Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1904-11-03
Another GIaring Instance Of
Democratic Juggling with
Government Statistics.
LABOR BULLETIN IGNORED
10 Order to Make Political Capital and
Also TO Misrepresent Conditions
and Deceive VOters-Cam.
palgn Textbook Trickery.

An examination OF the hlss of the
Democratic newspapers for the past few
weeks and OF the recently issued Demo-
cratic Campaign Text Book discloses q
disposition on the part of the managers
OF the Democratic campaign to discredit
the report on wages and cost OF living
made by the Bureau of Labor in its July
Bulletin (No. 53). In view of the repu-
tation of Commissioner Wright for abso-
lutte fairness in the collection and pres
entRtion OF statistics 1t is Of some IA
terest at this time to review his report
in the light Of the indignant criticisms
which it has brought forth, and 1t may
be said at the outset that a careful ex-
animation of the report reveals the some
what remarkable fact that practically
every criticism made has been answered
in the Bulletin itself. Indeed, It would
almost appear that the compilers OF the
Text Book either did not make use of
the Bulletin or had no desire to be con-
vinced of the truth of the figures pub
lished therein, aud that their insinua-
tons and clumsy misstatements Of fact
were made for the purpose OF mislead-
ing the public mind. Let US proceed
to the most specific of the somewhat
vague charges that are made.
1t is first charged that the report pub
lished in the Bulletin was Quoting the
Text Book prepared ostenslbly as an
official document, but in reality, 1t seems,
for the special use OF the Republican
Campaign Committee" Tho "well-nigh
conclusive" evidence submitted in sup
| port of this charge consists of state
ment by Secretary Shaw In June last
that such a report would be published.
AS matter OF fact, 1t had been known
to the public for several years that the
| Bureau OF Labor was engaged In collect
ing data for such a report and the por-
ton of the report relating to cost OF liv-
ing was actually published in Bulletin
40 as early as November, 1903-nearly
eight months previous to Secretary
| Shaw's statement.
Not What Democrats Wanted.
| 1t is clearly stated in the Bulletin
itself that the investigation was begun
in the winter OF 1000 1901, and without
| doubt the records OF the bureau and
| the testimony of hundreds of manufac-
turers whose pay rolls were examined
| would have proved the truth Of the state
| ment. had the truth been desired in DEM
ocratic quarters. But no-for political
reasons, the facts disclosed were not
pleasing, and it seemed necessary to
adopt some method, apparently any
method that would detract from an OK.
hibit OF u remarkable condition Of indus
trial depression was desired. Conclusive
| evidence Is at hand that the gathering
OF these statistics was begun in the win
ter of 1000 1901, and that they were
not cooked up" for the occasion a.
| charged, but it Is not to be expected
| that this absurd charge will be with
drawn, although as matter OF fact the
figures rs to wages and cost of living
referred to have been corroborated by in
dependent investigations which have been
concluded by the State bureaus of sew
eral important States.
| 1t is charged also that by giving equal
| weight TO unimpOrtant articles of con-
sumption and articles of prime neces-
| sity an unduly small increase in cost Of
| living is secured. 1t is gravely asserted
that nutmegs, pepper, alum, ETC., are
| given equal weight with such important
articles as lard, beef, eggs, flour, etc.
| This charge might, indeed, be convinc-
ing if it contained even a slight element
of truth. Unfortunately for the criticism.
however, the Bulletin itself states thas
all articles of food are weighed exactly
| according to the amount consumed In the
average workingman's family. In this
| Bulletin the exact quantities are given
and the method clearly explained, 90
that the cha~e can only be construed a.
a deliberate attempt to mislead the vot-
ers of the country and not as an error
on the part of the compiler of the text
book. AS q matter OF fact the most
| % tb.A
the unimportant articles referred to, such
as putty, nutmegs, alum, pepper, ETC..
are not even mentioned therein. These
articles are found, however, among the
260 articles entering into an index OF
wholesale prices which has been publish
cd annually by the bureau for the past
three years, but this index has no cor
nection whatever with the report on cost
OF living. One pauses to wonder at the
fact that the Democratic managers are
so lacking in resource as to adopt the
clumsy trick of injecting figures from
another report into n discussion of the
report on cost of living, and pretend that
they were a part of the latter report IL
must be assumed that in this section
there was the studied intention to mis-
represent and convey an impression TO
the public utterly contrary to the truth
and entirely unwarranted by the facts.
The entire portion Of the Text Book I'M
der the caption "Absurdity of Republic
can Averages" (pages 124 and 1881, aud
much that follows on pages 126 and 127s
is of the character just mentioned.
A Ludierous Complaint.
The further complaint that the figures
for cost OF living are based on retail
prices instead of wholesale can only be
understood by assuming that the use OF
the latter would have given the Demo-
cratic campaign managers a little less
discomfort. Bule,in SO clearly explains
the reasons for the use OF retail prices
as a basis for cost of living in prefer
ence to the wholesale. 1t is true that
wholesale prices have been used at times
to indicate the trend of cost of living,
hut they are considered by economists
as unreliable for the purpose OF indicst-
ing the extent of the increase or ls-
crease. Until the present day invSstiga-
ton by the Bureau Of Labor no records