yield very
slowly, and only after vacant houses
for q season or two have proved that
people cannot continue to pay the old
rates. The cost OF daily transporta.
ton, Of water, fuel and light, OF local
government, Of religion and societies
and schooling, docs not vary quickly
because wages fall. The working peo-
pie have to bear, ut least for some
time, tho curtailment OF their means OF
living without any corresponding de-
cline in tho cost OF living.
What tho change in wages has boon
may DO roughly inferred from the vol
ume OF business transacted. IN tho
first week OF September last year busi-
ness was barely beginning to recover
from tho worst OF tho panic, and tho
daily average OF payments through oil
clearing houses was smaller by 81, 0O0,-
600, or about rs per cent. than 1t Is
now. But In the same week Of 1872 tho
daily average was SIS. 900, 900 last week,
n decline OF 20 per cent 1t Is not I'M
probable that this fairly measures the
purchasing power OF the people III CON-
parison with their purchasing power
two yenrs ngo. II this direct loss is 20
nor cent, tho people got back less than
a third OF il in cheapness Of products.
and at tho expense OF losses to the far:
ners, manufacturers. merchants and
tho millions OF workers who seek work