Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-06-04
LACEY IN OPEN anti
His Personal Appeal to Sixth
District Voters Occasions
No Surprise.
Labor Statistics Difficult to Sc.
cure From the Smaller
Manufacturers.
History Of Recent Des Moines
Labor Troubles illustrates
Prosperity.
Special to Times-Rep,,blican

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, June 4.-The discovery
that John F. Lacey is engaged in max
ing personal appeal for opposition to
cummins in the Sixth district causes
little surprise here. 1t is known that
great efforts have been made to induce
he Iowa congressional delegation to
take hand in the fight Henderson
was freely consulted before he left on
his tour and had a great deal to do
with outlining the plan of campaign to
be pursued. An effort was made TO in
duce Senator Dolliyer to throw his influ-
ence against Cummins in the Tenth dis
trict. Even now the opponents of Cum
MINIS continue trying to get the friends
OF Dolllver to oppose Cummins On the
theory that he really wants to supplant
the Fort Dodge man. But for the fact
that Cummir.s counties which held early
conventions We're wise enough to go on
record as favoring Continuance in office
of both Deliver and Allison it is posi-
Die that the overtures made TO Dolitver
would have had some effect. DESPITE
the efforts of Lacey the Cummins peo-
PIE contend they will get Jasper county
and probably one or two others Of the
Sixth district They already have the
only county of the district which has
held convention The Cass county
situation is somewhat surprising Cass
has been under the domination of the
machine more or less. For political
| reasons II should support the. Ninth dis
trict candidate. The Cummins men
have not done one thing to Influence the
Ninth situation, preferring to leave the
district TO support John Herriott. as he
deserves TO be supported. But in Cass
There Is tendency te come bodily over
TO Cummins and to defy the machine
and abandon the district candidate.
Linn county has now tied itself up with
a candidate and its delegation cannc.
pc used for trading purposes. nus sat
! istiesi the Cummins people. The com
| mittee In charge of organizing the
| travelling mems Cummins clubs is al
work, and many of the travelling men of
the state are enrolling themselves.
c. +. Wennestrum, labor commission
er, iinfis that i, is more difficult to Sc
cure statistics from the small concerns
than from the large ones The Iowa
statute requires that statistics shall b..
collected from ali employers Of labor.
iarse and small. and the Legislature pre-
pared the blank which shall be MED
out These blanks GO TO W empowers
OF labor in factories. shops. hotels. res
n re ftffS
cry year. They must b. flied out or
the employers are liable 70 penalty.
But Il is found that while employers
OF .arge numbers OF persons in the larg-
er Factories Of me state are very
prompt in filing out the blanks ard are
not only ready but anxious that all the
information dssired shall go to the state
the small employers quite often hest
tate. II appears to be true tha, the
small employers are afraid that some III
the Information may leak cut or get in
to the hands Of persons who would
make wrong use Of IT, The state has
amply guarded against this. and II is
impossible that the information should
get into the hands Of persons not en-
titled to ii. One matter which ba,hers
the labor commissioner is that 1t has
been the custom to send out the blanks
each year when the re ports cover a BIZ
ennlal period This appears to bs a tiu-
plieation Of labor. The blanks might
be Sent out once every TWO years and
be made 70 cover a tWo-year period and
thus the labor III the office be greatly
reduced. The attorney general may be
asked Tor an opinion as 10 the latitude
allowed the commissioners in this mat
ter. The law does not provide for an
nual collection of statistics
Al a recent national meeting Of labor
commissioners in St Louis there was
some discussion Of the question Of varv-
ng the character of the questions to be
submitted IL the employers. 1t is found
that in good many states, and Iowa
among them there Is a specific statute
prescribing the blanks to be sent ont
and the same blanks go gu. year after
year Il is obvious that if the collectors
OF statistics We're allowed To change
these blanks from year to year they
woud be able to pursue some one line
of investigation and then take up an
other-and this in addition TO securing
the ordinary statistics of number OF em-
ployes. wages and labor conditions gem
orally. The plan of the Commissioners
OF the states to mrke their inquities
conform To the work beng done ~ the
nauonal commissioner of statistics can
only be carried out when there is such
fleNibility to the work The blanks to
be sent out each year might be pre-
pared by the state labor commissioner
and be subject to the approval u the
executive council or other COMPETENT
body The use of the present employ
er's blank results in going over the
same ground year after year and thus
the usefulness of the department is
partly nega,ived. The attention Of the
next legislature will be called to this
matter by persons who are Interested
The biennial report of the commission
er will be out before the legislature
meets
Recent history of labor troubles in
Des Moines illustrates the prevailing
nrOEnhrifv The oIn Is ba