The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1902-08-01
WAGES AND EXPENSES
SOME INCREASE OF THE PRICES
OF NEcEssARIEs.
Along With the Greater Consumption,
Resulting from Prosperous Condi-
tions, the Cost Of Living Is Some
what Higher Than During Free
Trade Times.

With what marvellous regularity do
free-trade writer's seize the wrong
horn of the dilemma, and yet how Sc
renely they bob up after the most
disastrous fall. There seems to he
an utter lack of discernment among
these foes of the nation, especially
when 1t comes to distinguish between
cause and effect. This popularity
has manifested itself to striking de-
gree in numerous editorial comments
on "Dun's" index number, which
showed the cost of living to be at
the highest point of the decade. I'M
nediately these pretended friends OF
tho downtrodden wage Garner rush
forward with the cry that prices have
been advanced by the tariff and the
trusts until starvation threatens the
reople, for with the Use in expenses
there has been no equivalent gain in
wages.
AS a matter of fact, it must be
clear to any man of intelligence that
it is due to the unprecedentedly high
wages and full employment OF all Ia
Dor that prices advance. Commod-
tiles would not long show high lev
ell of values if no one purchased. This
point is clearly shown whenever a
corner" is attempted. With the in
fiated price there comes restricted
buying until the normal position is re-
gained. During the years 1898 to
1897 prices fell to the lowest point on
record because there was no demand
and the articles unaffected by any
change in tariff were as badly de-
pressed as those from which the duty
had been removed, since the buying
power weakened by idle workmen.
The flood of imports that came in at
that time has just been absorbed.
Wool is conspicuous in this class, for
it is only within a month that re-
vival from low prices has appeared.
To quote the non-partisan "Dun's
Review" on its own index number:
THE cost of living has now reached
the highest point CT the decade, not
withstanding the cheapening of many
manufactured goods through i'm
proved processes, and the absence of
undue imitation in various classes Of
steel products which was conspicuous
in the spring of 1900 and brought
about the subsequent severe reaction.
No artificial stimulus is responsible
for the present high level of manu-.
featured products, and, aside from
some rise in food products due to
short crops, the present position OF
the index number may be attributed
to sound business conditions and full
employment of labor at high wages.
In attaining the highest point for
over ten years, the index number
truly gives an index of national con-
ditions. The cost of the necessities
of life naturally tends to advance just
in proportion to the ability of the
people to consume"
Moreover, in it's detailed compari-
son of prices, the same authority
shows that boots and shoes now sell
at about 80 per cent of the price in
1888, finished products Of iron and
steel at l3 per cent of the prices pre-
vailing in 1887, wooden goods SO per
cent of the prices of 1860, and cotton
goods 62 per cent of the level Al
years ago. In other words, while
the active demand sustains the gen
eral level of quotations at a high
point, the very products of industries
that have been developed by the mi
quitous tariff are obtained at striking
concessions. The late William Nc
Kinley promised that a protected in
dustry would not only provide work
at good wages for an army of men,
but that in few years the prices Of
the articles produced would be put
below the level prevailing before the
enactment of such helpful legislation.
Records prove that these predictions
have been most wonderfully fulfilled,
and with true American energy not
only the home market, but foreign
markets are now supplied. In some
cases the development has been
slower than in others, and in the
weaker industries it would be easy
to precipitate disaster by adverse leg
islation this winter. But unfortun-
ately the foreign sympathizers in this
country are not taking prominent
part in the government, except from
the editorial ranctum
One point in the discussion of
wages and prices is Of considerable
sociological and economic Importance,
yet it is generally ignored in discus
sions. Among large number of
American people there is a certain
feeling that once work is more dig
nified than manual labor and socially
superior. This is most noticeable in
the families of artisans where the
children have resolved a common
school education. Their mothers ad-
vocate the boys accepting positions
in banks, mercantile houses, etc.,
where the opportunity for advance.
ment is slow owing to the enormous
force employed. Bookkeepers and
men in similar positions work all
their lives at the same desk, never
earning more than SIS or $40 a week
whereas in the lines of productive la.
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