Idaho Springs siftings., 1904-11-05
Another GIaring Instance Of
Democratic Juggling with
Government Statistics.
LABOR BULLETIN IGNORED
In Order to Make Political Capital and
Also to Misrepresent Conditions
and Deceive Voters
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 a
disposition ON the part of the mana gers
of the Democratic campaign TO discredit
the report on wages and cost of living
made by the Bureau of Labor in its July
Bulletin tNo. 53l. In view OF the repu-
taiion OF Commissioner Wright for abso-
Lutte fairness in the collection and pres
entation OF statistics it is OF some in
terest at this time To review his report
in the light Of the indignant criticisms
which il has brought forth. and it may
be said at the outset that 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 compilers of tho
Text Book either did not make use OF
the Bulletin or had no desire TO be con-
Tinced OF the truth of the figures pub
lished therein, and that their insinua-
tons and clumsy misstatements 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 that are made.
1t is first charged that the report pub
lished in the Bulletin was Quoting the
Text Book prepared ostensibly as an
Official document. but in reality. 1t seems.
for the special use of the Republican
Campaign Committee" The "well-nigh
conclusive" evidence submitted in sup
port of this charge consists OF state.
ment by Secretary Shaw in June last
that such a report would be published.
As a matter OF fact. 1t had been known
TO the public for several years that tho
Bureau OF Labor WAS engaged in collect
ing data for such report and the por-
ton Of the report relating TO cost OF liv-
ing was actually published in Bulletin
~ as early as November. 19o3-nearly
eight months previous to Secretary
Shaw's statement
Not What Democrats Wanted.
IL is clearly stated in the Bulletin
itself that the investigation was begun
in the winter OF l9oo-i9oi. and without
doubt the records OF th% 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-
hibit Of 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
but il 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.
IL is charged also that by giving equal
weight 10 unimportant articles of con-
sumption and articles of prime neces-
sity an unduy small increase in cost Of
living is secured. Ii Is grayely asserted
that nutmess, pepper. alum. etc, are
given equal weight with such important
articles 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
M bl are aef-Btt tAattly
according TO the amount consumed in the
average workingman's family. In this
the exact quantities are given
and the method clearly explained SO
that the charge can only be construed as
a deliberate attempt to mislead the vot-
ers OF the country and not as an error
OIL the part OF the compiler of the text
book. As n matter of fact the most
careful search OF Bulletin J3 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
e60 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-
lection whatever with the report on cost
II living. One pauses to wonder at the
fact that the Democratic managers are
80 lacking in resource as to adopt the
clumsy trick of injecting figures from
mother report into a discussion of the
report on cost OF living and pretend that
hey were part Of the latter report. IL
must be assumed that in this section
here was the studied intention to mis-
and convey an impression to
.he public utterly contrary to the truth
tau ehtireIy uhWarrahteu bs the facts.
The entire portion Of the Text Book un-
Ter the caption .Absurdfty of Republi-
an Averages" (pages 124 and 1850. and
much that follows on pages 126 and 127,
s Of the character just mentioned
A Ludicrous Complaint.
The further complaint that the figures
'or cost of living are based on retail
prices instead of wholesale can only be
understood by assuming that the use Of
he latter would have given the Demo-
ratio campaign managers a little less
discomfort. Bulletin SO clearly explains
he reasons for the use of retail prices
IS basis for cost of living in prefer
,nce to the wholesale. 1t is true that
n holesale prices have haon ,,saJ n . &;.....