Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-15
FALSE OFFICIAL STATISTICS.

Charges of the graVest nature have
been brought against Carroll d.
Wright, Chief of the United States Bu-
reau of Labor, involving the accuracy
of the statistics issued under his au-
thority. These charges come from sew
eral sources that cannot be ignored.
Mr.. Wright's statistics nave been re-
jected as inaccurate and misleading by
statisticians of high standing here and
abroad and have beer especially vigor-
ously attacked by Mr.. H. l.. Bliss in
the American Journal of Sociology
and the Journal of Political Economy.
Mr.. Wright is charged with juggling
figures and publishing inaccurate sta
tistics. The gravity of this charge will
be appreciated from the fact that the
American people, especially in politi-
cal matters, have always accepted Mr..
Wright's official statistics without
question and without the faintest sus-
picion of their accuracy and entire i'm
partiaiity, these statistics having form
ed the basis of the majority of statis-
tical arguments in political campaigns
for many years past. Hence the ac-
cusation against Mr.. Wright, which
comes from high sources and seems we'll
founded, is nothing less than startling.
In Col. Wrights work just publish
ed, Outlines of Practical Sociology"
he is accused by Mr.. Bliss of deliberate
effort to deceive the public inasmuch
as he repeats errors and falsiications
previously proven and to which atten-
ton had been called. This work is
caustically reviewed by Prof. Albion
w. Small. editor of the American
Journal of Sociology and head of the
department of sociology of the Univer-
sity of Chicago.
One of The falsifcations to which
Prof. Small calls attention is that of
census statistics of child labor. These
falsifed statistics Col. Wright is ac-
cused of quoting as proof of a great
decrease in child labor, notwithstand-
Ing an investigation of his own depart
ment shows the contrary. This inves-
tigation was made in pursuance of a
joint resolution of the Fifty-third Con-
gress, which evidently desired more re-
liable information than was obtainable
from the census. Notwithstanding
methods calculated to conceal the full
increase of female and child labor, the
data obtained by this investigation IN
Dictated a decided increase in the en-
ployment of children as we'll as fe-
males. In his report Col. Wright is
accused of resorting to juggled nsu
statistics to discredit the results of this
investigation of his own department.
In his book above mentioned Mr..
Wright uses these same juggled and
false census statistics as proof of a
great decrease in child labor and that
women are not taking the places of
sion to the investigation of his own
department, which shows that in the
establishments Investigated the WO-
MEN WE'RE INCREASING FASTER
THAN THE MEN, THE BOYS FAST
Err THAN EITHER, AND THE GIRLS
FASTEST OF ALL.
Mr.. Bliss gives the following inter
esting facts on this subject:
The censuses of 1870 and 1880 classified
a. child workers all children from 10 to
IL years of age having gainful occupations,
while at the last census the classification
was changed so as to include only chill
dren from 10 to ii years of age. There is,
besides. another difference, which does not
appear in the figures, resulting from a
change in the question as to age on the
schedules of enumerators of population,
the question in 1890 being age nearest
birthday" while at preceding censuses the
question was age last birthday
Thus the number of child workers re-
ported in 1870 and 1880 included all such
workers under Is, for they would be re-
ported as Is until the sixteenth birthday.
At the census of 1890 there would be in
cluded children from 10 to 141k years of
age only.
Thus there i in tact = year and a half