The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-10-07

expenditure for food was 1896 per fam
lily, or 42.o4 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 as rep
reseHtative.
The most cursory examination of the
above table reveals the fact that the
purchasing power of wages. measured by
retail prices Of food. was > per cent.
greater in 1905 than in 1893. and this
in spite of the fact that the hours per
week had been reduced 81 per cent.
But more conducive to he wide dis
semination of the prosperity than these
proofs of the increased purchasing pow
er of wages. is the fact revealed III the
column giving the relative number "f
persons employed in the establishments
investigated. Between 1894 and 1903 the
increase in the number Of employees re
teiving these wages with increased par
chasing power was 34.3 per cent. while
in the meantime the population of the
United States only increased 81 per cent.
Democracy Last Resort.
Disheartened and disguised with the
wide distribution of prosperity in. The
homes, workshops and bank accounts of
American wage earners. demonstrated b.
these figures, the Democrats appeal 10
RAILROAD labor as affording the most ac-
curate barometer of wages" Here. they
say, "a large proportion of the employees
are union men. whose wages are COM
paratively steady"
Then the compilers of the Democratic
campaign book begin to juggle with the
very averages and percentages they ar
feet to despise. They institute compari-
sons between 1892. when railway wages
were at high tide. and 1901. when they
had scarcely recovered from Democratic
recession of 1895 1896. They suppress
the fact that the statistical average OF
railway wages was less affected by the
Democratic hard times thar the average
of other industries. for the obvious rea
son that as 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 Both. 1902.
we'll 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 flood
tide until July. 1903. Not until the
statistics of the Interstate Commerce
Commission for the year 1908 1904 are
pub. ;hed next summer will it be DOS
sible to make an authoritative COMPARE
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 1903 is availab bic. and it
furnishes the following data, which
throws light on the rich slice of pros
perity which has fallen to the share of
railway employees:
NUMBER \ COMPENSATION OF
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES IN II YEARS
1897 n 1903:
Year. Number Comnaneation
!SoS ...............l,3l2.13t $17J.3o1.4 15
1891 ............... S23,4.6 400. Col .51S
Increase ..,...... 4s9.061 $500, 719. s34
Increase per cent. 594 6G.J
Increase OF compensation relatively
over numDer II
That this relative increase Of compen
satioD, compared with that in the mum.
her of railway employees. does not tell
the whole truth is proved by the follow
ing table:
AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION OF
CERTAIN DISTINCTIVE CLASSES OF
l. EMPLOYEES FOR THE
a ENDING JUNE BOTH, 1897.
AND 1903 wide sixteenth annual report
or the statistics Of railways in the middle
States for 1903, p. 49,