CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1904-10-06
Grotesque Attempt by Democrats to Twist Facts
for Campaign Consumption.
GROSSLY INACCURATE STATEMENTS
Country Is Not in Throes of Disastrous
Business Depression, and Wor<ngmen
Continue to Prosper-What
the Figures Show.

expenditure for food was $500 per fam
lily, or 42.54 per cent OF the average
expenditure for all purposes. This data
was corroborated by other information
in less detail form. from 25,44O families.
and so is entitled to be accepted MS rep
resentative.
The most cursory examination of the
above table reveals the fact that the
purchasing power OF wages. measured by
retail prices Of food. was 8 per cent
greater in 1908 than in 1898. aud this
in spite of the fact that the hours per
week had been reduced 81 per cent.
But more conducive to the wide dis
scmination of the prosperity than these
proofs of the increased purchasing pow
er of wages. is the fact revealed In the
column giving the relative number OF
persons employed In the establishments
Investigated. Between 1894 and 1908 the
increase in the number OF employees re-
ceiving these wages with increased pur-
chasing power was 343 per cent. while
In the meantime the population of the
United States only increased q per cent.
Democracy's Last Resort.
Disheartened and disgusted with the
wide distribution Of prosperity In the
bones. workshops and bank accounts of
American wage earners, demonstrated by
these figures, the Democrats appeal To
railroad labor as affording the most sc-
curate barometer of wages" Here. they
say. "a large proportion of the employees
are union men. whose wages are com
paratively steady"
Then the compiiers of the Democratic
campaign book begin TO juxgie with the
very averages and percentages they af-
feet to despise. They institute compari-
sons between 1892, when railway wages
were at high tide. aud 1901, when they
bad scarcely recovered from Democratic
recession of 1893 1896. They suppress
the fact that the statistical average OF
railway wages was less affected by the
Democratic hard times than the average
of other Industries. for the obvious rea.
son that ns forces were reduced In num-
bers the proportion OF high priced en-
ployes retained because of their expert
ence was greater.
They also conclude their comparisons
with the year ending June 3Oth, 1907
well knowing that the statistics OF the
Interstate Commerce Commission for
that year only reflect a month or two
OF the advance In railway wages of that
calendar year. which did not reach food
tide until July. 1908. Not until the
statistics of the Interstate Commerce
COMMISSION Tor the year 1opb-1cpf are
published next summer will It be pos
sible to make an authoritative compari-
son of the wages of railway employees
and the cost OF living In the year 1903
But the report Of the Commission for
the fiscal year 1908 is available. and 1t
furnishes the following data, which
throws light on the rich slice of pros
perity which has fallen 20 the share Of
railway empIoyes.
NUMBER AND COMPENSATION OF
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES IN THE YEARS
Year. Number. Comp~nss finn
ioo1 ..............i.3i: sfIn.a2i.4i5
Increase per cent. 50.l 0G5
Increase OF compensation relatively
over number ......-................ I'll
That this relative Increase Of compen-
sation. compared with that In the num-
Der of railway employees, does not tell
the whole truth is proved by the follow
ing table:
AVERAGE DAILY CONFIRMATION OF
CERTAIN DISTINCTIVE CLASSES OF
xAiLWAY EMPLOYER FOR THE
YEARS ENDING June BOTH. 1891.
AND 1908 wide sixteenth annual report
sta,ss 81 hs 'iaics fsr i Of r.ilrhyH in the middle
hal.