The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-08
THE CORRECT STATEMENT

To the Editor of the Globe
we notce IN your issue of this date a state
lneht mat 1t was "a foolish exaggeration' for
speaker before the Ohio Democratic con-
vention to assert that cat present : 06o oNO nP
men are out of employment and looking for
work" in this country
This is true; it was foolish and worse than
useless eXaggeration.
You go on to say that before the last miners
| strike the latest investigation shows the
actual a6 facts to be that something less than
100000 men were reported as out of work
| and looking for employment
PROBABLY you are correct in this, too. 1t is
douptlul II even that number of able-bodied
men were out of work and really Cooking"
for employment at that time.
You say that with a population of 70 600 600
people an average of something less than
0ne-half of l percent out of work is not a
large one. Again you are right.
Now let look into the assertions of both
yourself and the wild-eyed orator who made
his foolish eXageration before the Ohio con-
Ventlon. We have already said that he was
way OF" the truth. Now, is it not fact
that there are only something less" than
one-ffth of our 70,0000 900 people who are
working menin any sense of the word? Would
1t not be nearer correct to say that 400 600 is
$40 per cent of 1000, 900; or to use round
numbers like the rest of you, we will put
1t thus: Something less" than per cent
of the working men of our country were idle
and looking for work before the last miners,
strike?
By July it is probable that about per
cent or them VIII be either looking for work
or laying off a strike.
All we workingmen want is to have the
facts will take the consequences We
think the G o e is right in it's statement
of the condition when it says only one-half of
l per cent of US are "out of work" and
Cooking for it,
All of us want big pay, and too many want
as little work as possible.
This applies to ''go,dbugs-' and "Silyer ia
| natics" alike. The rich man, like the poor
man, too often asks more wages, than he is
worth.
1 will hazard the assertion that but very
few of our people or have ever long been
"out of work." and honestly looking for
employment"
Did not the o b make the percentage
about six times too small, while the Demo-
Popfree silver orator made it about twelve
times too big?
The o b e, as usual, is long way in
the lead when it comes to veracity. Please
give the straight truth in future, dear
G | o b e. and not something less than" the
real conditions. Sincerely yours,
St. Anthony Park, Mimi, July 6, 1897.
This correspondent always writes in
a fashion both fair and entertaining,
but we do not find in this instance
that we have any mistake to correct
Our statement was that if little less
than 100000 men, not including the
striking miners, are out of employment
this is an average of about one-half
of 1 per cent of our population. That
was the assertion made, and it is strict
ly true. Whether one wishes to make
population the basis of such calcula-
ton or the number of persons actually
at work in the country, is another
question, that does not affect the &C
curacy of our article. AS a matter of
fact, the census of 1890 showed that
there were at that time engaged in
gainful pursuits in this country 22,735,-
Gil persons. Our correspondent will
therefore see that his estimate of IA,
100000 is also way Off" Of course, the
number reported by the census has
been increased largely in the seven
years since it was taken.
1t matters nothing, however, whether
we say u of 1 per cent of the entire
population or ~ per cent of those
engaged in gainful occupations in 1887
are out Of employment. The main point
is to correct an eXaggeration that is
especially hurtful and intended to do
harm. The hardships of the unemploy-
ed, or, rather, Of that fraction Of the
unemployed who really want work and
cannot get 1t, are grievous enough
without multiplying them unnecessar-
lily. In this our correspondent and the
G l o b e, as in most things, are in
cordial agreement.