Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1904-07-07
HIGH COST Of LIVING
Republicans Making Shifty Ex-
plantations and Excuses.
CAN'T DISPUTE PALPABLE FACTS

CAN'T DISPUTE PALPABLE FACTS
Dingley Tariff Law the Mother OF
Most OF Our Great Trusts-Experts
to the Rescue With Misleading
Figures.
If there is one thing that is worrying
the administration officials ut Wash
ington more than another in the line of
campaign issues it is the facts in re-
gard to the present extremely high
cost of living The Republicans antici-
pate that the wicked Democrats are
going to charge the whole thing up to
Republican legislation. They will say
that the Republicans passed the Ding
ley high tariff law, that is mother to
most of our great trusts, that have put
prices up to the highest point in mod
ern times.
There is 10 way Of disputing the pal
pable facts that four-tifths of our
trusts were born under Dingley legis-
lation and that the cost OF living is
higher than ever before. The Republic
ans would run away from them ii they |
could, but unfortunately such facts are
common knowledge. The purser in ev-
ery household knows that prices of |
supplies are ut the top notch, though |
he may not know how they get there
or upon whom to place the blame.
All sorts of shifty explanations and
excuses for high prices are being fixed
up by the Republican managers and
statistical jugglers. Some will attempt
to justify high prices, others to show
that the prices of farm products have
gone up even more than have those Of
trust products. and others that prices
have not gone up as much as, while
wages have gone up much more than,
is generally supposed. These explana-
lions will be tried on in different local.
tiles, and the Republican spellbinders
will choose the ones which appear to
fit their various localities best.
Thus Secretary Shaw punched all
explanations and openly and boldly de-
Tended high prices in his speech in
Wilmington, Del, on June 6. He adj
mitted that prices We're high, but he
promised that before the campaign
proceeds very far there will be fur
nished from the highest authority in
the United States (the bureau of Ia
Dor of course) we'll authenticated data
showing that the average wages have
increased in larger proportion than the
average articles of ordinary household
consumption" He observed that high
priced living expenses are preferable to
employment to only a portion Of our
people," that ':the happiness of the
wage Garner is dependent upon high
priced farm products" and that 1.-THE
prosperity Of the farmer is dependent
upon the ready and constant employ
ment of the wage Garner While he
insisted that sit is neasurab.y unim-
portant what price We pay SO long as
we pay the price TO ourselves. yet he
showed his preference for l:,ll prices
by closing his peroration Will: the out
burst, "But may the good Lord deliver
US from another period when living
expenses are cheap"
The criticism and ridicule leveled at
Secretary Shaw's speech lauding high
prices will make the Republicans
chary of experimenting further in this
line They will now await with anx-
iety the new prices and wages tables
which Mr. Carroll D. Wright, the head
Of the labor bureau, has contracted to
make for them. This is guaranteed to
show that average prices have not
risen more than have average wages
and that the greatest rise has been in
farm products. This will please the
farmers. who have the most votes, and
will give the least possible offense to
the wage earners, clerks and profess
sional men, whose votes are fewer and
harder to combine.
Beyond reasonable doubt Mr. Car
roll D. Wright will fulfill his part Of
the contract. He can prove almost
anything in regard to prices and wages
His peculiar methods Of classification
and Of making averages enable him to
make statistics to order. He has al
ready classified cotton, the price Of
which is now very high, as farm
product, and wool, the price Of which
has risen but little, as manufactured
product. He is likely to classify last
years fowls as farm products and
spring chickens as manufactured prod
ucts II he finds that the prices of
spring chickens-largely incubated-are
high, while the prices of old hens are
only moderate. He gets average
prices" by putting in the prices of un-
important articles, like nutmcgs or pep
per- along with important articles, like
pork or -four. He can easily find enough
Of these inconsequential articles, the
prices of which have declined during
the last seven years, to offset the great
advance in the prices Of important ar