The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1904-11-03
Another GIaring Instance Of
Democratic Juggling with
Government Statistics.
LABOR BULLETIN IGNORED
In Order to Make Political Cseital ~
Also to Misrepresest Coaditoas
and Deceive Voters-Csm.
paign Textbook Trickery.

A~WS lupdl 1eAt DOCK 0I8ci03oo .
disposition on the part of the manager
OF the Democratic campaign to disoredat
the report on wages and cost of kvina
made BY the Bureau Of Labor In it, July
Bulletin mo. 53). In view Of the repu.
tation Of COMMISSIONS Wright for abso.
lutte fairness in the collection and pres
entation of statistics it is OF some II.
forest at this time to review his report
in the light Of the indignant criticisms
which it has brought forth, and it may
BE- said at the outset that a careful ex.
animation of the report reveals the soms-
what remarkable fact that practically
every criticism made has been answered
in the Bulletin itself. Indeed. it would
almost appear that the compilers Of the
Text Book either did not make use Of
the Bulletin or had no desire to b con-
WINGED Of the truth of the figures pub
ished therein, and that their insinuA.
tons and clumsy misstatements Of fact
were made for the purpose of mislsad-
ing the public mind. Let US proceed
to the most specific of the somswhas
vague charges that are made.
1t is first charged that the report pub
lished in the Bulletin was Quoting the
Text Book prepared ostcnsibly ~ a.
official document, but in reality, it sesms.
for the special use OF the Republican
Campaign Committee" The "well-nigh
conclusive" evidence submitted in sup
port of this charge consists of a state
ment by Secretary Shaw in Juno last
that such a report would be published.
As a matter Of fact. it had been known
to the public for several years that the
Bureau of Labor was engaged in collect
ing data for such a report and the por-
ton of the report relating to cost Of liv-
ing was actually published In Bulletin
40 as early as November. 19O3-nearly
eight months previous to Secretary
Shaw's statement.
Not What Democrats Wanted.
1t is clearly stated in the Bulletin
itself that the investigation was begun
in the winter of 19OO-19O1, and without
doubt the records OF the bureau and
the testimony OF hundreds Of manufac-
turers whose pay rolls were examined
would have proved the truth Of the state
ment, had the truth been desired in Dem
ocratic quarters. But no-for political
reasons, the facts disclosed were not
pleasing, and it seemed necessary to
adopt some method. apparently any
method that would detract from an ex-
- VI u Eli hhDiC COuOlttOu VI 1uuu8
trial depression was desired. Conclusive
evidence is at hand that the gathering
of these statistics was begun in the win
ter Of 19O0-19O1, and that they were
not cooked up for the occasion a.
charged, but it is not to be expected
that this absurd charge will be with
drawn, although as a matter OF fact the
figures as to wages and cost of living
rofQrrQd tn ha 10 haop porrOhnrotaJ hu in.
dependent Investigations which nave been
concluded by the State bureaus of ssv-
eral important States.
1t is charged also that by giving equal
weight to ~unimportant articles of con-
sumption and articles of prime neces-
sity an unduly small increase in cost Of
living is secured. 1t is gravely asserted
that nutmegs, pepper, alum, etc., are
given equal weight with such important
articles as lard, beef, eggs, -four. etc.
This charge might, indeed, be convinc-
Ing il il contained even a slight element
Of truth. Unfortunately for the criticismx
however. the Bulletin itself states that
all articles of food are weighed exactly,
according to the amount consumed In the
average workingman's family. In this
Bulletin the exact quantities are given
0uu ~ AuCtnVu CARIU4l0Us -
that the charge can only be construed ~
a deliberate attempt to mislead the voe
ers Of the country and not as an srror
on the part Of the compiler Of the text
book. AS q matter Of fact the most
careful search Of Bulletin SO shows that
the ~unimportant articles referred to, such
as putty, nutmegs, alum, pepper, etc.,
are not even mentioned therein. These
a~rficlaa aro foup1 hoxwovnr o~oru <h>
26O articles entering into an index Of
wholesale prices which has been publish
ed annually by the bureau for the past
three years, but this index has no con-
nection whatever with the report on cost
of living. One pauses to wonder at the
fact that the Democratic managers are
so lacking in resource as to adopt tho
clumsy trick of injecting figures from
another report into a discussion of the
report on cost of living, and pretend that
they were a part Of the latter report. 1t
must be assumed that in this section
there was the studied intention to mis-
represent and convey an impression to
the public utterly contrary to the truth
and entirely unwarrantcd by the facts.
The entire portion of the Text Book I'M
der the caption "Absurdity OF Republi-
can Averages (pages 124 and 1881. and
much that follows on pages 126 and 127,
is of the character just mentioned.
A Ludicroua Complaint.
The further complaint that the figures
for cost of living are based on retail
prices instead of wholesale can only be
understood by assuming that the use Of
the latter would have given the Demo
cratic campaign managers a little less
discomfort. Bulletin 90 clearly explains
the reasons for the use of retail prices
as a basis for cost of living in prefer
ence to the wholesale. 1t is true that
wholesale prices have been used at times
to indicate the trend OF cost of living.
but they are considered by economists
as unreliable for the purpose of indicat-
ing the extent of the increase or .ie-
crease. Until the present day ~investiga-
ton by the Bureau of Labor no records
of retail prices covering any consider