The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1904-08-05

FutAAe Attempt 10 Prove That the
Worker Is ProsperOus--Hov the
Trust Evil Ezas Increased the Cost
of Living-The Truth Suppressed.
There is no escape for the Republic
ans from the stand pat position on the
tariff taken by them. They are com
PEELED by events to contend that pros
perity is widespread But Secretary
Shaw in opening the Republican cam
paign in Delaware under the auspices
of the Wilmington Roosevelt Working
mems club endcay0red to make labor"
see that its welfare depended upon
the success Of the Republicans, whose
policy had produced high prices and, as
he claimed corresponGingly high wages
and steady employment Secretary
Shaw is an adept ut telling half truths
and then building thereon an argument
to prove his contention. He said to the
Wilmington workingman, Universal
and constant employment at reasona-
BILE wages, even in the face Of high
priced living expenses, is preferable to.
employment TO only portion Of our
people, though at the same wages and
at much reduced living expenses.
Are the workingmen Of Wilmington
blessed with universal constant en-
pIoyment," as Secretary Shaw would
have them believe? The reports of the
condition Of the shipbuilding industry,
car shops, wooden mills and some other
industries which are carried on at Viii
mington do not by any means support
the Shaw theory that employment is
universal and constant" but rather
that a great many men are idle and a
number working on short time That
this is the condition Of the manufac-
turing and railroad centers nearly ev-
erywhere is unfortunately true, and no
one should know 1t better than Secre-
tary Shaw. who has all the government
sources Of information at his com
mand
But instead Of telling the whole truth
and nothing but the truth about the
conditions that prevail for the Ameri-
can Wor-i@sl lD unde she nigh priced
trust era that Republican policies have
produced Secretary Shaw promises to
furnish well authenticated data from
the highest possible authority In the
United States showing that the aver
age wages have increased in larger
proportion than the average articles
Of ordinary household consumption"
It lis common report that Secretary
Cortelyou is having prepared in the
bureau of statistics the data that Sec
rotary Shaw gives notice of appearing
i'm fact, that the matter for the Re
publican campaign book is being pre-
pared at government expense and to
make q showing favorable to the adj
vantages Of nigh tariff and high trust
prices.
Government statistics are notorious
" unreliable when manufactured to
suit partisan purposes, and, although
the expert statisticians Of the depart
ment of commerce and labor may
prove that all Of us are living in lux
ury, every one can judge of his own
condition better than partisan figures
can prove it to him.
There will doubtless be great num-
Der of Roosevelt workingmen's clubs
organized by the Republican politicians
all over the country, but it will keep
Secretary Shaw and other Republican
speIlbinders busy explaining how, I'M
der present high trust prices, those Of
us with restricted incomes can make
expenses come within what is receiv-
ed. The true test of prosperity is a
comfortable living and the amount re-
naming after all the bills are paid for
necessities that can be expended for