The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-11-02
Another Glaring Instance of
Democratic Juggling with
Government Statistics.
LABOR BULLETIN IGNORED
In Order to Make Political Capital and
Also to Misrepresent Conditions
and Deceive Voters-Cam-
paign Textbook Trickery.

An examination OF the files OF the
Democratic newspapers for the past few
weeks and of the recently issued Demo
cratic Campaign Text Book discloses
disposition on the part of the managers
Of the Democratic campaign to discredit
the report on wages and cost of living
made by the Bureau of Labor in its July
Bulletin (No. 53l. In view of the repu-
tation of Commissioner Wright for abso-
lutte fairness in the collection and pres
entation of statistics ii is of some in
terest 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 Il careful eN-
animation of the report reveals the some
what remarkable fact that practically
every criticism made has been answered
in the Bulletin itself. Indeed. it would
almost appear that the complers of the
Text Book either did not make use OF
the Bulletin or had no desire to be con
vinced OF the truth of the figures pub
lished therein, and that their insinua-
tons and clumsy Measurements of fact
were made for the purpose of mislead-
ing the public mind. Let us proceed
to the most specific Of the somewhat
vague charges tnat are maue-
1t is first charged that the report pub
lished i'll the Bulletin was Quoting the
Text Book prepared ostensibly as an
official document but in reality, it seems.
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 June 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, 1903-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 1900-1901. 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
ocratc quarters. But no--for political
reasons, the facts disclosed were not
pleasing. anu IL seemed necessary 10
adopt some method, apparently any
method that would detract from an ex-
hbit of a remarkable condition of indus
trial depression was desired. Conclusive
evidence is at hand that the gathering
of these statistics was begun in the win
ter of 1900 1901, and that they were
not cooked up" for the occasion as
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
referred to have been corroborated by in
dependent Investigations which have been
concluded by the State bureaus of sew
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 if it contained even a slight element
of truth. Unfortunately for the criticism.
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
and the method clearly explained,
| that the charge can only be construed as
a deli berate attempt to mislead the vot-
ers of the country and not as an error
Oh the part of the compiler of the text
| book. As a matter of fact the most
| careful search of Bulletin 53 shows that
| the unimportant articles referred to, such
as putty, nutmegs, alum, pepper, etc,
are not even mentioned therein. These
articles are found, however, among the
2GO articles entering into an index OF
| wholesale prices which has been publish
| Ell 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
| 50 lacking in resource as to adopt the
| 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 unwarranted by the facts.
| The entire portion of the Text Book IN
der the caption "Absurdity OF Republi
| can Averages" (pages 124 and 1851. and
| much that follows on pages 126 and 121,
is Of the character just mentioned.
A Ludicrous 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