Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-10-17
STATISTICAL JUGGLER
The Republicans, Being In a
Hole, Call on Colonel Wright.
THE DESIRED RESULTS OBTAINED

How WFight's Reputation Is sus-
tanned.
When the Republicans get in a tight
place, due to discomfort from high
lily, they send for Carroll ID. Wright.
They state their troubles to him and
ask him to fix things up. He smiles
SUCCESSFULLY and says he will try. If
he is successful, and he usually is, the
Republicans see that his reputation as
a statistical authority does not suffer.
no matter how devious and crooked his
methods. He gets the required result,
is promoted to the highest position and
is hailed as the statistical savior Of
mankind. The Republicans understand
their business as we'll as Colonel
Wright does his business.
y year or so ago the Republicans be-
came desperate. The census statistics
of manufactures instead of showing a
substantial advance from 1890 to 1900
showed a decline in wages of ~ per
cent. As Dingley bill trusts were mul-
tiplying and We're raising prices rapid
Is and greatly increasing the cost of
living wise Republicans saw trouble
ahead. They consulted with their old
friend, Colonel Wright, whose methods
had juggled the 1890 census figures so
that they showed a substantial rise in
wages and who supposed that he had
the 1900 census fixed to show Il SINH
lar advance. They told him that he
must somehow make better showing
for the wage Garner either by raising
wages or by reducing prices or by
both. Get your labor bureau busy"
they said, land do your best for US.
Discredit the census figures and ask
the people to wait for the only statis-
tics which will be worthy of considera-
ton. We will boost you as an author
1ty in the meantime, and if the census
wage statistics now being prepared by
Professor Dewey are not likely to prove
satisfactory we will try to hold them
up until after the 1901 election
Colonel Wright agreed to do his best.
In March, 1903, the department of Ia
Dor issued bulletin on the Course of
Wholesale Prices, 1S90-1902,' which
showed that prices were exactly as
high in 1902 as in 1890 and that they
rose only 2512 per cent from 1897 to
1902 This was about 10 per cent less
than the rise shown by the statistics
of r. q. Dun & Co, which are more
carefully weighted" On Sept. 80 it
was announced from Washington:
1.-The bureau of labor, under the di-
rection of Carroll D. Wright, is about
to issue the results of an exhaustive
study of the increased cost of living
during the last few years in relation to
the increase of wages. The work will
be presented in two volumes, one re-
lating to expenditures and the other to
earnings. The manuscript will go to
the printer in two days. The results
of this inquiry show that there has
been d striking similarity between the
advance in wages and the increased
cost of living and that neither has
gone forward as much as popularity
supposed. The current report that
commodities have advanced 81 per cent
is shown to be wide of the mark. 1t
will be nearer 10 or II per cent. Wages
have so fully kept pace with increased
cost of living that it may safely be
said that the condition of the laboring
man is better today than ever before
in the history OF this country"
OF course these statistics, coming
from such high authority, will reas-
sure the worlkingmen and make them
contented and happy. The man whose
wages have remained substantially the
same as they were in 1897 and who is
paying So per cent more for what he
has to buy will now feel that he is at
least as well off as he was at the be-
ginning of Republican rule. This is all
that he could expect and the most that
the Republicans claim. The prosperity
that they talk about has all gone to
the trusts.
Until these new statistics are pub
lished and the methods of reaching
them are known we cannot criticise
them except to say that they differ
radically from any others now eXtant.
But to show how worthless they will
probably be, except from political
standpoint, we may mention some of
Colonel Wright's past methods of rails
ing wages-On paper.
Colonel Wright won his first statis-
teal victory and ingratiated himself
with the Republicans by classifying and
juggling the wage statistics of Massa-
chusetts. One of his methods of rails
ing wages statistically was to divide
the total wages paid in 1885 by the
average" number of wage earners in
stead of by the entire number en-
ployed and between whom the wages
were actually divided, as was done in
1875. In this way he showed a decline
of only 10 per cent, whereas the actual
decline was nearly 20 per cent. His
same methods continued to 1895
showed an increase in wages when an
actual decline had occurred.
Colonel Wright'S methods, adopted
in the 1890 census, make a substan-
tial rise in wages over those of 1880.
In 1900 this method of averages" was
carried still further. In 1890 the cav
Srage" number was computed for each