The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-11-05

drawn, although as a matter OF fact the
figures as 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 in unduly small increase in cost Of
living is secured. 1t is grayely asserted
that nutmegs, pepper, alum, etc., are
given equal weight with such important
articles as lard, beef, eggs, -four, etc.
This charge might, indeed, be convinc-
ing if it contained even slight element
of truth. Unfortunately for the criticism,
however, the Bulletin itself states that
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, so
that the charge can only be construed as
a deliberate attempt to mislead the vot-
ers of the country and not. as an error
Oh the part of the compiler of the text
book. AS q matter of fact the most
careful search Of Bulletin SO shows that
as putty, nutmegs, alum, pepper, etc.,
are not even mentioned therein. These
articles are found, however, among the
26O articles entering into an index OF
wholesale prices which has been publish
ed annually by the bureau for the past
three years, but this index has no con-
uection whatever with the report on cost
Of living. One pauses to wonder at tho
fact that the Democratic managers are
50 lacking in resource as to adopt the
clumsy trick of injecting figures from
another report into a discussion Of the
report on cost of living, and pretend that
they were part of the latter report. 1t
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 Republi-
can Averages" (pages 124 and 1851, and
much that follows on pages 1876 and 127,
is of the character just mentioned.
A Ludicrous Complaint.
The further complaint that the figures
for cost of living are based on retail
rrices 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. Bulletin 50 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,
but they are considered by economists
as unrelia BILE for the purpose Of indicat-
ing the extent Of the increase or lie
crease Until the present day investiga-
ton by the Bureau of Labor no records
of retail prices covering any consider
able period had ever been COLLECTED, ow-
ing to THE very great expense Of mailing
such a collection. It is, however, obvi-
Gus that the workingman does not buy
his food at wholesale. It is, therefore,
clearly wrong to compare the working
mans wages with wholesale prices. The
Democratic Text Book learnedly dis
courses on the stability Of wholesale
prices, while as a matter of fact, it is
recognized by all authorities on prices
that wholesale prices are exceedingly
sensitive and that retail prices are more
stable, never reaching relatively as high
or as low levels as the former. But,
leaving aside the question of stability, 1t
is the retail price which the ordinary
consumer is compelled to pay, and which,
therefore, discloses the more accurately
the cost of living. Further, it is stated
in this Bulletin Of the Bureau of Labor
that these retail prices were secured
directly from the books Of sales of over
300 retail merchants-that these prices
represent actual sales to consumers ex-