La Junta tribune., 1904-11-05
Another Glarins Instance =
Democratic Juggling witA
Government Statistics.
LABOR BULLETIN IGNORED
b 0r1ss b Make Political Capital -
Alss to Misrepresent Ceadiiieas
~ Deceive Votefs-Can-
paign Textbook TrickeSy.

Democratic newspapers for the past feW
weeks and of the recently issued Demo-
cratic Campaign Text Book discoses .
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. oS). In view of the repU-
tation OF Commissioner Wright for sbse.
lutte fairness In the collection and pres-
entation OF statistics IL is of some in-
terest at this time to review his report
In the light of the indignant criticisms
which it has brought forth, and it may
be said at the outset that = 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 eompilers of the
Text Book either did not make use ef
the Bulletin or had no desire to be con-
vinced OF the truth of the figures pub
lished therein, and that their insinua-
tions and clumsy mixstatements OF tAee
were made for the purposs Of misiead-
Ing the public mind. Let u proceed
to the most specific Of the somewhat
vague charges that are made.
II 10 FIRST charged that the report pub
lished In the Bulletin was Quoting the
Text Book) prepared osssnsibly a. n
of1cial document, but in reality. II seems.
for the special use Of the Republican
Campaign Committee" The "well-nigh
conclusive" evidence submitted In SUP
port of this charge consists Of . stats-
ment BY Secretary Shaw In June lase
that such q report would be published
AZ matter of fact. it had been knowa
to the public for several years that ths
Bureau Of Labor was engaged In collect
ing data for such q report and the pos.
tion of the report relating to cost of liv.
ing was actually published in Bulletin
10 a. early A. November. 10O3-nearly
eight months previous to Secretary
Shaw's statement.
Not What Democrass wanted.
1t II clearly stated In the Bulietin
itself that the investigation was begun
in the winter of 18OO-19Ol. and without
doubt the records OF tks 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-fof political
reasons, the facts disclosed were NOS
pleasing, and it seemed necessary -
adopt some method, apparently any
method that would detract from an ax-
AhUik VI = NOhuAhAVh "a hnoo1
trial depression was desired. Conclusive
evidence Is at hand that the gathering
OF these statistics was begun in the win
ter Of 1900 1901, and that they were
not cooked up" for the occasion -
charged. but It IL not to be expecte0
that this absurd charge will be with
drawn. although as a matter Of fact the
figures a. to wages and cost Of living
referred to have been corrobornted BY in
dependent investigations which have bees
concluded by the State bureaus Of sew
eral important States.
Ii Ii charged also that by giving equal
weight TO uuimportsnt articles Of cor
sumption and articles of prime necss-
sity an unduly small increase in cost Of
living is secured. II Is gravely asserted
that nutmegs. pepper, alum, ETC.. arO
given equal weight with such important
articles as lard, beef. eggs. -four. etc.
This charge might. indeed. be convinc-
ing IL 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 nre given
and the method clearly explained. so
that the charge can only be construed A.
deliberate attempt to mislead the vot-
crs of the country and not as an error
OIL the part OF the compiler Of the text
book. As a matter of fact the mose
careful search of Bulletin 53 sho~s that
the unimportant articles referred to. such
as putty, nutmess, alum. pepper, ETC.,
are not even mentioned therein. These
articles are found, however, among the
2GO 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-
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 q discussion OF the
report on ,ost Of living. and pretend that
they were q part OF the latter report. It
must be assumed that In this section
there was the studied intention to mis-
represent and convey an impression 70
the public utterly contrary to the truth
and entirely unwarranted by the facta
The entire portion OF the Text Book un-
der the caption "Absurdity Of Republi-
can Averages" (pages 124 and l25). anS
much that follows on pages 126 and LII.
10 Of the character just mentioned.
A L~Aiereus CoapiaIae.
The further complaint that the 6gurss
for cost OF living are based on retail
prices instead OF Wholesale can enly -
understood BY assuming that the nss -
the latter would have given the Dsns-
cratic campaign mauaEers . little Iess
discomfort. Bulletin 63 clearly cxpiains
.he reasons for the use Of retail p.icD
as Q basis for cost Of living In prefer
ence tn the Wholesale. Il 3 frue thna
Wholesale prices have beea SD at dnss
bue they afs considefed by eceaosnieen
- unreliable for the purpose ef tnAieao-
ing The extset q ths increass - -
GREASE. Uasil ~ psesest Asy JsvsseiBa-
tisa ~ ~ Barsan II Ea1se - sUene13
- ..snn s,s..n s.~nu1us6r 49,.