Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-08
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.

i
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.
Des Moines Capital. Bulletin
No. SO or the department of
Commerce and Labor, issued some
time ago, has been cutting consider
able figure in the realm of partisan
discussion.
The general effect Of the bulletin
was to confuse democratic newspapers
and spell-binders whose principal en-
deaYors in this campaign are confined
to proving to the voters that any pros
perity which they may think they see
is only superficial and that as mat
ter of fact they are worse off than
they have been for many years.
1t has been freely charged that Car
roll D. Wright, under whose direction
the bulletin was prepared, was influ-
enced by partisan considerations to
issue a biased report and to exclude
facts which If considered would have
made the final showing decidedly diff
ferent from the one presented.
If there is expert authority on sta
tistical matters outside of the vari-
Gus departments Of the national gov
eminent. Dun's Review will certainly
be admitted to be such authority This
periodical is not given to a juggling of
figures. 1t is absolutely non-p partisan.
1t would be absolutely valueless to Its
immense clientele If it failed to give
other than an impartial presentation
of facts as it finds them and only
such analysis as the most rigid rules
of logic and mathematical science will
warrant.
cussion of Bulletin No. So, appearing
In the current issue of Dun's Review,
may be accepted as one of the most
valuable contributions to the political
literature of the present campaign
The showing made by Bulletin No.
53, In brief, is that an attempt was
made to collect details of expenditures
and an income from 1867 families, To-
Gated in thirty-three states The re-
search was confined to families the
head of which was a wage worker or
salaried man with an income not ex-
ceeding $1,000 per wear. OF the 1857
families thus canvassed 1t was found
that the average size was 5.31 individ-
uals to each family; the average i'm
came $827.19 and the average eXpendi-
ture $76S.54 of which $4,000 or 42.54
per cent was for food
Dun's Review declares that the ratio
of consumption is Surprisingly similar
to the fundamental proposition upon
which Dun's Index Number Is based"
After ascertaining the proportion Of
expense for each class, the retail prices
y
secured from 814 retail merchants in
the same localities as those from
which the other date had been obtain
ed.
The summary shows that in 1903 the
cost of living was less than 1876 per
cent higher than at the lowest point of
the decade.
Then as to the question Of wages.
Wage figures for the United States
q nn mil LODI Inv f,aT ocS fof M
equations in 3,429 establishments. Ac-
cording to this table the smallest
number of employed was in 1894, and
the total was So per cent below the
| average for that decade, while in 1903
the number was 26.4 per cent above.
Wages reached their lowest point in
1894 and the subsequent advance was
1873 per cent. Hours Of labor have
gradually decreased, with scarcely an
exception during the pariod from 1890
to date. In connection with this out
line of Bulletin No. SO, the following
editorial comment of Dun's Review Is
especially interesting:
after much further detailed discus
in the real value of the record Is
brought by bringing the two PROPOSE
tons of wages and prices together, in
order to ascertain whether the work
ing man has secured a sufficient in
crease in income to offset the higher
cost of living. This fact is clearly
demonstrated by comparing the rise
of 1875 per cent in prices with the
advance of 1873 per cent in wages and
deducting the decline of Al per cent
in the hours of labor. On this basis 1t
appears that the net difference was
only 6 to / per cent for the workman
who was employed at both dates, but
| it Is necessary to look still deeper for
evidence of increased national pros
perity in 1908 than in 1S94-7, the sea-
son of commercial crisis. The story Is
really told in the table that shows 343
per cent more persons employed at the
later date, and 54.4 per cent more
money paid out in wages each week.
This is the point that Is too often ig-
nored. A nominal scale of wages was
of no value to the wage Garner when
there was no work, and the consump-
ton of the necessaries Of life fell off
because there was no employment for
millions of hands, but as prosperity
returned there was ample opportunity
for all to work, and the purchasing
| power of the nation rose to point
that made prices for commodities a
natural result of new ratio between
supply and demand. Not only were
the higher prices readily paid, but
savings bank accounts expanded and
the workmen built their own houses"
| This distinguished authority en- sta
tistical matters will continue to be
quoted throughout the campaign. 1t
has vindicated the work of Commits
sioner Wright. 1t has demolished a
claim which the democratic party had
| fondly hoped might do effective SER
vice in the present campaign.
|