Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-07-11
HIGH COST OF LIVING
Republicans Making Shifty Ex-
plantations and Excuses.
CAN'T DISPUTE PALPABLE FACTS
DInsley Tariff Law the Mother or
Most of Our Great Trusts-Experts
to the Rescue With MisIeading
Figures.

the administration officials at Wash
ington more than another in the line of
campaign issues it is the facts in re-
gard to the present extremely high
cost Of living. The Republicans antici-
pate that the wicked Democrats are
going to charge the whole thing up to
Republican legislation. They will say
that the Republicans passed the Ding
ley high tariff law, that is mother to
most Of our great trusts, that have put
prices up to the highest point in mod
ern times.
There is no way Of disputing the pal
| pable facts that four-fifthS of our
! trusts were born under Dingley legis-
! latiOn and that the cost Of living is
| higher than ever before. The Republic
ans would run away from them If they
could, but unfortunately such facts are
| common knowledge. The purser in ev
cry household knows that prices of
supplies are at the top notch, though
he may not know how they get there
or upon whom TO place the blame.
All sorts of shifty explanations and
excuses for high prices are being fixed
up by the Republican managers and
statistical jugglers. Some will attempt
| to justify high prices, others to show
| that the prices of farm products have
| gone up even more than have those of
| trust products, and others that prices
have not gone up as much as, while
wages have gone up much more than,
| IS generally supposed. These cXplana-
| tions will be- tried on in different local
| tiles, and the Republican spellblnders
| will choose the ones which appear to
| fit their various localities best.
Thus Secretary Shaw punched all
! explanations and openly and boldly de-
| Tended high prices in his speech in
| Wilmington, Del, on June 6. He adj
mittcd that prices were high, but he
promised that before the campaign
proceeds very far there will be fur
nished from the highest authority in
| the United States 0he bureau of Ia
| Dor of coursC) well authenticated data
showing that the average wages have
increased in larger proportion than the
| average articles of ordinary household
consumption" He observed that high
priced living expenses arc preferable to
employment 10 only Il portion of our
people," that the happiness of the
wage Garner is dependent upon high
priced farm products ana that the
prosperity Of the farmer is dependent
upon the ready and constant employ
ment of the wage Garner" While he
insisted that lit is meaSurably unim-
portant what price we pay so long as
we pay the price to ourselves" yet he
showed his preference for high prices
by closing his pcrOration with the out
burst. But may the good Lord deliver
us from another period when living
expenses are cheap"
The criticism and rldiculc lcvcled at
Secretary Shaw's speech luuding high
prices viii make the Republicans
chary of experimenting further in this
line They Will now await with anX-
iety the new prices and wages tables
which Mr.. Carroll d. Wright, the head
of the labor bureau, has contracted to
make for them. This is guaranteed to
show that average prices have not
risen more than have average wages
and that the greatest rise has been in
farm products. This will please the
farmers, who have the most votes. and
will give the least possible Offense to
the wage earners, clerks and profess
Sional men, whose votes are fewer and
harder to combine.
Beyond Il reasonable doubt Mr. Car
roll u. Wright will fulfill his part of
the contract. He can prove almost
anything in regard to prices and wages.
His peculiar methods of classification
and of making averages enable him to
make statistics to order. He has al
ready classified cotton. the price of
which is now very high. as n farm
product. and wool, the price OF which
has risen but little. as Il manufactured
product. He is likely TO classify last
years fowls as farm products and
spring chickens as manufactured prod
uCtS If lie finds that the prices of
spring chickens-largely incubated-are
high, while the prices of old hens are
only moderate. He gets average
prices by putting in the prices of I'M
important articles, like nutmegs or pep
per. along with important articles. like
pork or flour. He can easily find enough
of these fnconsequential articles. the
prices of which have declined during
the last seven years. to offset the great
advance in the prices Of important ar
ticles Of consumption. His averages
for wages are juggled most scientifical-
~ and are susceptible for any purpose
or conclusion.
The bureau of statistics Of the treas
ury department is also hard at work
making Republican statistics. The
New York Tribune of June Is announc-
cd that this bureau had just produced
statistics showing that practically all
the farm products in their natural
state show an advance" but that the
cost Of living for the month of May
just ended has been less than for the
same month of 1908"
With all OF the statistical experts in
all Of the government offices expert
menting with price and wage figures
and hard 1T wUrk-at government ex-
pense- upon the Republican campaign
book we may expect some startling re-
~