The times., 1898-02-01
Our Wind Gage.

| and a great banker. We believe thao
| ta regards himself as both; but he is
| never likely To shine in the role OF
| statistician. Indeed we are afraid that
| if he has been in the habit of making
! mn his Chicago bank statements with
| the same comparative regard to facts
| that he has shown in the data used by
| him i'm his recent Philadelphia speech,
the Government and his directors
ought TO set an expert at work on
| them.
The strong point in that address, oi
so Mr. Gage seems to have regarded
it, is his scholarly and erudite attempt
TO destroy contention of the bimetal-
lists. which is that of late years gold
has doubled in purchasing power.
while labor and commodities, meas
ured in gold, have shrunk in their pow
er to pay debts and taxes, correspond
ingly The manner in which Mr.. Gage
meets this argument is recommended
for the consider alton Of the Statistical
Society at it's next meeting. And this
is the method OF Gage:
He admits that between 1872 and 1891
prices of commodities fell, on the av-
cr-age. 27fs per cent; but asserts, on
the alleged authority of Labor Com
missioner Carroll ID. Wright, that in
the same period wages advanced 10 per
cent Contrasting these two assump-
tions with deep and startling wisdom,
Mr. Gage deduces the proposition that,
considering the higher scale of wages
and the lower plane Of prices, labor
must have derived a great economic
benefit, which ii now enjoys.
As usual the Secretary is 'Tetroact-
i've" Granted that wages did increase
and prices fan from 1872 to 1891, The
former only can be true as "a general
average The currency contraction
panic of 1873 sent wages down; bur
they We're gradually restored. and the
fun force of decentralization was not
felt by the country until Cleveland, in
| TIE interest of a scheme to finally fas
ten the single gold standard upon the
| nation. deliberately brought-on the gold
ring panic of 1898.
| The decade previous had been one Of
| great national activity. 1t had wit
messed the rise Of the Southern iron
coal and lumber industries, and the
! practical completion Of our Western
| and Northwestern railway systems
Prosperity was general, although re-
| Gently affected injuFiously by the en-
actment of the Mckinley tariff law.
| But. as everybody knows, there was
| plenty of employment for willing
| hands; domestic and foreign means
were being invested freely; the whole
continent was a scene of busy indus
! try The very zenith OF this prosperity
was reached in 1891, and very probably
al that time wages may have been d
shade higher than they had been twen-
ty years before: bcause labor was in
active demand. and in places where it
was most so skilled labor was hard to
get, even at maximum remuneration.
We shall not take the trouble to dis
cuss Mr.. Gage on this occasion further
than to remark that his audacity in
taking the condition OF the working
class at the end of the lS12-1S9l period
as the measure Of what il is today is
TOO refreshing 80 be passed by without
expression of admiration. However,
if he would contrast the number
of the employed and unemployed in
1881 and the average Of wages then
with the same factors al the present
time his remarks would be more to the
purpose, and could not be as mislead-
ing. Since 1891 the diminuendo move
ment OF commodities has gone on, and
the crescendo one of gold has contin-
ued more than proportionately But
there has not been any average ad-
vance in the wages of labor; there has
been radical decline. Finally there
are not more than half as many people
in regular employment as there were
in 1891
One object which we have in saying
these things at this time is to warn
Democrats in Congress that exactly
such prosperity msinformation as men
like Mr.. Gage are uttering is what is
intended to be disseminated by the
Twelfth Census if the Administration
can secure its organization and issue
under strictly Republican partisan con-
troll just as all national interests and
necessities in legislation are being ig-
nored in order TO cover the failure of
the present fiscal system. so would the
party in power conceal the results of
their vicious financial policy in falsI-
flying the returns OF agriculture. COM
merce and industry if they could get
the chance.
But they should not be allowed it.
There is Democratic power enough in
Congress to say that the next census
shall be fair, truthful and non-parti-
san, or that no census bill shall pass