The Mercur miner. [volume] (Mercur, Utah) 1895-1913, 1904-10-05

lily, or 1854 per cent. Of the average
expenditure for all purposes. This data
was corrobornted by other information
in less detail form, from 25,4iO families,
and 80 is entitled TO he accepted as rep
resentative.
The most cursory examination or the
above table reveals the fact that the
purchasing power of wages, measured by
retail prices OF food, was 3 per cent.
greater in 1908 than in 1898, and this
in spite OF the fact that the hours per
week had been reduced 81 per cent.
But more conducive to the wide dis
semination of the prosperity than these
proofs OF the increased purchasing pow
er of wages, is the fact revealed in the
column giving the relative number OF
persons employed in the establishments
investigated. Between 1894 and 1903 the
increase in the number OF employees re-
ceiving these wages with increased pur-
chasing power was 34.3 per cent, while
in the meantime the population OF the
United States only increased 81 per cent.
Democracv's Last Resort.
Disheartened and Disguised with the
wide distribution of prosperity in the
homes, workshops and bank accounts OF
American wage earners, demonstrated by
these figures, the Democrats appeal to
railroad labor as aiIording 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 sf-
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 1S03-1S96. They suppress
the fact that the statistical average OF
railway wages was less affected by the
Democratic hard times than 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
enee was greater.
They also conclude their comparisons
| with the year ending June Both, 1902
well knowing that the statistics of the
Interstate Commerce Commission fol-
| that year only reflect a month OF two
OF the advance In railway wages of that
calendar year. which did not reach food
tide until July, 1903. Not until the
statistics Of the Interstate Commerc,
Commission for the year 1003-1004 arc
published next summer will it be pos
sible to make an authoritative compari
son of the wages of railway employe,
and the cost OF living in the year 1903.
But the report OF the Commission fol
the fiscal year 1903 is available, and 4
furnishes the following data, which
throws light on the rich slice OF pros
perity which has fallen to the share o.
railway employees:
| NUMBER AND COMPENSATION OF
| HALLWAY EMPLOYEES IN THE YEARS
| Year. Number. Compensntion
1907 ...............i,Sl2.a97 s7TH,S21. ~:
1897 ............... S23,IT0 405.GOl, 81,
Increase ....... 4sSO1i 5000, T10, SO
| Increase per cent. 50,4 &C.!
| Increase ~ compensation relatively
| over number ....'................. T.
That This relative increase OF compen
sation. compared with that In the mum
her OF railway employees, does not tel
the whole truth is proved by the follow
ing table:
= AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION oil
| CERTAIN DISTINCTIVE CLASSES OIL
HALLWAY EMPLOYEES FOR TIL
YEARS ENDING JUNE BOTH, 1891
| AND 1908 wide sixteenth annual rcpor
OF the statistics OF railways In the mlddl
| Slatea for lOOa