The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-08
FIGURES l. ARE4iAYED R CoWcrd on Bureau of
 Labor. THE TRUTH WAS EvADED Statistics of Col. Wright
 Made to Order. Chairman of Campaign Committee Proves That Government Report Was Merely Campaign Doc
 ument.-False Impression.
THE TRUTH WAS EvADED

Washington, August 7-Chairman Cowherd of the Democratic campaign committee today issued a statement in refutation of recently published ta- bles from the bureau of labor, rela- tive to the increase in wages and the cost of living. MT. Cowherd's conciu- sions are as follows:
 In the bulletin on cost of living and wages recently issued by the bureau of statistics the methods adopted are as remarkable as the conclusion reached. Wholesale prices havo al- ways been the standard by which the rise or fall of the cost of living has been computed. Had Colonel Wright followed the custom of using the wholesale prices he would have been confronted with the excellent tables issued by Dun and Bradstreet, both re- cognized commercial authorities.
 Duns table of prices, shows that from July, 1897. the low point. to March. 1904. the high point, cost of liv- ing increased 43 per cent. The most skilful Juggler could not show such 8 rise in wages. Party necessities there- fore would not allow Mir. Wright
 to use this table and he dare not refuse 1t. He adopts the shining. un- certain and unknown standard of re- tail prices. Wholesale prices are fixed and stable. the same in every commu-
 nitv. with cost of freight added There is neither stability nor uniform fly in retail prices
 Coffee sells in the same city for ten to forty cents, tea from twenty cents
 to $1.50, best cream and butter from eighteen to thirty cents a pound. bright field agent selecting his stores and localities could find evil dence in retail prices to support any theory This was the way in which the cost of living was reduced.
 The, methods employed to raise wag-
 es were equally questionable. Every one knows that the greatest increase in wages is to be found iA those iu- dustries where nrion labor is sssong. est and where the strength of the un- ion has been developed during the per- iod under Investigation. These condi- tions are peculiarly applicable to the building trades. Out of 3,429 cstab- lishments selected by Mir Wright for | comparison. 1.199 or more than one third are in the building trades.
 Of the remainder, 1,1S5 are likewise in the unprotected industries The greatest employers of labor in the country are the railroads and no other industry is a better barometer of the average wage. The railroads employ all kinds of labor, skilled and unskfll- ed. union and non-union. In no other industry are as complete and accurate statistics available. Each railroad re- ports to the Interstate Commerce Com mission the total wages paid during each year and the total number of workmen on June 30 of that year The average wage is therefore easily ob- tainable. Why were no railroad wages included in MT. Wrights report? The answer Is apparent
 The last report of the Interstate Commerce Commission shows an in- crease of railroad wages of only per cent. The railroads employ moro than 100000 men. Mir. Wright's figures cover 176.s27. Miners. one of the next largest bodies of laborers are also omitted. MT. Wrights table does not show that any one of the 176,S27 men received more wages in 1903 than in 1902 or any other year. It only claims to show the hourly wage for these par ticular men has increased. In other words had mill raised the wages of its employees 10 per cent and then shut down one-half the time this would have figured in MT. Wright's tables as an increase in wages. It would have been thus as easy to select a number of establishments whose output, quail ity of work and number of employees was decreasing and shown a reduction instead of an increase in wages.
 Then, too. by taking hourly wages MT. Wright would not have to consid- CT the 600000 men now out of employ ment. By carefully selecting his es- tablishments, he did not have to con- slider the one million men whose wages the trade journals tell us were reduced
 in 1903 from 10 to 30 per cent. We shall appeal from Colonel Wright and his expert statisticians to one who figures more skilfully than he--the housewife with the market basket, who must make her husbands scanty wage cover the constantly increasing cost of the family's daily needs.