The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-10-07

expenditure for food was So psr sall
lily, or 42.34 per cent. of tae average
expenditure for all purposes. This data
was c%orroborated by other information
IN loss detail form. from 25,44O families.
and 50 is entitled 10 be accepted Us rep
resentative.
The most cursory examination of ghe
alove table reveals the fact that tho
purchasing power of wages, measured by
retail prices OF food, WAS ) per cent.
| greater in 1908 than in 1893. 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 II per cent.
Dcnlocracy's Last Resort.
Disheartened and disgusted 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 afiording 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 af-
feet to lespise. They institute COMPARE
sons between 1892, when railway wages
We're at high tide, and 1901, when they
lad scarcely recovered from Democratic
recession of lS93-lS96. 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 req
son that as forces We're reduced in num-
bcrs 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. 1907.
well knowing that the statistics of the
Interstate Commerce Commission for
that year only reflect IA month or two
of the advance in railway wages of tina.
calendar year, which did not reach flood
tide until July. 1908. Not until the
statistics of the Interstate Commerce
Commission for the year 1903 1901 are
published next summer will it be pos
sib.e to make an authoritative compare
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 1903 is available, and il.
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.
RAILWAY EMPLOYEES IN ii YEA:S
1897 n 1908:
Year. Number Cop,no,s,,io,
,ao3 ..-............1.$l2.537 SI7a.s2l.4l3
increase ......... 4s9,os1 5000. 7l9,s;4
Increase per cent. !59.4 fb5
Increase of compensation relatively
over hhnbef IL
That this relative increase Of compcn
%sation, compared with that in the num-
hnr of railway employees. does not tell
the whole truth is proved by the follow
ing table:
AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION OF
CERTAIN DISTINCTIVE CLASSES or
HALLWAY EMPLOYEES FOR TUE
EARS ENDING JUNE BOTH. 1897.
1903 wide sixteenth annual report
.! the statistics of railways in the middle
States for 1903, p. 43.)
Daily Coulpen- Increase
average sation pp,.