Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-12-13

cialiy called for IL and gave MS the needed
help. In It we give the cost of production
of iron and steel and some other things,
the wages of the workmen, and how they
spend their money, and what it costs them
to live. A similar volume on textiles and
glass, specially ordered by congress. came
out In 1891. Perhaps you have some idea
now of how these questions daily poured
on us, asking for a snap Judgment, strike
u.s."
A Priori Reasoning.
Enough. You have convinced me that
no ordinary man can master the subject,
and that we know very little to a certain
ty; but, as to the criticisms on the census.
surely some of the figures In it arc either
cooked or badly taken. For instance.
after several censuses had shown the in
crease of the colored people to be about 81
per cent in a decade, the last three say that
the increase suddenly fell to per cent,
then increased to SO per cent and then fell
of to IS per cent. Who can believe thatf"
There you get into your priori rea-
soning again, which is of no value in q
matter of statistics. That variation which
you think impossible has repeatedly been
proved in other countries. The census of
1870 10 admitted to have been bad. Allow
for that, and the rest is quite credible"
But take the increase of native whites.
A certain rate was proved by several sue
cessive censuses. Then came an immiera-
ton of about 5000, 900 foreigners in
1ss0-9o, and yet no corresponding increase
of the population. as IL the native increase
had stopped. Surely that is impossible.
why impossible? 1t has happened be-
fore. Immigration amounted to little be-
fore 1880, and the population doubled in a
term of years. The a priori reasoners
might have said, and some of them did
say, that with the great immigration after
1910 the population would double in
much shorter time, but 1t did not. There
are many reasons for thinking that just as
immigration increases native increase de-
clines. There is a serious displacement of
labor when laborcrs come in too fast. /
trust, however, that way will be found
to check these tremendous irruptions of
foreigners. Ono hundred years ago or q
little moro Franco had twice as many
people as England. 1t was expected that
this would continue on account of her
much larger area and fertile lands, but it
has not turned out so. They have figured
it down very fine in France, and a few
hundred more deaths than births cause
much comment among her statesmen, but
just the same Jacques Bonhomme will not
have larger family than he can start in
life according to his ideas. In Ireland,
too, there was n rapid increase and over
population, but when the population was
reduced more than a third the native in
crease declined. When room was made for
more children, there were fewer of them
So you see that n priori reasoning is of no
avail against established facts, and in this
department of labor we intend to take par
ticular caro- to get all the facts"
The Bureau Chief.
BY Il short act, approved Juno "a, 1854,
congress created bureau of labor in the
interior department and limited the ex-
pcnse to S25, 900 per annum. but its work
was so highly approved that in 1888 IL was
raised TO the rank of a department of Ia
Dor In January, 1885, the now eminent
statistician, Hon. Carroll Davidson
Wright, was appointed first commissioner
of the bureau, and he remains ut the head
of the department. Beyond the fact that
he was born in Dumbarton, y. H, July
%, 1910, served honorably in the civil
! war, became colonel of the Fourteenth
New Hampshire infantry and afterward
served in the Massachusetts state senate,
there is little of interest in his life previous
to 1873, when he was put at the head of
the state bureau of labor. Soon thereafter
his reputation became national, and now
IL Is worldwide, his reports and conclu-
siOns being quoted in Europe with even
more confidence than in this country, as
they arc not there the subject of partisan
contention. Beginning in 1856, the bureau
| and department of labor have issued nine
| annual reports and six special reports, and
the best proof of their excellence is found
| in the fact that confidence in them grows
| with their use. 1t is pity, of course, that
we cannot have the facts to date, and since
| listening to Mr.. Weaver feel a personal
regret thereat. In view of the loose float
| ing statements on the unemployed, get
| ting the real facts would have been n first
class SCOOP
The first annual, issued in 1856, on in
| dustrial depressions, is just beginning to
| be appreciated at its full worth. The sec
ond, on convict labor, was ordered by con-
gross, and it is no disparagement of the
work to say that the figures have satisfied
| neither party to the controversy. Then
| followed ANIMALS on working women in
| large cities, 1855; railroad labor, 1889, and
| industrial education, 1892, besides those
| already mentioned. There are also spe-
| Gals ON marriage and divorce, the Gothen-
| burg system of liquor traffic and other
subjects of popular interest. And, surely,
If the American people ever get ready to
base their political conclusions on actual
| and demonstrated facts, these volumes
| will prove of immense value in dissipating
| popular errors. 1t will be found, / think,
that many of the supposed evils are purely
| imaginary. but that few are really great
| er than the people generally suppose.
| However, as Mr.. Weaver says, Let us not
indulge in priori reasoning on statistical
subjects" ]. b. PARKE.
An Argument