The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1904-06-23
rather that a great many men are idle
New York News,

rather that great many men are idle
and a number working on short time.
That this is the condition Of the manu-
featuring and railroad centers nearly
everywhere is unfortunately true and
no one should know it better than Sec
retary Shaw, who has all the govern
ment sources of information at his
command.
But instead of telling the whole
truth and nothing but the truth about
the conditions that prevail for the
American workingman under the high
priced trust era that Republican poll
cies have produced, Secretary Shaw
promises to furnish "well authenticat-
ed data, from the highest possible
authority in the United States, show
ing that the average wages have in
creased in larger proportion than the
average articles of ordinary household
consumption"
1t is common report that Secretary
Cortelyou is having prepared in the
bureau of statistics the data that Sec
retary Shaw gives notice Of appearing,
in fact that the matter for the Re
publican campaign book is being pre-
pared at government expense and to
make q showing favorable to the adj
yantages of high tariff and high trust
prices.
Government statistics are notorious
ly unreliable when manufactured to
suit partisan purposes and although
the expert statisticians of the depart
ment of Commerce and Labor may
proye that all of us are living in lux
ury, every one can judge of his own
condition better than partisan figures
can prove it to him.
There will doubtless be great num-
ber of Roosevelt Workingmen's Clubs
organized by the Republican pOiiti-
clans all over the country, but it will
keep Secretary Shaw and other Re
publican spell-binders busy explaining
how, under present high trust prices,
those of us with restricted incomes can
make expenses come within what Is
received. The true test of prosperity
is a comfortable living and the amount
remaining after all the bills are paid
for necessities, that can be expended
for luxuries, or that can be saved for
the proverbial rainy day. Each fam
lily can decide if they are satisfied with
their present condition more certainly
than experts figures or the special
pleading of Secretary Shaw can de-
termine for them.
If the voter concludes that he is
prosperous and is willing to continue
TO pay high prices and his own share
of the enormous profits that the high
tariff allows the trusts TO plumber him
of. he should vote the Republican
ticket and thus support the standpat
policy of no change in present cOndi-
tions. But If he is not satisfied, if he
feels that the wages lie is receiving do
not allow him and his family 10 live
in comfort because the cost of living
has advanced more than wages have
increased. then logically it is against
his interest to stand pat and change
neceSSdTy- As tHe iNepupiiN"'iS w
clare against any change, the voter
must turn to the party whose declara-
tions and traditional policy is to re-
duce the tariff, that trusts cannot find
shelter under 1t. Such change in the
fiscal policy of the United States is
advocated by the Democrats. Not Il
radical change that would upset bust
ness and injure honest manufacturers,
but the tariff so revised that the trusts
that sell cheaper abroad than at home
would be prevented from doing so any
longer. What is tine Iowa idea" of
large faction of Republicans of Sec