The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-08
WRIGHT'S REPORT
 IS UNRELIABLE Bad Table on Wages and Cost
 of Living. HIS FIGURES ARE JUGGLEO Has Made the Error of Taking Retail Prices as the Rasis-Dun's Re view of the Situation is
 More Accurate.
HIS FIGURES ARE JUGGLtO

S.
 democratic congressional eommi'eee' mas had the late report of the Hon. Carfoii D. Wright. labor commissioner on Wages and the Cost of Living under consideration and has issued the follow ing statement thereon:
 Briefly summarized Col. Wright's report on wages and the Cost of Living" just issued, shows:
 1. That the retail prices of food were 1Os per cent higher in 1903 than the aver 1 age for the ten years from 1890 to 1899.
 g. That the weekly earnings per em- ployee were 12.S per cent. higher in 1905 than the average for the ten years from 1890 to 1899.
 8. That the purchasing power Of wages was in 1903 Is per cent greater than the average for ten years from 1890 to 1899.
 It is rather remarkable. under the cir cumstances, if Col. Wrights object was to show us that we were in much bet ter condition at present than we have been for many years that he did not produce statistics showing much greater margin in our favor. Perhaps industrial conditions al the present time caused him to revise his figures at the last min ute and decided in favor of smaller margin so that the smile of the average mortal at his figures would not develop into hearty laughter
 Some of the minor points brought out by Col. Wright's statistics are:
 l. The number of people employed in 1903 was 26.4 per cent greater than the average from 1890 to 1898.
 g. The hours of labor per week were S.4 per cent. less in 1903 than the average from 1890 to 1899.
 8. Hence, the weekly earnings of all em- ployees were 41.9 per cent greater in 1903 than the average from 1890 to 1S99
 It is plainly evident to every purchaser
 Are Utterly Unreliable.
 of household supplies for the past ten years that these statistics are utterly un- reliable and have been manipulated in the interest of protection and of the repub- lican party.
 The truth of the matter is, there are two hundred thousand wage earners today on strike; they are on a strike either because the cost of living has reduced the purchasing power of the wage received or because their wages have been reduced within the year.
 The trade journals inform us that for the years 1903 and 1904 the wages Of one TilhOn men, idTBeiy III the protected h. dustries, have been reduced from 10 to 30 per cent, 1t is estimated that the num- Der of men now unemployed is GOO, GOO. They have been laid off by the railroads and by hundreds of the great mills throughout the country. Many have been dispossessed of their former homes and are sleeping in the parks ir the great cities. They have hungry families for whom they are unable to provide and more men have committed suicide in the past year than ever before in the history of the country.
 MT. Wright has been heralded by Sec retary Shaw as the highest authority in the country on the question of wages and prices that he is an able statistician no one can deny, the bulletin just issued as well as his former reports are sufficient proof of his skill In manipulating figures to meet party necessities.
 Figures Scientific and Accurate.
 For several years Col. Wright's bureau has been supplying US with wholesale prices, which showed an average in- crease in prices since 1892, only about half as great as was shown by Dun's re- view, our best commercial authority. Dun's price tables were scientifically con- structed. His prices were proportioned to consumption. That is, his averages were properly balanced or weighted" so that the price of a comparatively unim- portant article of consumption did not have the same effect upon his average as did the price of the most important ar ticle He did not make his price tables to support an economic theory, but to give the facts.
 Wriehrs Price Microscope.
 On the contrary, Colonel Wright's price tables were unscientihc and partisan He magnihed little, trivial articles, like nut tt,h hfr price of nutmegs more than counteracted the advances in the prices of sugar, eggs, milk, bread and fresh beef. The average family consumes about 3 cents worth of nutmegs in a year and $50 worth of these other articles. That is, Colonel Wright magnified nutmegs about 5000 times before he compared them with these other articles.
 In this way Colonel Wright kept prices down so that, for 1902, his figures showed an increase of less than 26 per cent over the 1897 prices while the scientific figures of Dun showed a difference of about. 37 per cent.
 Afraid of High Prices.
 But even 26 per cent was too much for Colonel Wright and his republican friends. It would never do to enter pres idential campaign with 26 per cent in- crease in average prices. The wicked" democrat would credit this great increase in the cost of living to the hundreds of protected trusts, which have grown up and flourished under the Dingley tariff act and no amount of juggling would result in a corresponding raise in wages.
 Confronted with this difficulty and i pressed by party needs to find some ave nue of escape, Colonel Wright hit upon the happy solution of abandoning whole I sale prices as the basis of his figures and resorting to retail prices selected by his agents from localities most suitable to the purpose in hand. Wholesale prices, as everybody knows, are comparatively | stable; they are practically the same all over the land, with the cost of freight added Retail prices are utterly unstable; there Is no rule by which they may be governed, depending entirely upon the class of custom catered to by tho retailer; upon the competition he has to meet, upon the length of time he has been in business. etc. and the fact that any the- ory can be proved by retail prices prop erIy selected, rendered them peculiarly attractive to the bureau.
 The republicans were delighted. Field i agents were sent out in all parts of the country who understood their business both as statisticans and politicians. They interviewed families and grocers always using discretion in choosing localities. Thus, a grocer who did small business ten or twelve years ago in the suburb T of city where he had no competition probably got good prices then. He is now the leading grocer of the city and must sell close. Just the man for these ex- l perts.
 | This is only one of a hundred trtcls