The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1904-10-06

expenditure for food was X326 per ram
lily. or 42.54 per cent. of the average
expenditure for all purposes. This data
WAS corroborated by other information
i'll less detail form. from 25,4lO families.
and 50 is entitled to be accepted as rep
resentative.
The most cnrsory examination of the
above table reveals the fact that the
purchas sing power of wages. measured by
retail prices Of food. was per cent.
greater in 1903 than in 1893. and this
III spite Of the fact that the hours per
week had been reduced 81 per cent.
But more conducive to the wide dis
scmination 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
inv estigated. 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 > per cent
Democracv's Last Resort.
Disheartened and diS-nstcd with the
wide distribution of prosperity in the
homes. workshops and bank accounts of
| American wage earners. demonstrated hy
these figures the Democrats appeal to
railroad labor as alIording the most ac
curate barometer of wages. Here, they
say, "a large proportion Of the employees
are union men whose wages are com
parativcly steady
Then the complers OF the Democratic
campaign book begin to juggle with the
very averages and percentages they AFT
| 1 VI.
sons between 1892 when railway wages
were at high tide. and 1901. when they
| lad scarcely recovered from Democratic
recession of 1S93-1S96 They suppress
the fact that the statistical average 81
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
ence was greater.
They also conclude their comparisons
with the year ending June 3Oth 1902
well 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 food
tide until July, 1903. Not until the
statistics of the Interstate Commerce
Commission for the wear 1908 1904 are
published next summer will it be pos
sibe to make an authoritative compari
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 100, is availa 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 AND COMPENSATION OF
| HALFWAY EMPLOYEES IN TIE YEARS
| 1897 AND 1903
| Year Number Compensation
lao3 ............... 3D. 31 77a.:o1 Al ;
1877 ............... S23,416 4G5. 6oI ,51S
Increase ........ 4so.o6l s3o91 10, s34
Increase per cent. 594 GO. )
Increase Of compensation relatively
That this relative increase Of compen-
sation. 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
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES FOR TIE
YEARS ENDING JUNE BOTH 1897.
AND 1909 wide sixteenth annual report
of the statistics of railways in the middle
States for 1908, y. All