Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1902-08-09

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
wnen IL comes to distinguish between
| cause and effect. This popularity
has manifested itself to a 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
| inediately these pretended friends of
| the downtrodden wage Garner rush
forward with the cry that prices have
been advanced by the tariff and the
| trusts until starvation threatens tho
| r eople, for with the Use in expenses
there has been no equivalent gain in
wages.
| AS matter of fact, it must be
clear to any man of intelligence that
| it is due to the unprecedenteLly high
| wages and full employment of all Ia
| Dor that prices advance. Commod-
| tiles would not long show a high lev
| ell of values if no one purchased. This
point is clearly shown whenever
corner" is attempted. With the in
| fated price there comes restricted
| buying until the normal position is re-
gained. During the years 1898 to
| 1897 prices fel. 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
1t is only within a month that re-
vival from low. prices has appeared.
To quote the non-partisan t'Dun's
Review" on its own index number:
1.-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
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 IL
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 ini-
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 q 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
| isAtion this winter. But unfortun-
ately the foreign sympathizers in this
country are not taking q prominent
| part In the government, except from
| the editorial canctum.
One point in the discussion of
wages and prices is of considerable
sociological and economic Importance,
yet 1t is generally ignored in discus
sions. Among q large number of
American people there is a certain
| feeling that office work is more dig
nified than manual labor and socially
superior. This is most noticeable in
the families. of artisans where the
children have received common
school education Their mothers ad-
vocate the boys accepting positions
| in banks, mercantile houses, etc,