Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1904-09-23
WAGES AND THE COST OF LIv.

WAGES AND THE COST OF LIv.
| = ~". .<>t. ING. RI. 25: :
Philadelphia Public Ledger: Presi-
dent Roosevelt says in hissletter Of ac:
ceptance- w d. i
As conclusively shown by the bulle-.
tin of the bureau of labor, the pur-
chasing power ct the average wage
received by the wage worker has
grown faster than the cost of living.
Nothing would give the Public Led
ger greater pleasure than to confirm
this statement. which 1t profoundly
regrets it cannot do. More reliable.
because more disinterested and more
unprejudiced, witnesses than the COM
missioner of labor have again and
again declared 1t consplcaously in.
exact. Among these disinterested wit
i, nesses are both Bradstreet's and Dun q
! carefully compiled reports, and among
! the unprejudiced ones are several
prominent labor leaders. who have
testified through the Public Ledger to
the truth respecting the wage scale of
the one part and the regular quota
tions Of the prices of the necessaries
of life of the other part
All the precise testimony given by
these trustworthy witnesses is directly
contrary to the presidents statement.
Bradstreet and Dun both report that
the prices Of domestic commodities
have had an average increase from the
lowest standard, reached in 1896, of
81 per cent. We feel quite safe in say
ing that no one who has considered
the question, or is at - all informed
with regard to wages and the prevail
ing prices of the necessaries..o f =. life,
will seriously assert that. since 1895
the average wage rate has increased
to that extent-more than third.
{ The presidents contention is that
the alleged greater proportionate in
crease of the average wage to the in
creased cost of living has been due to
the bene6cent protection afforded to
labor by the tariff. Here again the
presidents position is contested by
labor itself. It is quite true that the
wages of not only artisans, but, of
their helpers, the unskilled laborers
have materially raised since 1896, but
while there have beel slight increases
at various times of the wages Of the
so-called protected workmen. the az
gregate additions have not at all kept
step with the increase of the cost of
living. At present, under the Dingley
tariff, the tendency over the entire
country is to reduce the wages of these
employees in the protected industries.
At Fall River. Mass. $4,000 textile
operatives have been out of work and
deprived OF wages for Two months be-
cause they would not consent to fat
wage reduction of 10 per cent. In Chi
cago the highly protected meatss trust
monopoly has just succeeded in crush
ing to death one of the country's most
powerful labor ORGANIZATIONS, because
it demanded a wholly reasonable in
crease of wages for the underpaid Ia
borers. The tariff-promoted and tariff
maintained steel, iron and tin trust
has been latterly largely reducing it's
wage schedules, as has also the glass
trust. which enjoys all the advantages
of prohibitory sarif schedules.
The artisans, mechanics of all sorts
and their unskilled helpers, to whom
the tariff does not even pretend to
give protection, receive high wages,
and 80 long as their unions remain in
tact will continue to do 80. But what
single tariff protected industry pays
It's workmen the same generous re-
ward for their labor that the non
protected activities pay their employees
for their labor7
Commissioner Wright's late report
on wages and the cost of living, to
which the president referred, was dis
credited in advance Of it's appearance
by no less an authority than the Sec
rotary of the treasury. who, in a
stump speech, announced that such a
report was being prepared for the ex-
press purpose Of heading off the demo-
cratic charge that the increase of the
cost of living had outrun the increase
of wages. In strict accordance with
Secretary Shaw's report it was pub
lished, and bore on every page of it
the sinister marks of partisan cam
paign document. But no sooner had it
appeared than it's statistics were easily
proved to be misleading, and, in tact,
most commonly the reverse of the
truth. This Is the statement which
the president was induced to offer as a
proof that the increase of wages under
the Dingley tariff had been greater
than the increase in the cost of livi g.
1t may be lrrefutably said that there
is not q &C. -called-pfoteeted- workman